Following a dinner discussion with the Provost, several of us from the matriculation year of 1977 considered how we could help support the King’s Campaign.
Despite existing initiatives by King’s, particularly in the North East, the College feels more can be done to encourage and support applications from candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds. We agree and are sure that many of you will feel the same.
One specific challenge is that of promising - but disadvantaged - candidates who are made offers but fail to achieve the grades that are required. Often, they apply from schools that do not have sufficient teaching resource to prepare students for Cambridge or Oxford and have no particular history of doing this. These students may have specific disadvantages themselves. Students with either type of disadvantage thus don’t get the same level of support to achieve required grades that others do.
An approach that the College is piloting this year is to try to ‘level the playing field’ for such candidates, by offering additional mentoring to support their preparation for A-Levels. The mentors are professional tutors who will have regular meetings (face-to-face and Skype) with the candidates to support their A-Level preparations. The College would like to continue and expand the project to support a number of applicants assessed as suitable. But it needs funding.
We think this initiative is one that can make a real difference to broaden undergraduate access to the College. To fund this requires £1,000 per applicant, and we’d like to think that King’s 1977 could get behind this and fund this target group, by setting an ambitious target and raising £25,000 together.
How You Can Get Involved
The Class of 1977 Fund is created to raise donations from, but not limited to, the Class of 1977. We hope to reach our target over the coming weeks, and will report on our progress later in the year. It is our intention that the Fund will be supporting young people who are considering their options for higher education later this year, and also allow the College to evaluate whether this approach can be successful.
To make a donation in support of this initiative, you can download and complete the form below and return it to the Development Office, King’s College, Cambridge, CB2 1ST.
Donors in the USA may make a tax-efficient gift by completing this form and returning it to our partner 501(c)(3) - Cambridge in America, P.O. Box 9123 JAF BLG, New York, NY 10087-9123.
We look forward to your support.
Chris Carr (KC1977)
Keith Cornelius (KC1977)
Malcolm McKenzie (KC1977)
Clare Reffin (KC1977)
Year-Group Giving
Would you like to start your own year-group fund in support of an aspect of The King's Campaign?
The Development Office will be very pleased to hear from alumni who wish to organise year-group fundraising activities in support of one of the many strands of The King’s Campaign, such as helping us to expand our access and outreach work, to inaugurate a graduate studentship, or to create a new teaching post. If you are interested in doing so, please contact the Deputy Director of Development, Adam Middleton, on +44(0) 1223 331247 or email adam.middleton@kings.cam.ac.uk to start the conversation.
