Coinciding with reunions, Class Gift Bursaries are means-tested Cambridge Bursaries named after particular year groups. We hope that you will join your contemporaries by making a gift to support Churchillians of the future. Click on your year group’s link to donate online and add your support today.
Class Giving will leave a lasting legacy through endowed funds that will provide at least one student every year into the future with the same educational opportunities enjoyed by alumni.
The aim for each Class Gift is to raise £100,000 which will endow a Cambridge Bursary for one Home undergraduate student. The funds raised are invested by the College and only the income will be spent (up to the maximum £3,500 of a full Cambridge Bursary), meaning that the Bursary can be awarded for as long as Churchill College is in existence.
The average debt after a three year undergraduate degree for a UK student at Cambridge easily exceeds £55,000. While students can borrow much of the money they need, such significant debt can act as a deterrent to considering a university education. Churchill has a long tradition of welcoming students from non-traditional Oxbridge schools and regions forged by a desire to help combat entrenched social and economic disadvantage by improving equality of access and equality of opportunity.
Bursaries and hardship grants make a significant difference in encouraging students to apply to Churchill who otherwise might fear getting into debt, and to their educational outcomes once here. These bursaries have only been made possible because of generous alumni support.
Every individual donation of any size will take us closer to our goal. If 150 alumni donate a one-off amount of £500 (or commit to donating £15 a month for three years), with Gift Aid, this will total just over £100,000. (If you are a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid increases your donations by 25% if you pay tax at the basic rate – and there are other tax incentives for higher rate payers and those living overseas).
The cost-of-living crisis is affecting everyone – you, the College, its students and their families. Now more than ever before, it is vital that the College has access to the funds needed to continue to reach, support and transform as many of the best young minds as possible, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Student Support in numbers
- 104 undergraduates currently receive a means-tested Cambridge Bursary
- 68% of these receive the maximum Cambridge Bursary of £3,500 each year because their family income is below £25,000
- 75% of offers to UK students in the 2022 UCAS round were made to maintained sector pupils – significantly above the Office for Students (OfS) target of 65%
- 25% of students from state schools were from the most disadvantaged areas of the country according to the “Indices of multiple deprivation” (IMD Q1&2), and 10% qualified for free school meals
- Over £446,000 was awarded to undergraduate students as bursaries, grants and hardship awards in total last year
Read more about postgraduate funding
There are separate funds for postgraduate students and over £600,000 is awarded as postgraduate studentships and hardship grants each year.
Impact of Class Giving
You can read more about the impact of Class Giving on page 13 of the 2024 Donor Report.
Rahul Khan (U17)
“I am incredibly thankful and grateful to be able to receive the 1977-81 Bursary. Throughout this past academic year the support from the 1977-81 Bursary has allowed to me to take part in many different research projects and I have been able to present my work at many national and international conferences. These projects have also been published in a range of different medical journals. I truly believe that these achievements may not have been achievable without the level of reassurance I felt as a bursary recipient. These extra research projects have helped me in securing a highly competitive academic foundation programme post, in which I have a dedicated four months purely for pursuing my passion in orthopaedics and trauma research. I am greatly inspired by the work of the Class Fund and I hope that I too one day am in the position to help Churchill students fulfil their potential.”
Molly Cushing (U21)
“The 1988-92 Bursary has allowed me to make the most of the opportunities that Cambridge has to offer without having to worry about budgeting. I’m able to try things that I’d never be able to outside of the University, such as attending debates at the Union, enjoying May Balls, going to Formal Hall and participating in races with the Boat Club, without having to worry about the strain that such costs would place on my daily living expenses.”
A video message from Andy Micallef
Andy Micallef (U00) speaks about The 2000-04 Bursary Fund in this video, recorded in September 2023, after returning to Churchill College for his Reunion Dinner in July 2023.
