A Spotlight on The 93% Club

On their official homepage, the 93% Club, also known as the “The State School Members’ Club,” state that they “exist to dismantle the class inequality that exists in Britain today through the power of community.”

The Club was founded in 2016 by Bristol University student Sophie Pender. The name of the Club refers to the 93 per cent of people who attend state school in the UK. It acknowledges how, despite the high percentage, state school students comprise a much lower percentage of some of the UK’s top occupational positions, whether they be senior judges, journalists, or members of the House of Lords. The 93% Club aims to assist universities in closing this divide by enhancing networking and supporting state school students on their occupational journeys. 

The Club has its own branch in St Andrews whose president, Erin Cruickshank, a third-year Scottish student, said, “The 93% Club in St Andrews is definitely there to create a community between people that maybe feel like they are slightly outnumbered or don’t feel like they have come from the same background as other people.”

Cruickshank stated that the Club's establishment was “a way to level the playing field between state schooled and private schooled [students]. It is by no means [to] hate on private school students.”

When asked about why the 93% Club is an essential club to have at the University, Cruickshank said: “I think it is so important because it is such a small town.” She also explained why this makes representation such an important matter: “As a Scottish student, I definitely felt outnumbered when I arrived. It was a shock considering that it is a Scottish university. I think silly things like my accent have entirely changed, like I diluted it so much when I first arrived just because I knew that having that Scottish accent [...] may have had some sort of effect.”

When asked about what the University could do to help foster a more inclusive environment, Cruickshank said, “I think that the first step is acknowledging the fact that there is an issue. It’s not acknowledged. The statistics are hidden.”

Data from St Andrews’s Planning Statistics Team calculated that there are currently 3,180 state school undergraduate students enrolled at the University. However, this sum includes the entire student population and not just state school students from within the UK. Additionally, the University’s system does not have a specific school type recorded for most international students; therefore, this sum may be excluding students whose school is listed as ‘N/A’ or left blank. Consequently, it does not provide insight into the exact number of Scottish state school students or UK state school students that are currently enrolled at the University. For reference, the University’s Facts and Figures page states that there were 8,388 undergraduate students in the 2023-24 academic year.

“There should definitely be an acknowledgement and an encouragement to have Scottish students and to have students that don’t necessarily believe that they can get to a place such as St Andrews. I feel like it is very shut off from us,” Cruickshank emphasised. 

Jennifer Carmichael is a Masters student at the University and is from Balmullo in Fife. She attended state school from nursery to the end of secondary school. When asked about whether St Andrews fosters a welcoming environment for state school students and if they feel underrepresented at the University, Carmichael said: “A lot of the students I meet are privately educated so it does make me feel that I’m outside the club a little bit sometimes — or it’s almost embarrassing to admit that you are not from a private school.”

When asked if there was anything that the University could do to create a more inclusive environment for all students, she said: “I don’t meet many Scottish students here. Nobody that I know from the local area went to this school, and we are from here, so they need to be more inclusive of Scottish students as a Scottish university.”

“We have got a lot of plans this year,” Cruickshank said. She continued by emphasising that the Club is “really hoping to build a big community” to further empower state school students. 

Image from the 93% Website