One of the colleges of the University of Cambridge has revealed plans to fund the living costs of students from the poorest backgrounds.

The move by St. John’s College, Cambridge comes in the wake of the government decision to scrap the maintenance grant for the least-well-off students, replacing it with a loan.

The college has set up a ‘studentships’ scheme, which will offer a non-repayable grant of £9,570 per year to those students whose family income is less than £25,000. The money is to help with day-to-day living expenses and is being financed by funds raised by alumni from the college.

Dr Matthias Dörrzapf, a senior tutor at St John’s College, said, “Like any other College in Cambridge, we believe that a student who is capable of making the most of a place at the university should be able to benefit from a complete educational experience regardless of their financial circumstances.

He continued, “By covering the living costs of the students who need the most help… we are taking a step towards meeting our longer-term ambition to guarantee that every student capable of studying here is able to do so and fully supported from start to finish.”

At £9,570, the ‘studentship’ is actually more generous than the amounts offered by the controversial new student maintenance loans of £8,200. The new loans have come under attack from a number of sources, including Megan Dunn, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), who expressed concern about the impact the loans will have on social mobility, calling them an “attack” on disadvantaged students.

So can we expect more universities stepping in to assist their poorest students?

That seems doubtful right now, as not every college has the facility to fund the estimated £145, 680 that the ‘studentship’ scheme will cost St. John’s College Cambridge for the academic year 2016-17.

However, it is not the first time that the University of Cambridge has stepped up to assist their less well-off students. They also run a scheme that is open to all home and EU students, offering a non-repayable grant of up to £3,500 per year for those whose annual household income is less than £42,620.

In a week that has seen people question the cost of university compared to the earning potential that it offers to different graduates, it is good to see at least one college making proactive moves to help bridge the social mobility gap between the richest and poorest students.