Stormzy Launches Cambridge Scholarships for Black Students

British rapper Stormzy announced today that he will fund two Black British students to study for undergraduate degrees at the University of Cambridge, through a new scholarship.

The “Stormzy Scholarship” will cover students’ full tuition fees and provide a maintenance stipend for the four years of an undergraduate degree. Two scholarships will be awarded in 2018 and two more in 2019, with each scholarship worth a total of £18,000. This will significantly reduce the need for recipients to apply for government or commercial loans to finance their studies.

This is not the first time Stormzy has supported students. He previously donated £9,000 to a student’s crowdfunding campaign so she could study at Harvard University in the United States.

Cambridge University’s “Shocking” Diversity Problem

The announcement comes after recent criticism of Cambridge University’s lack of representation among Black, Asian, and minority ethnic students between 2012 and 2016, which was described as “shocking”. Some colleges did not admit a single Black student during that period. The Cambridge African Caribbean Society (ACS) highlighted university statistics showing that only 15 Black male undergraduates were admitted in 2015.

Although there have been signs of progress, with 58 Black students enrolling in 2017, which Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Toope described as “the highest number ever,” it was still “far, far short of where we want to be.”

Stormzy said: “There are lots of young Black people across the country who have the academic excellence to study for a degree at an elite university like Cambridge - but we are still underrepresented in our leading universities.

“It is especially important for Black students to realise that they can absolutely choose to attend a top university like this.

He added that he hopes the scholarship will remind Black students that the opportunity to study at one of the world’s top universities “is an opportunity they can seize - and if funding is a barrier, then we can work to remove that barrier.”

Stormzy is sending black students to @Cambridge_Uni pic.twitter.com/X0c227AszQ

— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) August 16, 2018

How to Apply

To apply for the Stormzy Scholarship, you need to:

• be of Black heritage
• already have a confirmed offer from the University of Cambridge to begin an undergraduate degree in October 2018
• be classed as a home student for tuition-fee purposes
• have applied for and secured the standard student loan and maintenance grant from Student Finance England

If you are applying, you need to act quickly, as the deadline for 2018 applications is August 30. Students hoping to study at Cambridge in 2019 need to apply before the standard October 15 deadline. Recipients will be chosen by a selection committee made up of university staff, who will consider your household income, socioeconomic background, and personal statement. Full application details can be found here.