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Financing your studies

Postgraduate funding

Postgraduate or master's loans, research funding and scholarships – discover your options for funding postgraduate study.

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CONTENTS

  1. ​Applying for postgraduate funding

  2. Postgraduate loans or master’s loans

  3. Research funding

  4. Funding for teaching, social work and healthcare

  5. Postgraduate funding for international students

  6. Postgraduate scholarships

  7. Alumni discounts and loyalty schemes

  8. Employer sponsorship or part-time work

  9. Graduate teaching and research assistants

  10. Master’s degree apprenticeships
  11. Researching all your options

Applying for postgraduate funding

While there are many reasons to study a postgraduate degree, you may be wondering how you’ll finance your studies. With fees as high as £68,790 for a one-year MBA at Oxford, it’s a valid concern.

Fortunately, a range of postgraduate funding options is available. From postgraduate loans for UK-resident students, to research and government funding, to postgraduate scholarships – we cover each of these below.

Postgraduate loans or master’s loans

Each UK nation operates a postgraduate loan system for different levels of study, with differing loan amounts. This may be a simple postgraduate tuition fee loan or could cover additional living costs. England and Wales also have a doctoral loan scheme.

UK-resident students can apply for a loan from the nation in which they 'normally reside'. If you moved there to study, it doesn't count – unless you stayed on after your degree to work.

In some cases, a postgraduate loan may not be enough to cover the tuition fee a university charges. In this case, you'll need to fund the remaining amount yourself.

Apart from in Wales, postgraduate loans don't take your household income into account. In Wales, for master’s study you'll still get the same amount of funding, but your income determines whether this is in the form of a grant (which doesn't need to be repaid) or a loan (which does).

In all cases, you’ll need to repay the loan after your studies, once your income is over a certain amount. The repayment threshold depends on the nation issuing your loan. For 2022, amounts are:

  • £21,000 (England or Wales)
  • £20,195 (Northern Ireland)
  • £25,375 (Scotland)

The repayment threshold for postgraduate loans in England hasn’t changed since they were introduced in 2016. Thresholds for Northern Ireland and Scotland change in April each year. Loans are also subject to interest, which changes annually. You’ll find all the details on our pages about postgraduate loans in the UK.

Research funding

The main sources of research funding are the UK's seven research councils:

They award about 6,000 grants or 'studentships' each year to universities to fund students undertaking PhD research or (rarely) master’s courses. If you get a studentship, you’ll get annual support of £4,596 (minimum) towards your tuition fees and a living cost grant of £17,668 (£19,668 if you study in London). You don’t have to repay this.

To get the funding, you must be accepted onto a PhD programme where funding is available. You then apply to your university for a studentship. If you’re unsuccessful, you’ll need an alternate means of financing your studies. Application deadlines vary, so be sure to check these. As well as a good funding application and research proposal, you’ll need good academic credentials. Normally a 2:1 degree or above is expected, and you may also need additional experience in your field of study or a master’s qualification.

Since August 2021 international students have also been eligible to apply for research council funding. The tuition fee award is at the UK rate and international fees may be higher, but international students will be given flexibility to fund the difference from other sources. EU nationals starting a course after August 2021 will be treated as international students unless they're UK residents registered with the EU Settlement Scheme.

Students can’t get research council funding if they also have other UK government funding (other than Disabled Students’ Allowance, if eligible). Full-time work isn’t allowed but part-time work often supplements PhD student income, particularly in graduate teaching or research assistant roles (see below).

Funding for teaching, social work and healthcare

The section below is for UK residents. Student loan finance is from the nation where you live but some incentives may also depend on the nation in which you study.

If you want to become a qualified teacher, postgraduate students are eligible for undergraduate student finance (loans) to study a PGCE in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or a PGDE in Scotland. Financial incentives may be available for certain subjects (e.g. STEM). In England and Wales there are also schemes where you’re employed while working towards qualified teacher status. To check for funding incentives, see Get Into Teaching (England), Educators Wales (Wales), Teach in Scotland (Scotland) or Initial Teacher Training if you’re from Northern Ireland.

If you want to become a social worker, you can get a bursary for postgraduate-level courses in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

If you're interested in Medicine, Dentistry or another healthcare area, you can get some funding from bursaries or undergraduate student finance/loans. 

If you’re an international student, you should first investigate funding opportunities in your own country and contact your local British Council office.

