White working-class students excluded from almost all Oxbridge diversity scholarships

By ELEANOR HARDING, EDUCATION EDITOR Published: 21:08, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 21:12, 1 July 2026 White working class students are barred from applying for almost all diversity scholarships at Oxbridge, it has emerged. More than a dozen financial aid schemes for under-represented groups at Oxford and Cambridge prioritise ethnicity over socio-economic background. It means that while all the schemes can be accessed by those from ethnic minorities, almost all exclude white working class students. This is despite this group being one the least likely to attend university. It comes after an independent inquiry found this week the education system is not set up to serve white working class youngsters, who have the weakest educational results of any major ethnic group in England. Led by former education secretary Baroness Morris of Yardley, the report said just one third of white working class teenagers achieved at least a pass in English and maths GCSEs. Earlier this week, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the group do not 'lack talent' but have been 'written off' and 'robbed of opportunity'. Today, Laura Trott, Shadow Education Secretary, said on X of the Oxbridge schemes: 'It's time to move beyond identity-based preferences. White working class students are barred from applying for almost all diversity scholarships at Oxbridge, it has emerged (pictured: Oxford University) 'Support should be targeted at the most disadvantaged, regardless of their race or ethnicity, not to satisfy diversity, equity and inclusion targets or quotas.' At Oxford and Cambridge, there are at least 15 scholarships or bursaries targeting undergraduate, master's and PhD students from an ethnic minority background. This includes the Stormzy Scholarship at Cambridge, which was launched by the rapper in 2018 and provides 10 black students each year with £20,000 annually for the duration of their course. There is also a Formula 1 scholarship at Cambridge, which provides £20,000 a year to engineering students who are female or from an ethnic minority background. The university also has six schemes for PhD and master's students from ethnic minorities. Meanwhile, at Oxford, among the many schemes for ethnic minorities is the Black Academic Futures scholarship, which can cover the full cost of a course and some living costs. Of all the Oxbridge diversity schemes, it is understood that white working-class women are eligible for only two, while white working-class men are eligible for only one. Between them, the universities also have at least 15 outreach programmes for ethnic minority students, including taster days and webinars. In 2019, a report from the National Education Opportunities Network found fewer than 3 per cent of students enrolled at Oxford and Cambridge are disadvantaged and white. An Oxford spokesman said the university runs another scheme, which is not based on diversity, to give a non-repayable annual bursary of up to £6,150 to UK full-time undergraduates from lower income families. They added: 'Our undergraduate financial support package is provided on the basis of household income, regardless of ethnicity. 'We have expanded our schemes in recent years so that around one in four of our UK undergraduates, including many students from white working-class backgrounds, now receive university financial support, with £10.4 million provided in total in 2025-26.' A Cambridge spokesman said: 'Cambridge provides one of the most generous bursary support packages in the UK. More than £10 million of funding is available every year through the Cambridge Bursary Scheme to all students from low-income households. The university abides by the terms of the 2010 Equality Act.' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.