Financial support
There's a range of scholarships, bursaries, grants and other funding available to support you in getting your degree.
Student Loans
Postgraduate master's loan
If you’re starting a master’s degree, you could get a Postgraduate Master’s Loan to help with course fees and living costs. For Postgraduate Healthcare courses, there is a different package of support available. Please see the NHS Postgraduate Healthcare section below.
What you’ll get
Academic year | Maximum Loan (£) |
2019/20 |
£10,906 |
2020/21 |
£11,222 |
Funding for postgraduate loans is different if you normally live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Moving somewhere to study does not count as normally living there.
Find out more
NHS Postgraduate Healthcare courses
England domiciled students commencing study on designated pre-registration postgraduate healthcare courses will be entitled to apply for the standard package of support available to UG students, including tuition fee support, maintenance, long course loans and supplementary grants.
A tuition fee loan of up to £9,250 is available from the Student Loans Company. This can be used as part payment (e.g. MSc Physiotherapy) or full payment (e.g. MSc Occupational Therapy) of tuition fees.
Your student finance application is likely to take around 2 months to finalise so it is important to complete your application as soon as possible. We recommend completing your application by the end of May (new students) or June (continuing students) to avoid any delays in receiving your funding. Please note, you need to apply for the undergraduate student support package.
Maintenance loan
Apply for a student loan
You can apply for a maintenance loan to assist with meeting living costs such as food, accommodation and travel expenses. These are normally paid in three instalments throughout the university year directly to your bank account.
Depending on household income, students may be able to apply for the following amounts:
Living arrangements |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
Living at Home |
Up to £7,529 |
Up to £7,747
|
Living away from home (outside of London) |
Up to £8,944 |
Up to £9,203
|
You can work out how much of a loan you are entitled to apply for using the Student Finance Calculator.
NHS Learning Support Fund
Students starting and continuing their course from September 2020 can apply for the NHS Learning Support Fund (NHS LSF) if they’re on one of the eligible pre-registration undergraduate or postgraduate courses. The list of eligible course can be found here.
The Learning Support Fund offer support for:
- a Training Grant for all eligible students of £5,000 per academic year
- Parental Support of £2,000 for students with at least one dependent child under 15 years, or under 17 years if registered with special educational needs (this used to be called Child Dependants Allowance)
- reimbursement of excess costs incurred on practice placement for travel and temporary accommodation costs (Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses)
- students experiencing financial hardship (Exceptional Support Fund)
For further details and to apply, visit the NHSBSA web page here.
Note: there are differences in the way students from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are funded for postgraduate courses. If you don’t live in England, information can be accessed here.
Postgraduate doctoral loan
If you’re studying a doctoral degree, you could get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan to help with course fees and living costs.
Start year | Maximum Loan (£) |
2019/20 |
£25,700 |
2020/21 |
£26,445 |
Find out more
Repaying your loan
The earliest you start repaying your Postgraduate Master’s or Doctoral Loan is when your annual income is over £21,000 and it’s either:
- the first April after you leave your course
- April 4 years after the course started
Contact Student Finance England if your circumstances change or you leave your course early. You’ll have to pay back any overpayment straight away even if your income is less than £21,000.
How much you’ll repay
You’ll pay back 6% of your income over the minimum amount (‘threshold’). This is £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month or £404 a week.
Example
You earn £2,500 a month before tax. This is £750 over the monthly threshold. You’ll repay £45 (6% of this amount) each month.
If you already have a Postgraduate Master’s Loan then you’ll make a combined repayment of 6% covering both postgraduate loans. You’ll be charged interest from the day you get the first payment until your loan is repaid in full or cancelled.
You must repay any undergraduate student loans you have at the same time.
Repayment terms are different if you normally live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Scholarships and bursaries
Social Work bursary
MA Social Work students may be eligible for a grant up to £3,362.50 and a means tested maintenance grant up to £2,721. Full details are available on the NHSBSA website.
The number of people who can get a bursary is limited (or capped). This means that there is no guarantee that if you take up an offer of a place on the MA Social Work course, you will receive a bursary. The university will provide a shortlist of students to the NHSBSA who will then assess bursary applications.
Social Work bursary
Postgrad Solutions Study Bursaries
Postgrad Solutions Ltd is offering 13 bursaries across a number of subject areas. The bursaries are worth £500 each and are open to students from anywhere in the world.
To apply for a Postgrad Solutions bursary, visit their website.
Alternative funding
For other courses not covered by either the Masters Loan or specialist funding, we advise you to do some research as early as possible into what funding is available to you.
Click on the links below for information on potentially available funding.
Check out the websites below for more information about applying for postgraduate funding.