In the UK, the cost of postgraduate courses varies enormously. Expect tuition fees of £4k-£16k for home students and living costs of around £12k per year. International students pay higher tuition fees than UK students.
Many postgraduate students get funding from multiple sources, for example, money from bursaries, part-time jobs, charitable trusts, private savings and loans. Funding bodies usually have strict eligibility criteria.
In the first instance establish how students normally fund the course you wish to apply for; course administrators and graduate admissions officers should be able to help with this. For general information on applying for funding see Prospects Postgraduate Funding Guide.
Funding sources
UK Postgraduate Masters Loans
England: Loans of up to £12,471 (2024/25) for study at UK universities are available to UK and Irish and some other EU nationals and those with settled-status, and living in England. These are not means-tested. Repayment begins after your postgraduate course ends, and only when your income exceeds a threshold amount. These loans are only available for students who do not already hold a masters degree. They are not available for students who have an integrated masters as part of their undergraduate study (eg via a 4-year science course) or for masters which are part of a PhD course. For full details see the UK government information on Masters loans and the useful overview of UK masters loans by Find A Masters.
Funding for postgraduate loans is different if you normally live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. In Scotland funding is administered by the Student Awards Agency Scotland. Student Finance Wales advise on funding in Wales and in Northern Ireland the relevant body is Student Finance Northern Ireland.
UK Postgraduate Doctoral Loans
Loans of up to £29,390 (2024/25) are available to UK and Irish nationals and some others. These are not means-tested. Repayment begins after your postgraduate course ends, and only when your income exceeds a threshold amount. Doctoral loans cannot be used to top-up funds from other UK government sources, for example a research council or NHS bursary. For full details see the UK government information on doctoral loans and a useful overview of doctoral loans by Find A PhD.
UK Research Councils (for research degrees)
Research Councils are the main public investors in fundamental research in the UK, with interests ranging from bio-medicine and particle physics to the environment, engineering and economic research.
Funding is allocated to university departments or to Doctoral Training Centres, who then nominate students to receive the awards. Most research councils also publish lists of courses and institutions that have received studentships in the past which may be useful as a guide. None of the research councils accept applications direct from students – you apply to the relevant university institution.
Eligibility, particularly in the types of courses funded, varies according to the relevant Research Council. Check the relevant information carefully.
NHS Bursaries
Government bursaries for some NHS-related courses are available for Graduate Entry Medicine and Dentistry courses in the UK.
Disabled Student Allowance (DSA)
The Disabled Student Allowance provides up £26,948 (2024/25) for students diagnosed with a long term health condition, mental health condition or specific learning difficulties to contribute to expenses incurred in accommodating that condition.
Scholarships & awards
Information about available scholarships for each course should be provided by the institution you are applying to. Explore their graduate admissions and departmental web pages, and talk to your potential department. There are also a number of more general funding search engines – none are completely comprehensive, but all are worth a try:
Funding specific to Oxford University
The university pages on funding for graduate students cover the types of funding open to those wishing to pursue graduate study at the University of Oxford. Use the Fees, funding and scholarships search tool to see what financial support you might be eligible for. Oxford colleges also provide funding for their students in certain circumstances.
Sponsorship by employers or other external organisations
CASE, CASE-plus and Industrial CASE awards allow industrial partners to top-up research council grants for research students in science and engineering disciplines. They are available from NERC, UKRI, MRC and STFC, though you should approach your department in the first instance.
Part-time work
This may be either within the university or outside it. These options may include research and graduate teaching assistantships, which are advertised in the educational press, in specialist journals, and on Jobs.ac.uk. Talk to your department about teaching opportunities. At Oxford and Cambridge you may get work giving tutorials to undergraduates through colleges. Oxford University’s Temporary Staffing Service may also be able to help.
Before organising part-time work as a means to fund your study, please read the university's guidelines on paid work for Oxford graduate students. If you will be an international student, note that your ability to work will be governed by the conditions of your visa: see this overview for details.
Charitable funding
Charitable Trusts are organisations that administer sums of money set aside by individuals or corporations to help specific kinds of people. They may be able to help with costs such as maintenance, fees, books, equipment, travel, childcare, field trips; however, resources are limited, and help, if any, is generally small scale. The charity's aims are likely to be very specific, e.g. they may help according to age, sex, nationality, religion, subject area and so on. There is no point applying unless you are sure that you fit their requirements.
There is no single source of information on charitable funding, so you will need to look a range of resources. Use the scholarship search engines listed above, and the books (available at the Careers Service) The Directory of Grant Making Trusts and The Grants Register.
Funding for international students
International students will find that they are ineligible for some of the sources of UK funding. However, many institutions offer scholarships specifically aimed at international students, see above. You may also find the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), the International Education Financial Aid, and The British Council helpful.
