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Postgraduate funding

Be financially prepared for your postgraduate studies. The tuition fees for postgraduate students varies, depending on your course and whether you are a UK, EU or International Student.

Funding a postgraduate course can be a big financial commitment. There are several ways that students can fund their studies either through a government loan, work, savings, a Professional and Career Development Loan or educational trust and charity funding.

The information given on this section is designed to assist you in finding financial help that may be available to you.

Funding for MSc Physiotherapy and PGCE courses

Funding for our MSc Physiotherapy course, and our PGCE courses, is slightly different to our other master's courses. 

Funding a Physiotherapy postgraduate course can be a big financial commitment. There are several ways that students can fund their studies. 

Students are also able to apply for ‘undergraduate style’ funding for this course in the form of a tuition and maintenance loan as detailed in the Healthcare Education Funding for Postgraduate, Dental Hygiene, and Dental Therapy Students Policy. 

Physiotherapy students are now eligible for a bursary of up to £5,000 per academic year as long as they are currently actively in study and receiving tuition fee or and maintenance support from the Student Loans Company. The bursary is paid in instalments throughout the academic year.

If you are a Home student joining the PGCE programme you may be eligible for a Government training bursary. The bursary amount is based on the highest previous qualification that you have attained to date.

If you are an alumnus of Royal Holloway, you are eligible for a 10% discount on tuition fees.

Postgraduate master’s loan through Student Finance England

Loans of over to £12,167 are available to home postgraduate students under the age of 60. Being eligible for these loans is not dependent on your household income or job status.

Students studying a one or two-year full-time course, or a part-time course with a minimum 50% intensity rate are eligible for funding. If the student is studying a two year full-time course on a part-time basis, payments will be made over the first two academic years. If the course is longer than two years, then payments will be spread across all years of study.

Loans are available for taught and research based Master's programmes. Qualifying students can attend an eligible course anywhere in the UK or study by distance learning in England. If you're studying a distance learning course you’ll need to be living in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course.

Full information about eligibility payments and repayments is explained on the gov.uk website.

Apply online at gov.uk

Please note: postgraduate government loans are not available to international students or to those studying for either a PGDip or PGCert.

Other sources of funding

There are educational trusts and charities that make individual awards to students (these are mostly small grants). You should be able to find the following useful publications in your local library:

  • The Educational Grants Directory
  • The Charities Digest
  • The Grants Register
  • The Directory of Grant Making Trusts

You can apply to as many trusts as you wish but do ensure you meet the eligibility criteria before you apply.

The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding Online is all about alternative sources of funding - especially charities - which can make awards (fees, maintenance, research costs) to any student regardless of subject, or nationality.

The Alternative Guide contains a huge database of funding opportunities, comprehensive guidance, and numerous tools to help you prepare a winning grant application. St Mary's University has purchased a licence to the Guide, and so it’s free for all students use, you just need to enter the pin 1712!  

Please note: if you are accessing the guide from outside the St Mary's campus then you will need to register for a login with your St Mary's email address.

Login to the guide

Through the Erasmus+ programme, students wanting to study a postgraduate degree in another country can apply for an Erasmus-backed loan.

The money can be used to cover both tuition fees and living costs in any of the 35 Erasmus+ countries. This excludes your country of residence and the country you studied your undergraduate degree in.

Maximum loan amounts

  • One-Year Master's Programme: €12,000
  • Two-Year Master's Programme: €18,000

Applications are made in your home country to a bank or student loan company that has signed up to the scheme.

More information about the Master loans is available on the Erasmus+ website.

Students from Spain wishing to study a Master's degree at St Mary's can apply for an Erasmus+ Master loan with Microbank (La Caixa).

Please note: the Erasmus+ Master loan is a new addition and will not replace Erasmus grants. 

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study a postgraduate doctoral course, such as a PhD.


Alumni discount: up to 20% off postgraduate fees

If you hold a full Undergraduate or Postgraduate degree at St Mary's University you may be able to claim up to 20% off your MA, MSc or PGCE course tuition fees thanks to the St Mary's Alumni discount (dependant on the subject of study).

The Alumni discount does not apply to postgraduate research degrees (EdD, MPhil, PhD). You may also not be eligible for the alumni discount if you attained an exit award or Ordinary Degree.

At St Mary's we offer a range of taught MA and MSc courses. Our School of Education, Theology and Leadership also offers outstanding PGCE qualifications. Whether you wish to study to advance your career prospects or for personal or intellectual development, St Mary’s will encourage and support you to achieve your potential. 

We pride ourselves on preparing our postgraduate students for successful careers across a variety of disciplines. Our postgraduate courses and the Schools which house them are internationally recognised for pushing academic boundaries and setting global standards.

Discounts range from 10-20%, depending on the course. You can view all our postgraduate courses be clicking on the link below. Details of specific discounts are included in the individual course pages.