93% Club
{{Short description|Student-run charity}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = The 93% Club
| logo = 93 percent club logo.png
| logo_caption = Logo of the 93% Club
| status = Charitable incorporated organisation
| formation = 2016
| founded_date = April 2016
| location = United Kingdom
| focus = Education
| members = 17,000
| leader_title = CEO
| leader_name = Sophie Pender
| homepage = {{Official URL}}
}}
The 93% Club is a charity that aims to provide opportunities and a network for state school–educated university students in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web|last=Nye|first=Catrin|date=25 June 2021|title=Being proud of going to state school|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/education-57580910|access-date=1 July 2021}} It has chapters at 45 universities in the UK and has reached more than 10,000 students.{{cite web |url=https://www.93percent.club |publisher=93percent.club|title=The 93% club Official Website}}
History
The organisation was founded by Sophie Pender, who graduated from secondary school with three A* grades at A-Level but found her working-class council estate background criticised when she began studying at the University of Bristol in 2016.{{Cite news|last=Andersson|first=Jasmine|date=1 July 2021|title=The university students widening access for the 93% of pupils who went to state school|language=en|website=inews|url=https://inews.co.uk/news/education/state-school-and-proud-university-students-widening-access-93-percent-1080773|access-date=1 July 2021}}{{Cite news|last=Pender|first=Sophie|date=17 March 2021|title=I set up an 'alternative Bullingdon Club' for state school students|language=en-GB|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2021/03/17/set-alternative-bullingdon-club-state-school-students/|access-date=1 July 2021|issn=0307-1235}} At that time, more than 35% of students at the university came from private schools.{{cite magazine|last=Bailey|first=Charlotte|date=19 December 2018|title=We spoke to The 93% Club, Bristol's own state school society|url=https://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2018/12/19/we-spoke-to-the-93-club-the-bristols-own-state-school-society-35414|magazine=|publisher=The Tab|website=thetab.com|accessdate=2 July 2021}}
The 93% in the name refers to the share of British people educated in state schools. Robert Verkaik described the club as a "reverse Bullingdon Club" in the Guardian, placing the organisation in contrast to the exclusive private club at the University of Oxford. The charity intends to counteract the traditional "What school did you go to?" question assumed to allow former private school pupils to get good jobs. It gives advice to students, such as helping them select a hall of residence or explaining that state school undergraduates may have built up resilience and may outperform the privately educated.
The movement attracted increased attention in 2020, when it grew to over 10,000 students in 36 universities. It obtained charitable status that December.
Reception
In June 2021, the charity attracted attention for a social media campaign asking users to share that they are "state school and proud". It also received some hostility, as some of its events were disrupted, and the organisation was criticised as "elitist".{{Cite news|last=Verkaik|first=Robert|date=6 March 2021|title=A Bullingdon in reverse: how working-class student club is taking on elitism|website=The Guardian|url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/06/bullingdon-in-reverse-working-class-student-93-club-taking-on-elitism|access-date=1 July 2021}} Pender rejected these criticisms, saying privately educated students "don't need to set up a 7% club because they already benefit from privileged networks". Other commentators have argued the "educational apartheid" of independent (private) schools is preventing social mobility.{{Cite book|title=Engines of privilege : Britain's private school problem|last1=Green|first1= Francis|last2=Kynaston|first2= David|authorlink2=David Kynaston|isbn=978-1-5266-0127-8|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury|oclc=1108696740}}