While college accommodation, catering and other charges all cost students money, most colleges also provide a generous series of prizes and grants for academic success, travel projects and sports. As a result it is possible to get money back for all sorts of extras, which can make a massive difference to the experience you have at Cambridge.

Prizes and scholarships for achieving first class honours in University examinations vary from college to college. St John’s, for example, awards scholarships with a value of £400 to £600, whereas at Clare, equivalent awards are only worth £100. Scholarships for specific subjects also vary significantly: at Downing, students graduating with first class honours in at least one of their Tripos examinations in law, medicine and veterinary medicine are awarded scholarships worth up to £1,000 a year for three years.

At St John’s, every student can apply for a Learning and Resource Grant of up to £300 for each year of their degree, to help with the cost of books, language courses, academic conferences, or even a new laptop.

Academic achievement is not the only way to get one’s share of a college’s cash – an interesting expedition could also prove worthy of a cash injection. Again, the amount of money students receive for travel varies depending on college and subject. Some grants are very specific: at Churchill, the Chinese supermarket chain Wing Yip provides a travel grant of up to £1,800 for trips to China made by non-Chinese members of the college. First-year and second-year geography students are able to apply for the Bedford Travel Grant offered by the University’s Geographical Society, worth around £2,500,

Sport is subsidised at many colleges, but this is something of a lottery. Some offer financial support to students who play sport at a high level in order to help with extra costs like equipment and training camps. St Catharine’s offers bursaries of £250 to £500, while at Robinson, 60 % of qualifying expenses up to a maximum of £150 will be covered by the college, excluding clothing and equipment costs. In 2011, The Eric Evans Trust Fund, The Hawks’ Charitable Trust and the Ospreys awarded a total of more than £36,000 to individual sportsmen and women studying at Cambridge.