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No. 855 Friday 9th November 2018 varsity.co.uk
Arts 26-27
Cambridge’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1947
The overseas students burdened by high costs
Big Oil and deep sea drills: The underside of colleges’ investments
Catherine Lally Deputy Editor
Oxbridge colleges and companies accused of human rights violations, several of which have also been listed among the top 100 companies responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. At £9.1m, Trinity College, Cambridge
“For a university that seems absolutely committed to attracting the best talent in the country regardless of their background, it seems rather dismissive about the financial context of people from other places.” So said one international student, who highlighted that “while the average UK student will incur loan [debts] of over £50,000, I had already paid much more than that by second year.” It’s no secret that an education at Cambridge as a non-EU international student comes with a large price tag. To study most humanities subjects, a student starting their course in 2019 can expect to pay £20,167 per year, while a natural scientist will pay £30,678, and a medic, £52,638. Along with college fees that range from £6,850 to £12,700 a year, covering teaching and pastoral costs, the money quickly adds up. Although undergraduate tuition fees of £9,000 for home and EU students since 2012 have negatively-impacted the financial situations of students’ families, for many international students, with no recourse to tuition fee and maintenance loans from the UK government, and a scholarship system one student criticised for a “lack of transparency” and clarity, a harsh financial burden can
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(ROSIE BRADBURY/COMPOSITE: NOELLA CHYE)
Noella Chye, Rosie Bradbury and Jack Hunter Seven Cambridge colleges have holdings totalling £20.7m in corporations engaged in oil and gas exploration, production and refining. Nine colleges hold investments in offshore funds, Freedom of
Information requests on all companies in colleges’ direct investment portfolios have revealed. Oxford and Cambridge colleges will be hauled before Parliament in light of today’s revelations, John Mann MP, chair of the Treasury sub-committee, has claimed. One year ago, Oxbridge colleges were
pushed into the spotlight when the Paradise Papers revealed that 29 of them had tens of millions of pounds invested in offshore funds, including in a joint venture to develop oil exploration and deepsea drilling. Today, two investigations in Varsity and Oxford student newspaper Cherwell detail the relationships between several
Inside ● Zero Carbon changes tactics Pg.8 ● The students living in the Murray Edwards Bunkabins Pg.12