Stormzy Scholarships

Since its launch in 2018, the Stormzy Scholarship has provided financial support to more than 40 UK Black students helping to transform their University experience. This began with two students each year, before the scheme was expanded in 2021. Stormzy’s #Merky Foundation in partnership with HSBC UK will provide scholarships to at least 10 Black undergraduate students starting their studies in autumn 2026.

The scholarships are non-repayable and will cover the full cost of tuition fees and provide a maintenance grant, which will significantly reduce the need for recipients to take out government or commercial loans. You will receive support for the undergraduate part of your degree.  This is usually three years (and for medicine and veterinary medicine courses is the three-year undergraduate element), but if your undergraduate course is 4 years long, you will receive the scholarship for 4 years. For 2026-27, the total award to each student for the year will be £20,285. Receipt of this award will not affect eligibility for a Cambridge Bursary.

In 2023, five years after the launch of the Stormzy Scholarship, HSBC UK pledged a further £2m in support of 30 new Stormzy Scholarships over three years (2024-26). The #Merky Foundation will continue to fund a further two students per year.

Over 500 UK Black students have arrived to take up their courses at Cambridge in the past three years. There is however still more work to be done to ensure that UK Black students not only apply to study at the University, but feel at home here and achieve their full potential.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for a Stormzy Scholarship, applicants must:

1. Have one of the following categories of ethnicity:
   • Black African
   • Black Caribbean
   • Black Other
   • Mixed – White and Black Caribbean
   • Mixed – White and Black African
   • Other mixed background (to include Black African, Black Caribbean or Black Other)
2. Have a confirmed place for entry to the University of Cambridge for a first undergraduate degree, and due to commence study in October 2026. (You can check the status of your offer on UCAS Hub.)
3. Be a UK student and have been assessed for fee status as 'home'. You were advised of your fee status in the offer letter issued to you earlier this year. If you are in doubt, please contact the Cambridge College that has offered you a place.
4. Have applied to Student Finance (England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan, and have received confirmation that you have been assessed and will receive financial support. An income assessment must have been conducted and consent given to share the information with the University. Please note that if you are awarded a Stormzy Scholarship you will be able to reduce the amount of loan you take out to zero, but you will still need an income assessment from Student Finance to be able to receive the Cambridge Bursary.

How to apply

Applications for 2025 have now closed. Details about scholarships for 2026 entry will be available later next year.

If you have questions regarding the Stormzy Scholarship, please email ugscholarships@admin.cam.ac.uk.