For the first time, the government are offering tuition fee loans to postgraduates. If you are a Welsh student and starting a master’s degree, you could get up to £10,609 to pay for the course.
If you’re starting a PhD, you can get up to £25,000 to help with course fees and living costs.
Unlike undergraduate loans, neither of these loans consider your household income.
Other types of postgraduate funding
Studentships are positions for postgraduates that fund your studies. In return, the organisation benefits from your research. Most studentships come from Research Councils in the UK. You can find a list of studentships here:
You can also check the British Academy and other societies to see what funding they have.
Some charities fund postgraduates to complete master’s degrees and PhDs. You can search for these on Google or use some directories like the Charities Digest. They list which charities have available funding each year.
If none of these options seem applicable to you, there are a few other places you can check:
- Your employer (especially if the course is going to benefit your career).
- Your university or college.
- A professional career development loan. This also comes from the government where you can borrow between £300 and £10,000. The government will pay the interest while you study. Repayments start 1 month after you finish the course. We explain it in more detail in the ‘Other types of funding’ section.
The government also has options available to overseas students:
https://www.gov.uk/topic/higher-education/scholarships-for-overseas-students