What to Do if Your Course isn’t Eligible for a Postgraduate Loan

If you’re looking into postgraduate courses, you might be forgiven for thinking that the UK Government’s Masters loans are the only game in town when it comes to funding. This might be a worry if you’re thinking about a course like a PGCE, pre-registration nursing qualification, Social Work Masters or Master of Architecture that isn’t eligible for the postgraduate loan.

The good news is these courses do have student finance available – just not the postgraduate loans you’ve probably heard all about. In fact, some of this funding is better than a postgraduate loan. This blog will give you a quick introduction to what’s out there and how you can apply for it.

The PGCE is one of the most popular routes into teaching in the UK. Available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (the Scottish equivalent is the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education), the PGCE is primarily funded through bursaries, scholarships and the undergraduate student finance system.

PGCE bursaries and scholarships are very generous, offering an excellent financial incentive to budding teachers – they’re tax-free and you don’t have to pay them back.

Bursaries

Depending on what you want to teach and the grade you achieved at undergraduate level, you could be eligible for a PGCE bursary of up to £24,000, split across monthly payments of £2,400.

The application process for these bursaries is extremely simple – just make sure that you meet the academic criteria and that you’re enrolled on an eligible fee-based postgraduate teacher training programme (like a PGCE) in England. Your training provider will automatically pay your bursary in 10 monthly instalments from October to July.

Scholarships

Trainee teachers in certain subjects can apply for scholarships instead of bursaries. These scholarships are worth slightly more: £26,000.

You’ll usually need a 2:1 in an appropriate subject to be eligible for one of these scholarships, which are offered in partnership with a relevant professional association. This partnership means that in addition to the scholarship itself, you get membership of an organisation that offers exciting networking and development opportunities.

Unlike the PGCE bursaries, you’ll need to apply through the professional organisation that is responsible for the scholarship. If you’re unsuccessful, you’ll still receive the bursary.

Find out more about scholarships and bursaries over on our guide to PGCE funding.

Loans

You can’t get a postgraduate loan for a PGCE, but you can apply for an undergraduate loan (yes, that is a bit confusing). Better yet, you can get this in addition to any bursary or scholarship you get. Depending on where you live and where you’ll be studying, you could apply for a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan.

Find out more about the undergraduate student finance system on the UK Government’s website.

The Master of Architecture (MArch) qualification is unusual in that, depending on your circumstances, it could be eligible for either undergraduate or postgraduate student finance.

If you’re beginning a postgraduate RIBA Part 2 programme within three academic years of completing the undergraduate RIBA Part 1 qualification, you’ll usually still be eligible for undergraduate student finance. This includes both tuition fee and maintenance loan elements for each year of the course.

For example, if you completed RIBA Part 1 in July 2020, you’d be able to claim undergrad student finance for RIBA Part 2 up to and including the 2023-24 academic year.

However, you may not be able to receive undergraduate finance if:

• There’s a gap of more than three academic years between your start date and when you finished RIBA Part 1
• You’re studying RIBA Part 2 on a part-time basis
• You’ve already completed another Masters course

If any of these are applicable to you, it’s likely that you’ll need to apply for a postgraduate loan to help with the costs of your RIBA Part 2 course.

The maximum postgraduate loan is less than the full undergraduate finance, so it’s worth thinking carefully about the circumstances in which you study an RIBA Part 2 qualification and which kind of student finance you might be eligible for.

Please note that the postgraduate RIBA Part 2 shouldn’t be confused with MAs and MScs in Architecture. These academic Masters are different to a professionally-accredited MArch (which includes RIBA Part 2). You should apply for a postgraduate loan for them.

An integrated Masters is a pretty nifty qualification that gives you plenty of bang for your buck, combining a three-year Bachelors degree with a one-year Masters programme.

Integrated Masters are most common in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) but some Scottish universities award four-year MA qualifications that combine both a Bachelors and a Masters.

The funding situation for an integrated Masters like an MEng is fairly simple: you apply for undergraduate student finance and you’re eligible to receive it for the duration of your course (including the final ‘Masters’ year).

In England, Masters in Social Work students can apply for NHS bursaries to help with living costs, tuition fees and travel expenses.

These bursaries consist of:

• A non-means-tested basic grant of up to £3,362.50 per year (up to £3,762.50 if you attend a university in London)
• A means-tested maintenance grant of up to £2,721 per year (up to £4,201 if you attend a university in London)
• A contribution towards your tuition fees of £4,052

You’ll need to be studying an approved Social Work course and satisfy certain residency criteria. You can apply via the NHS Business Services Authority website. The deadline is usually in November of the year that your course starts, although obviously you won’t receive the funding in time for the beginning of your Masters in September if you leave it that late – it’s best to apply as soon as possible.

You can’t apply for a postgraduate loan to supplement your bursary. However, you are eligible to receive a postgraduate loan if your application for an NHS bursary was unsuccessful.

For more information, take a look at our guide to Masters in Social Work or our page on NHS funding (which also covers pre-registration Nursing and other postgraduate healthcare qualifications).

If you’re studying a Masters in Nursing, Midwifery or one of the allied health professions, you could be eligible to apply for a £5,000 training grant from the UK Government, through the NHS Learning Support Fund.

There’s additional funding of £1,000 per year available for students in certain priority areas, as well as an annual grant of £1,000 for people who are attending university in particular regions. Plus, £1,000 per year is available if you have child dependents.

In total, you could be able to apply for £8,000 per year if you’re studying a relevant Masters.

You can also apply for a tuition fee and maintenance loan through the undergraduate student finance system.

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