The support available consists of help with your tuition fees, an income-assessed maintenance grant and other supplementary grants, if these apply. We will not pay you any support if you have done a course of postgraduate study before and received support from UK public funds to do it or if you have to repeat your course. However, we can make an exception if you have to retrain or repeat a course of study because of medical or compassionate reasons. If this applies to you contact us for advice
Tuition fees
We will pay your tuition fees of up to £3,315 straight to your institution.
Your institution may charge fees that are different from the standard rate. If we turn your application down or you fail to apply by the closing dates (30 June 2008 for courses outside Scotland and 30 June 2009 for courses in Scotland), you will have to pay your own fees.
The Standard Maintenance Grant
The amount of Maintenance Grant you can get will depend on the level of your income and, if this applies, your parents' or husband's, wife's, civil partner's or partner's income. We will assess what contribution we will deduct from your support. We will first apply any contribution to your support to any maintenance grants due to you. We will apply any outstanding contribution to the income-assessed supplementary grants you apply for.
The Standard Maintenance Grant covers the standard academic session of 30 weeks plus the Christmas and Easter holidays. If your course is more than 30 weeks and three days (25 weeks and three days for students at Oxford or Cambridge University) or shorter than 25 weeks, you will receive a different amount of Standard Maintenance Grant. If your course is more than 45 weeks, you will receive a grant for all 52 weeks of the year.
The maximum Standard Maintenance Grant rates for courses that last for 30 weeks are as follows.
- £2,780 if you are living in your parents' home.
- £3,675 if you are living in a hall of residence or in lodgings and studying at institutions outside the London area (the o area covered by the Metropolitan Police District).
- £4,660 if you are living in a hall of residence or in lodgings and studying at an institution in the London area.
If you are a single student living in your parents' home, you may apply for the higher maintenance allowance of £3,675 if your household income is low (under £23,660 a year). This rate of grant is also available to independent students living in their parents' home no matter how much their parents earn. In either case, if you want to apply for the higher rate of grant, please send a letter with your application.
You can get extra payments for each week you must be on the course over 30 weeks and three days (25 weeks and three days for Oxford and Cambridge University). The amounts you can get are below.
- £44 if you are living in your parents' home.
- £74 if you are living in a hall of residence or in lodgings and studying at institutions outside the London area (the area covered by the Metropolitan Police District).
- £96 if you are living in a hall of residence or in lodgings and studying at an institution in the London area.
If you apply to us for tuition fees only, you cannot claim supplementary grants other than the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Supplementary grants
There is also extra help available through supplementary grants for certain categories of students such as lone parents and those with dependants, those claiming travel costs or those who need extra costs because they have a disability.
To find out more about the contribution your parents, or your husband, wife, civil partner or partner will have to make please see our contribution section.