The UK Government funds Chevening Scholarships for international postgraduates from eligible countries. These prestigious scholarships are very competitive (only one in 25 applicants is successful) and are aimed at students whose studies will enable them to take part in development work in their home country. Applications open in August and close at the start of November. Successful applicants are announced the following June, with awards paid out in September/October.

There’s also a range of Commonwealth Scholarships and Fellowships for students from certain Commonwealth countries who take an approved course at a participating UK university.

GREAT Scholarships offer funding towards your tuition fees at a range of partnership UK universities, if you are from one of 14 eligible countries. Check with your uni which countries they have scholarships for. Applications open in October. Find more details about GREAT Scholarships on the British Council website.

As an international student, you’re unlikely to be offered funding in the form of a teaching or research assistantship from your university, especially for a taught postgraduate course. However, at PhD level you might be able to apply for an externally funded scholarship. International students can also apply for research council funding from August 2021 (see above for details).

Postgraduate scholarships

Many universities offer postgraduate scholarships for students, often in particular subjects. You’ll need to have achieved good grades at undergraduate study, whether you’re a UK or international student. Awards may come in the form of a tuition fee reduction rather than cash. Find the details and links to uni scholarship pages on our university profiles.

As well as university scholarships, there may be charitable or educational awards available.

Alumni discounts and loyalty schemes

If you’re considering postgraduate study at your former university, it’s worth seeing if they offer a discount or reduction on the tuition fees for graduates. Sometimes a time limit may apply – for example, you may need to move straight from undergraduate to master’s-level study. Discounts may also be restricted to certain subjects or levels of study.

In some cases, loyalty discounts are available to friends and family of alumni. Here, ‘family’ generally means a sibling or close relative like a child – worth considering if your parents graduated from a UK university.

The above will also depend on whether university alumni discounts are for UK or international students. Students whose study is sponsored or who receive public money towards their postgraduate course are unlikely to be eligible.

Employer sponsorship or part-time work

If you work, your employer might sponsor you to take a part-time postgraduate course, especially if the qualification will help you progress at work.

Or, you could fund your course by working part-time as almost half of all postgraduate students do. Most universities know that many students need to take paid work during their studies but recommend a limit of 10–15 hours a week during term time. Not all universities allow you to work during your course.

Graduate teaching and research assistants

Some postgraduates, particularly PhD students, get jobs as graduate teaching or research assistants to help fund their courses. This can involve a lot of work – marking essays, giving lectures, taking seminars and acting as demonstrators in laboratory classes – and pay is by the hour. But it does enable postgraduates to get valuable teaching experience.

You should be careful to ensure the hours you work for a part-time job are clearly agreed in advance and adhered to by the department to give you enough time for your PhD.

Master’s degree apprenticeships

In England, a degree apprenticeship could be an option for you even if you already have a degree. Graduate degree apprenticeships are available in a wide range of vocations. Examples include teacher training, training as a solicitor, retraining as a nurse, or business roles like IT or management.

There are a few differences from taking a postgraduate university degree:

  • You’re employed as an apprentice, learning on the job as well as studying
  • You won’t have to pay any tuition fees
  • You get paid
  • You’ll need to find an apprenticeship, much as you would a job
  • Apprenticeship qualifications are vocational and specific to an occupation

If you’re seeking academic study, this may not be the route for you. However, you’ll still learn at a uni and will spend around 20% of your time on your studies.

While an apprenticeship may require a related degree, it can’t be in the same subject as the apprenticeship qualification.

Level 7 apprenticeships are at master’s level, and generally take 24 months to complete. You must have the right to work in England.  If you’re employed, you could see if your employer could offer a degree apprenticeship.

Employers may advertise apprenticeships anytime, so you must keep alert for available opportunities.

Researching all your options

Tuition fees for postgraduate courses depend on factors such as the institution you choose, type and level of course, and whether you’re a UK or international student. Tuition fees for courses that run more than a year may increase annually, in part due to inflation. MBAs are particularly expensive at high-ranked universities.

While some students may have to choose a postgraduate course at an institution close to home, do thoroughly research the alternatives. Distance learning or online courses can be taken wherever you live, and part-time postgraduate courses or research master’s may be feasible as a commuter student to a university some distance away. Tuition fees do vary widely, as can be seen from our survey of average postgraduate tuition fees in the UK, and even if you can get a postgraduate loan it makes sense to keep your costs low, so long as the course and university meet your requirements.

 

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