Student Finance applications are now open

Funding your studies at University

Before you arrive at university it’s really important to think about how much it’s going to cost you and how you intend to cover those costs.

Apply now for your Student Finance Loan

The majority of undergraduate students use Student Finance Loans from the UK Government to pay for their studies. Most UK students will get a Tuition Fee Loan, which is paid directly to UCL to cover your tuition fee costs, and a Maintenance Loan which is paid to you to help with living costs.

Student Finance applications are now open for full time students starting in Autumn 2021. Make sure you apply by 21st May 2021 so that your funding is in place before your course starts. We’d recommend that you apply as early as possible, so if you run into any problems there’s time to get them sorted out.

Free money!

Bursaries, Scholarships and Grants are all terms for non-repayable funding. That means if you’re able to get them, it’s free money that you won’t have to pay back (unlike your student loan).

Here are a few examples of this type of funding that might be available to you. It’s well worth spending a bit of time researching your options.

UCL Undergraduate Bursary 

If you are a UCL undergraduate from the UK with a household income below £42,875 per year you may be eligible for up to £2,500 from the UCL Undergraduate Bursary for each year of your study.

There is no separate application for this bursary. When you apply for the maintenance loan from Student Finance you will provide your household income. This will be used to calculate what bursary you can receive from UCL. 

Even if you are not taking out Student Finance loans you can still have your household income assessed by Student Finance so that you can be considered for this bursary.

Care Leaver and Estranged Student Bursaries

If you are assessed as a care leaver or estranged from parents by Student Finance, you are also eligible for an additional bursary of £1,000 from UCL for each year of your study.

You can contact the Student Funding team via askUCL once you have started to let us know you’ve been as assessed as a care leaver or estranged from your parents by Student Finance. We’ll then arrange for the bursary to be paid to you.

Scholarships and other funding

You may be eligible for a UCL Scholarship. Applications for these are usually open from January to June. There are also some useful links to external scholarships on our UCL Scholarships and funding website. Remember, scholarships tend to be competitive so they aren’t a guaranteed source of funds. Our advice is to spend some time researching what scholarships are available, check the eligibility criteria carefully, and apply for as many as you can.

Hardship Funds

Sometimes, unexpected things happen! Hardship funds are there to help students who start the year with a solid funding plan, but then find themselves in unforeseen financial hardship. Some of the hardship funds that UCL students can access include:
•    UCL Financial Assistance Fund – this hardship fund is for all UCL students who find themselves in unexpected hardship
•    Medical School Student Money – UCL’s medical school has some financial support available for its students including hardship and travel funds.
•    Royal Medical Benevolent Fund – provides grants for medical students in their final two years
•    RIBA Student Support Fund – for architecture students on RIBA part 1 or 2 courses
•    Pharmacist Support – financial support for MPharm students in hardship

If you need support with funding and finances

If you are worried about any element of funding your studies, or have questions about how to manage your finances whilst at university, the Student Funding Advisory service is here to help. We can offer lots of tips for How to Manage Your Money, as well as information and advice with complex funding queries.

We’ve got lots of other information on our UCL Scholarships and funding website, to help you understand all the funding options that are available to you. So grab the beverage of your choice and invest a bit of time getting to grips with how you’re going to fund your studies. Your wallet will thank you!

Good luck, and we look forward to welcoming you to UCL!