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‘No financial barrier’
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London, July 11: Oxford University announced today a £75 million donation from Michael Moritz, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and his wife, Harriet Heyman.
The gift, worth about $115 million, will provide financial assistance to undergraduates from low-income backgrounds. The donation, the largest in the university’s modern history, is expected to be combined with Oxford’s own commitment of £75 million and a campaign to raise an additional £150 million, according to a university statement.
Together, they should add up to a fund of £300 million for undergraduate financial assistance, allowing Oxford to compete with elite US universities in offering admissions where an applicant’s financial situation is not considered, and encouraging applications from poorer students who may be discouraged by the British government’s recent move to triple tuition fees at English universities.
Starting this autumn, any student admitted to Oxford whose family’s annual income is below £16,000 would be eligible for a Moritz-Heyman Scholarship. In addition to receiving financial support of £11,000 per year, students will be placed in internships.
The total cost to students would be £3,500 a year — an amount equal to the university tuition before the recent fee rise — which would be funded by government loans repayable only after graduates start earning more than £21,000 a year.
“This is designed as a pathway to help students go from their high school classroom to their eventual professions,” Moritz said in London at a news conference where he announced the gift.
“Real talent is housed everywhere,” Moritz, a native of Cardiff, Wales, said in a statement issued before a news conference in London today. He is the chairman of Sequoia Capital and an early investor in Google, LinkedIn, YouTube and PayPal. In June 2008, Moritz and Heyman donated $50 million to Christ Church College at Oxford, Moritz’s alma mater.
“I hope that today marks the day for which every teacher throughout the country understands that there is no barrier for any student who has the ability to go to Oxford, and that students realise there is no financial barrier between them and Oxford,” Moritz said. The new programme will provide funds for 100 scholarships during the 2012-13 academic year.
“Oxford is already offering the most generous undergraduate support package in the country,” said Andrew Hamilton, Oxford’s vice-chancellor. “But this remarkable and hugely generous gift and initiative from Michael and Harriet allows us to promote access, to promote widening participation at the same time as it allows us to safeguard excellence in our student body.”
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