Features : Funding at an institution near you

Most UK higher education institutions offer some scholarships and awards to help alleviate the cost of postgraduate study - all you have to do is track them down.

Further study can offer the path to the future you want but the financial implications associated with it are likely to weigh heavily on your decision to spend another year or more studying.

One postgraduate who bears witness to this is Ruth O’Rourke. After graduating from Newcastle University with a combined degree in Politics, French and German, Ruth felt her undergraduate degree was not specialist enough and decided to look into further study. Her immediate concern was how she would pay for it.

‘I couldn’t ask for family support as they had already helped me during my undergraduate study,’ says Ruth. ‘I was also already massively in debt from this, like most other students, and couldn’t afford to increase that debt with a graduate loan.’

Funded places

But Ruth had not exhausted all her options. Upon applying for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Ruth’s application was automatically referred to Newcastle University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, from which she received a studentship to help cover the cost of her MA in Professional Translation (European Languages).

‘At Newcastle, there are a small number of fully-funded places for particular programmes in particular schools,’ explains the University’s Marketing and Student Recruitment Officer Elizabeth Farnhill. ‘Often a requirement for being considered for this funding is that the student must have applied to one of the UK Research Councils for funding. If their application is unsuccessful then they are considered for a fully-funded place from the University.’

The studentship Ruth received covered her tuition fees and most of her living costs; she worked part time to cover the shortfall. Full studentships are not the only form of institutional funding on offer at Newcastle, though. Partial studentships that help cover tuition fees and, in some cases, living costs are also available. The School of English, Literature, Language and Linguistics, for example, offers up to five bursaries of £4,000 plus course fees. The School of Agriculture and Rural Development meanwhile sees that students classified as Home UK or Home EU receive £500 for fees purposes, when enrolling on one of their postgraduate taught programmes.

Elsewhere, tuition fee discount of 10% is automatically granted to self-funding Newcastle alumni who meet certain criteria.

Making a difference

Ruth says the financial support she received from Newcastle has enabled her to complete a postgraduate course that will lead her to her future career.

‘If I had not received the funds I would not have continued and, suffice to say, things would be very different now.

‘I strongly believe, and still do, that having a specialism is a great asset for your CV. In depth study of a discipline such as translation is a very good guide to the demands and considerations in the world of work and English native speaking translators and interpreters are always in demand.’

In a different part of the country, another Ruth has also found financial assistance by contacting her university about studentships. Already the recipient of tuition fee funding from the NHS for a Speech and Language Therapy Postgraduate Diploma, Ruth Scott was searching for further financial assistance to help cover her living costs.

‘I was planning to work during term time and holidays to try and make ends meet but I was worried because I knew the course was intense and that many of my holidays would be taken up by placements,’ she says.

‘It turned out that I was not eligible for any of the vocational loans offered by the banks, and the interest charged on career development loans was really high. I was concerned about getting into more debt because I still hadn’t paid off the debt from my first degree.’

Simple application

After contacting City University’s Speech Therapy office, Ruth was pointed in the direction of the Sir John Cass Foundation, which offers postgraduate scholarships for taught MSc degrees. The maximum award made to eligible students is £10,000.

‘The application process was relatively simple, although they did require evidence of my statement of financial independence from parents and evidence of my financial status,’ explains Ruth. ‘In comparison to the long and very complicated NHS Bursary forms, the Sir John Cass application was straightforward.

‘The personal statement was the most difficult aspect because I was not sure what the Foundation valued and was looking to fund that year. This was followed by an interview with a funding manager, who wanted to know my plans for the future both in career and financial terms.’

Early enquiries

Ruth was awarded £10,000 by the Foundation, which equates to £5,000 for each year of her course. While the money will not cover all of her expenses, Ruth says she will not have to undertake the same amount of part-time work and that the help will ultimately alleviate her collective graduate debt.

It’s clear that making enquiries to the university you are looking to study at can be crucial in discovering exactly what funding is available. But Elizabeth is also keen to stress that it’s important to consider this early in the process. ‘Prospective students should be looking into funding at the same time as they are short-listing the programmes they wish to pursue.

‘The criteria for institutional funding varies and students should check the conditions for each source carefully,’ explains Elizabeth. ‘Their fee status, place of previous study, course and academic performance can all influence which sources of funding they are eligible to apply for.’

Studentships and bursaries are available at most UK higher education institutions but you’ll have to do your research to find them.

Further information

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• Funding my further study