Scores of prospective scholarship recipients could face renewed financial worry this autumn upon arriving at the University of Cambridge, after the eligibility criteria for the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) was tightened.

Following severe cuts to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, it is expected that this is the last year that the programme will run. The NSP has for two years provided awards in the form of bursaries and tuition fee waivers to students from families with an annual household income of £25,000 or less, but its budget is being cut from £150 million to £50 million, according to a written statement to Parliament from David Willetts, the minister for universities and science.

Although this was intended to occur in the 2015/16 academic year, Willetts announced that the government would bring forward the planned cuts.This will cause the national minimum award to shrink from £3,000 to £2,000 per annum from the autumn of this year.

In its circular to universities taking part in the NSP, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) expressed its wish that universities continue to fund students at the previous rates until the scheme is reoriented towards postgraduate study for 2015/16. Warwick, Leicester, York and UCL are among the institutions which have announced they will follow this instruction and fully make up the shortfall themselves. But according to a Media FHE survey, not all universities will be able to meet this task – Southampton, Bristol and Derby will be reducing the value of their awards.

Meanwhile, although the value of each scholarship from Cambridge remains the same, the university will be reducing the number of its it awards by 82, from 290 to 208. It has also emerged that students will have to be poorer than before to receive the funds. It is expected that the programme will no longer award scholarships to those from households earning over £18,000 per annum.

A spokesperson for the university said: “For 2014/15, the government contribution to the NSP is being reduced by two thirds. However, HEFCE have made clear their expectation that institutions should maintain the total level of funding which they had originally budgeted in support of the programme, and the University of Cambridge intends to comply with this guidance. Under the new arrangements, Cambridge expects to make 208 awards. Each Cambridge NSP award will be worth £6,000, as in previous years.”

The spokesperson added: “The NSP is only one small part of the collegiate university’s extensive and flexible financial support package, which aims to ensure that no UK student with the academic ability to thrive at Cambridge should be deterred from applying by financial concerns.”

Even under its original funding arrangements, the NSP was not free from criticism. Liam Burns, NUS President 2011-13, called it an “elaborate con trick,” because it was often used to waive fees rather than directly fund student living costs. 

Sam Ruiz, CUSU Access Officer, emphasised the availability of other sources of funding, such as the Cambridge Bursary. He added that while the NSP scheme isn’t perfect, “universities had only two weeks to respond to these cuts in funding once they were announced, giving little opportunity for institutions to come up with creative solutions.”