Cowrie Foundation Scholarship

Award
UK tuition fees and a maintenance stipend of £8,000*

Study type
Undergraduate home

Eligibility
Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants with a household income of less than £25,000

About this award

The University of Hull and The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation (CSF) are pleased to offer a scholarship to support Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants from socio-economically under-represented backgrounds. Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the UK and commencing undergraduate study in the academic year 2025/26.

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation wants to fund 100 Black British students through UK universities in the next decade. More information on The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation can be found here.

The scholarship will cover your home UK tuition fees and a maintenance stipend of £8,000* for each year of your course. The scholarship is tenable for the duration of your programme of study, subject to satisfactory progression.

*The maintenance stipend consists of a University of Hull bursary (£2,000 per annum), and an award of £6,000 per annum from the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation.

How to apply

Apply online here. The closing date for applications is 26 June 2025. Late submissions will not be accepted.

To help us to get to know you, as part of the applications process we will ask you for a personal statement of between 600 and 900 words explaining:

Why the scholarship would be beneficial to your studies
How it would help you to achieve your academic goals
How your education would be of future benefit to your community and/or society
What achievements, academically and personally, are you most proud of? This could include overcoming a challenging personal circumstance. There is no right or wrong answer. We are keen to hear your personal story

We will also look at where you live and other measures of educational challenges, often referred to as socio-economic metrics.

Please check your eligibility before making an application. Awards may be withdrawn if we later become aware that successful scholars have not met eligibility criteria or have provided false information.

Decisions

A University of Hull panel will assess applications and compile a shortlist of the strongest applications. The shortlist will be sent to the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation, who will make the final decision.

Eligibility

You must meet all of the following criteria to be considered for this scholarship:

Identify as belonging to one of the following ethnic groups:
• Black or Black British – Caribbean
• Black or Black British – African
• Mixed - White and Black Caribbean
• Mixed - White and Black African
• Other Black background
Have firmly accepted an offer of a place at the University of Hull, to Year 0 or Year 1 of a full-time undergraduate degree programme, to commence study in the 2025-26 academic year.
This must be your first degree - you must not already hold a degree or equivalent higher-level qualification.
You must have been assessed for fee status as a 'home' student, or expect to be assessed as a ‘home' student.
Have a household income of £25,000 per annum or less
Have made an application to your regional student funding authority for income assessed UK government financial support for higher education students. The regional student funding authorities are: Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, Student Finance NI and the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Please check your eligibility before making an application. Awards may be withdrawn if we later become aware that successful scholars have not met eligibility criteria or have provided false information.