The founding principle of St Catz was to open up Oxford to a wider range of students, and this fund ensures that we remain open to all, regardless of background. No talented student should be deterred from coming here due to financial constraints. We are committed to ensuring that they have access to the same opportunities as the generations that preceded them and that they can rely on our support in a turbulent economic climate.
Gifts to the Student Support Fund have a direct impact on our current students and allow us to offer financial support to 1 in 5 of our undergraduates and 1 in 7 of our graduate students.
We also support means-tested undergraduate bursaries through our Foundation Scholarship Programme for students with annual household incomes of £50,000 or less. Over 60 alumni and friends support us in this way and in the academic year of 2023-24, over 70 of our students benefitted from a Foundation Scholarship.
In order for Catz to continue to attract and retain outstanding academics, exceptional graduate students are crucial. Graduate students make essential contributions to our ground-breaking research, enhancing the academic reputation of both the college and department to which they belong. They are the engine of research in our laboratories, libraries and seminars and go on to lead the way in their fields, pushing frontiers of knowledge.
In a global context of reduced public funding for higher education, we are more dependent than ever before upon the generosity and support of our alumni and friends to help us support current and future generations of Catz students.
