A Guide to Masters Funding in the UK

The main source of funding for UK students is the Masters loan. Exactly how much you're eligible for depends on where you're from in the UK. However, if you're an international student coming to the UK to study, it's unlikely you'll be eligible for the Masters loan. Non-UK residents should look at research council funding, scholarships, charities and trusts and other sources to fund their study.

After deciding to take up the challenges and opportunities of a postgraduate degree, the next step for most students is working out how to pay for it!

The actual cost of a Masters may be less terrifying than you think, but Masters degree funding is a little trickier than just signing up for another student loan like you did as an undergrad.

That's where we come in. I've put together a checklist of the different funding types that could be available to you, with links to our in-depth resources and FAQs, as well as a handy Masters degree funding action plan—because let’s be honest, winging it probably isn’t the best approach here.

Not thinking of a Masters in the UK? No worries, we've got guides to postgraduate funding in other popular countries.

On this page:

If you're a UK student, you’ve got a few options when it comes to funding a Masters. The most obvious is a postgraduate loan, with each UK nation offering its own take on student finance. For the 2026/27 academic year, these are:

• England – up to £13,206
• Scotland – up to £13,900
• Wales – up to £19,635
• Northern Ireland – up to £6,500

A general rule: you apply for a loan in the country where you normally live, not where you plan to study. Unfortunately, international students aren’t usually eligible for these loans, although EU nationals with settled status in the UK may qualify.

The good news? You only start repaying these loans once you’re earning above a certain threshold. For example, if you take out an English or Welsh postgraduate loan, repayments are 6% of anything you earn over £21,000 a year. Sounds manageable... until you look at your payslip and remember that rent exists. Check out our postgraduate loan repayment guide to see exactly how much you’ll owe.

Other sources of Masters degree funding options include:

• Charities and trusts
• University scholarships
• Research Council funding for certain courses
• Crowdfunding
• Employer sponsorship
• Disabled Students’ Allowance

And, of course, there’s the age-old strategy of working while studying. It’s not easy, but if you’re doing a part-time Masters, it can be done. Just maybe don’t take on a full-time job unless you enjoy sleep deprivation.

The seven UK Research Councils are a big deal when it comes to funding postgraduate study. They mainly fund PhDs these days, but certain Masters courses—especially 1+3 or New Route PhD programmes—can still get funding. These courses start with a Masters year before rolling into a PhD, so if you’re planning on doing a PhD anyway, this could be a smart way to get funding.

You’ll usually find these advertised as ‘4-Year’, ‘1+3’ or ‘New Route PhD Programmes’ on FindAPhD.com.

Believe it or not, charities and learned societies love giving money to postgraduates. The catch? The amounts are usually small (£100–£1,000), but if you apply to multiple sources, you can piece together enough funding.

This method is so common, it even has a fancy name: ‘portfolio funding’—because ‘creative begging’ didn’t quite have the same ring to it. Check out our guide on Masters funding from charities and trusts.

University scholarships

Universities actually want good students on their Masters courses, so many offer scholarships. Sometimes they’re merit-based, sometimes need-based, and sometimes they’re just a mysterious pot of money you have to dig around for.

Our guide to Masters scholarships explains what sort of support might be available and includes a handy index of university funding resources.

Crowdfunding

Want to see if strangers will pay for your degree? Crowdfunding might be for you. It takes effort (and a convincing story), but if you can persuade enough people that your Masters is worth investing in, you might raise a decent amount. Just don’t expect to go viral overnight.

Read our guide to postgraduate crowdfunding to understand more.

Sponsorship from your employer

This won’t be applicable to all students, but it can be worth asking an employer about the possibility of support to gain new qualifications.

Of course, this strategy is more likely to be successful if your Masters is going to help develop skills that are relevant to your job. Asking for money to study Victorian poetry when you’re actually working in an IT consultancy firm might not be a great idea unless your boss is remarkably generous (or a big fan of Alfred Tennyson).

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA)

Completing a Masters whilst managing a disability, illness or learning difficulty can be challenging, but it's not impossible.

It's also possible that additional funding may be available to help support you during your studies. Find out more with our guide to Disabled Students' Allowance for Masters students.

Unfortunately, UK postgraduate loans are generally only available to UK citizens (with some exceptions for certain EU students). But that doesn't mean funding isn't available for students from elsewhere.

In fact, a number of schemes exist specifically to support international Masters students. Learn about this and more in our UK Masters funding guide for international students.

So, now that you’ve got an idea of the main sources of Masters degree funding that are out there, it’s time to think about how to put together a funding package that works for you.

#1 Work out what your budget is

It’s worth reading one of our blogs on this subject, which covered how to calculate the real cost of your Masters – and how to pay for it.

#2 Start as soon as you can

Applications for postgraduate loans typically open in June for courses beginning in autumn. The process is reasonably quick and simple (and can be completed online), as the loans aren’t means-tested. Plus you don’t need to have received a university offer before applying – you can simply nominate an eligible programme.

#3 There isn’t a separate maintenance element to the postgraduate loan (apart from Scotland)

As we’ve already covered, each UK nation has its own postgraduate student finance system. Unlike the undergraduate system you’re probably already familiar with, there isn’t a separate maintenance element if you’re applying for a Masters loan in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

#4 You can’t pick and choose which nation’s student finance system you use

Unfortunately, you can’t simply pick which loan system is most attractive to you – you are only eligible for the nation in which you’re ordinarily resident. So, if you went to university in England but want to study in Wales, you’d need to use the English Masters loan to do so (and not the Welsh postgraduate finance system).

#5 Don’t forget alumni discounts

Many universities offer discounts of 5% or 10% to graduates who are returning for a postgraduate degree, so it’s well worth bearing this mind if your alma mater offer a course that suits you and your aims.

#6 Keep an open mind

It’s always worth keeping an open mind when it comes to postgraduate funding – if you look hard enough, you’re bound to come across some unlikely sources of financial support. Charities, trusts and other organisations often offer help to needy postgraduates. Turn2us and the Grants Register are both good ways of tracking this support down.

More information on UK postgraduate funding is available from the following resources:

• The UK Government
• Student Finance England
• Student Awards Agency Scotland
• Student Finance Wales
• Student Finance Northern Ireland
• UK Research and Innovation