Financial support for lower-income freshers at St John’s College has fallen by up to two-thirds since last year, with incoming freshers receiving up to £7,500 less from the College compared to last year’s intake.

John’s is winding down its pilot studentship scheme, which will be replaced by the College’s new free places scheme, though that scheme is not yet operational.

The intention is for John’s to fully support its most disadvantaged students. However, a corollary is that some students who are disadvantaged, but not at the very bottom of the income-scale, will receive substantially less support from the College than would have been the case had they matriculated last year.

The College told Varsity that it was still covering the costs of students most in financial need through its unlimited hardship funds.

However, the John’s website has dropped an assurance that the studentship scheme should cover the living costs of incoming students with a household income of £25,000 or less. That assurance is still made to students who matriculated in previous years.

For students matriculating in October 2022 with a household income of £25,000, the studentship has fallen from £7,630 in 2021 to just £100 in 2022. Students with higher household incomes will no longer be eligible for the scheme.

In 2021, the maximum grant of £7,630 was available for students with a household income of up to £25,000, with a decreasing level of assistance available for students with household incomes up to £39,090.

When combined with the University-wide Cambridge Bursary, students at John’s could receive up to £11,130 to cover their living costs. The Cambridge Bursary remains available to low-income students and is unaffected by these changes.

The maximum award level in 2022 has increased by 4.1% to £7,940, falling short of matching the current inflation rate of 8.6%. However, the maximum funding is only available for students with a household income of up to £16,190.

Students who have already matriculated will continue to receive the same level of support as in previous years. Those who deferred an offer for October 2021 to October 2022 will receive the higher level of financial support offered in 2021.

In 2016, John’s introduced the studentship scheme to “reduce the financial pressure on students from lower income backgrounds”. The scheme is made up of non-repayable grants for all undergraduate students who have Home fee status and meet certain financial criteria. It is funded by donations from alumni and “friends” of the College. A fundraising video on the College’s website shows past students describe how the scheme offered them “peace of mind” and allowed them to experience student life “without being held back”. The College’s website also says that over 212 students have benefited from the scheme to date, and outlines their aim to offer “genuinely world-class means-tested support”.

The College has said that the studentship scheme will be replaced by a free places programme in the future. This new scheme will give all Home students previously eligible for free school meals and with a household income of up to £16,190 access to free places at the College. Both maintenance and tuition fees will be covered by John’s. The programme is not yet running, and will not fill the funding gap for students with a household income larger than £16,190 who were previously supported by the studentship scheme.

John’s is Cambridge’s second-richest College, with consolidated net assets of £905m in the financial year ending in 2021, up £77.5m on the year before.

A spokesperson for the College told Varsity: “The St John’s College Studentship Scheme was launched as a five-year pilot in 2016. The pilot was reviewed in 2021 and the College decided to focus its resources on undergraduates with the greatest financial need, creating our £25 million Free Places programme.

“St John’s continues to provide support for all students in financial hardship, via the significantly enhanced Cambridge Bursary Scheme as well as the College’s own unlimited hardship funds.”