Why does the College need to support postgraduate students?
This fund aims to enable the most talented students to continue their studies and pursue postgraduate study. This has become unaffordable for all but the most privileged. Staying in higher education is simply not an option if students are unable to support themselves. This fund therefore helps ordinary people.
- Huge debt from undergraduate study leads many graduates to leave education to start full-time employment as soon as possible.
- Government loans for postgraduate study do not even cover tuition fees.*
- Drastic cuts to Research Councils have left fewer research studentships than before, and so securing funding for postgraduate study can be extremely difficult.
- This leaves it to the College to provide funding.
Without a Masters students cannot go on to pursue a PhD. Funding for a Masters degree can define a career trajectory, or enable a career in academia, diversifying the academic cohorts of the future.
Support is easier to come by at universities in the rest of the world, especially in terms of living expenses. Many postgraduates are therefore being drawn away from the UK. Only by increasing the funding that we can offer through Studentships will a ‘brain drain’ from the UK be prevented.
The postgraduate students at Churchill College are tomorrow's innovators and leaders, conducting ground-breaking research to address global social and scientific challenges. We aim to seek out the most talented postgraduate students who, after completing their degrees, will help make a difference to the world we live in. If we are to continue attracting the finest minds in the world, we need your support to grow our Graduate Studentship Endowment.
What difference does the Graduate Studentship Endowment make?
The College spent £667k on funding for Postgraduate Studentships last financial year (2023-24). Over 87% of this was funded by donations or investment income from restricted named funds.
"Without a Studentship, I would not have been able to pursue a PhD degree in Cambridge. High student fees and the cost of living in the UK are challenging for most postgraduate students. However, weaker currencies make the situation especially prohibitive for those of us from low- and middle-income countries. Without financial support, pursuing a PhD would have been impossible for me, forcing me to leave academia altogether." Ana (G23) Read more about Ana's story.
8 Studentships are currently awarded which include funding from the College thanks to its generous donors. Different Studentships require different amounts of funding from the College, depending on the level of input that is secured from external Trusts and Foundations. Last year, the College contributed between £1,495 and £28,205 towards each of these eight Studentships (2023-24).
By growing the Graduate Studentship Endowment, the College will be able to increase the support it can offer for postgraduate study, and continue doing this long into the future. You can help the College to keep its doors open to the world’s best postgraduate students, enabling them to benefit from what Churchill has to offer, and for us to benefit from their rich range of insights and talent in return.
*Costs for postgraduate study
Cambridge University estimates the average basic living costs for a full-time student in 2025-26 will be £19,020.
For UK Home students, tuition fees for an MPhil depend on the subject, but average £16,566. (For international students, this increases to £38,000.) The UK Government's Postgraduate Masters Loan for 2024 was only up to a maximum of £12,471.
For UK Home students, tuition fees for a PhD average £31,000. (For international students, this increases to £108,000.) The UK Government's Postgraduate Doctoral Loan for 2024 was up to a maximum of £29,390.