The University of Cambridge has offered to pay out more than £50,000 in financial settlements to student complainants over the past five years, Varsity can reveal.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that between 2019-20 and 2023-24, the University offered to make 64 financial payouts to students who lodged formal complaints under the Student Complaints Procedure or submitted academic appeals under the Examination Review Procedure.

While it is unclear whether the payouts were accepted, and, therefore, what the University spent, Cambridge offered £55,128 across the period. The amount compensated per student varied significantly each year.

In 2023-24, the University offered the highest average amount per complainant, at £1,973 per student – a total of £19,730 across ten cases. This was more than double the previous year, when Cambridge offered £7,355 in total for nine student complaints, or £735 per complainant.

The largest number of financial remedies was issued in 2019-20, when 22 students were granted compensation.

In its FOI response, the University said: “Financial remedies can be offered as a refund of fees, or as a distress and inconvenience payment. The case database does not record whether the student accepted the offered financial remedy.”

Astrophysics Professor Wyn Evans, Head of the 21 Group and member of the University’s General Board, told Varsity: “These are the cases in which the University’s internal complaints process has worked, and the student has accepted both the findings and a financial settlement. Yet behind these are far more serious situations – cases where students, having exhausted every internal avenue, have been forced to take their complaints to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) or even to the courts.

“The 21 Group is currently aware of four active legal actions under the Equality Act, brought by Cambridge students seeking justice for mistreatment by the University. The financial and reputational cost of these cases is substantial, exceeding £100,000 each – yet the human cost, borne by the affected students, is far greater.”

The payouts come amid wider financial pressures on the institution. Last year, Varsity reported that Cambridge projected a £53 million deficit, citing a “lack of budgetary control” and promising to introduce new measures to rein in spending such as 5% budgetary cuts across faculties.

These figures reflect a wider national trend of rising student dissatisfaction with their universities. The number of complaints lodged by university students in England and Wales reached a record high last year, as institutions across the sector grappled with financial pressures.

In 2024, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) received 3,613 complaints, a 15% increase on the previous year – the “largest year-on-year rise in a decade,” according to the watchdog.

The University of Cambridge was contacted for comment.