An aspiring human rights lawyer has resorted to GoFundMe to pay for a dream degree at Cambridge amid fears financial hardship is forcing many black students to give up on a spot at the prestigious university.

Talented student Ra’chel Thorpe-Blair has been awarded a hard-earned place on a Masters course at the world-famous institution, but now has just eight days to raise £25,000 to fund it.

Data on the university’s website shows that in the 2018/19 academic year 197 black students received offers, but just 47% took up their spots. This compared to 59% of white students.

Ra’chel, 24, believes the low uptake is likely because of increased financial hardship experienced by students from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

The 24-year-old, who is of Jamaican descent, was delighted when she found out in June she had graduated from the University of Kent with First Class Honours in international legal studies, and had gained a place at Cambridge.

“In that moment, the financial side of things wasn’t in the forefront of my mind,” she said.

But after unsuccessfully applying for a number of scholarships, Ra’chel now has until August 21 to prove she can raise the £27,525 needed to cover her tuition and maintenance, so she can take her place.

“Unlike undergraduate degrees, you cannot secure a full loan from the government to undertake your masters,” Ra’chel explained.

“I’ve applied for the £11,000 you can get for a masters, but that’s it. If I get that, I still need £16,000.”

Ra’chel, who already faces £70,000 of student loan debts from her undergraduate degree, says her family are not able to help financially.

“It’s just my mum providing for us,” she said.

“She’s currently quite sick with different heart issues, so she can’t work as full-time, and with Covid she can’t be out too much.

“My last resort - a resort I really don’t want to do - would be a private loan. But the interest rates are crazy.

“After exhausting all my other options, I have decided to not let my fear of asking for help prevent me from taking up an incredible opportunity.”

Ra’chel has now launched a GoFundMe page, through which she has already raised almost £3,000. But she is still a long way off her target.

“I’m not doing a law degree to make loads of money,” she explained.

“All the modules I do are human rights based - around asylum, refugee, homelessness law. I’m going into it to try to make a difference.

“My future aspiration is to become an international human rights lawyer, to help the most marginalised and oppressed people within our societies.

“I also believe that an offer from Cambridge is exceptional, considering the statistics.

“A lot of the time, BAME students aren’t actually applying to Oxbridge, because a lot of them think ‘what’s the point of applying, knowing that you can’t make it there?’”

Labour MP for Canterbury Rosie Duffield has echoed these concerns, as she helped publicise Ra’chel’s campaign.

Writing on Facebook, she called it “scandalous” that in the 2018/2019 year at Cambridge, “half the talented men and women in that BAME group who were offered places, couldn’t go - mostly due to being unable to secure the monies needed”.

“We need an education system that doesn’t rely on students getting into debt they will never pay off; we need an education system that doesn’t mean that BAME students are disproportionately discriminated against accessing due to lack of fund availability,” she said.

The University of Cambridge has not responded to KentOnline's request for a comment.

Tomorrow, students from across the country will receive their long-awaited A-level results. For live updates on Kent results throughout the day, visit KentOnline.

To donate, visit Ra'chel's Gofundme page.

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