Scholar's enviable dilemma

CRAIG SIMCOX/The Dominion Post

TAKE AN EDUCATED GUESS: Jacob Diggle has to choose between a $30,000 scholarship and a place at Oxford. 'It is a tough choice, but I suppose it is a good position to be in.'

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Jacob Diggle has 30,000 reasons to agonise over which university to attend.

The teenager is considering turning down a $30,000 scholarship prize so that he can attend Britain's prestigious Oxford University.

Jacob, 17, was awarded the money when his Scholarship exam results showed he had gained four outstanding (English, art history, classics and drama) and one standard scholarship (history), scooping the "premier" award.

However, the former Wellington College pupil, from Kelburn, also earned a place at Oxford and may chose to forgo the prize, which stipulates that he must attend a New Zealand university.

He said yesterday: "I will probably go to Oxford, but I am still not 100 per cent sure because there is a big incentive to stay here. It is a tough choice, but I suppose it is a good position to be in."

Jacob, who would study history and politics at Oxford, said he was attracted to the 900-year-old university because of its "amazing" reputation. "It has some of the best academics in the world and obviously has large resources."

Jacob said he would fund his Oxford studies, due to start in October, through a student loan, help from his parents and savings.

"It will be a mixture of everything, really, but that's all part of the experience. It won't be cheap, but I will do some tutoring to earn some money before I go."

Leading up to the scholarship exams, Jacob was studying for four hours a day, increasing to seven hours a day during the exam period. He was pleasantly surprised at how well he did.

"I was pretty speechless because I didn't expect results to be this good. The support from Wellington College was invaluable. A large proportion of this scholarship is down to the teaching at the college."

Jacob was among about 9000 pupils who received scholarship results on Wednesday.

Qualifications Authority spokesman Steve Rendle said 2038 students received a total of more than $3.2 million, ranging from a one-off payment of $500 to $30,000 for the 10 pupils who qualified for the premier award.