A postgraduate course, whether full or part time, is the ideal way to top up your education and make a head start in your career. There are a number of ways to fund your postgraduate study. This can be through bursaries, loans or help from grants, trusts and charities (see Alternative Funding), or a combination of all three.
Please find specific information regarding your course fees on the applicable course page, or here, if you are looking to undertake a research degree
If you have any queries regarding the cost of tuition fees then please contact the Revenue Unit by emailing revenue@southwales.ac.uk
Details regarding the University's available payment plans can be found on our Revenue Team's pages.
We're pleased to announce a new Fee Bursary for UK and EU students starting an eligible postgraduate taught course in the academic year 2018-19. The majority of our taught Masters courses will be eligible for the Bursary, whether studied full-time or part-time*.
Students undertaking an eligible full-time course will receive a Fee Bursary of £3,000, and part-time students will receive a Fee Bursary of £333 per 20 credits which will apply for the normal duration of the course. Find out more.
To check if a course is eligible, please refer to the fees and funding section on the relevant course page as the Fee Bursary will be displayed where applicable. The Fee Bursary will be automatically applied as a discount against the course fee on your offer letter and invoice.
*Non-Masters courses, including Postgraduate Diplomas and Certificates, will not qualify for the USW Postgraduate Bursary. Courses delivered via a third party are not eligible for this Bursary. These courses largely have a different fee structure too so please check the fees and funding section on the relevant course page.
This Bursary is available to new Welsh and EU students starting an eligible taught masters at a USW campus during 2018/19 academic year.
It is worth £500 and is available in addition to the USW Postgraduate Fee Bursary. Find out more.
For students aiming to study either the PG Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People, the MA in Art Psychotherapy or the MA in Music Therapy, the Helen Kegie Bursary is awarded to individuals who can demonstrate a strong knowledge of their subject area and a high degree of ability to reflect and link theory to practice. The bursary is aimed at students who have a permanent postal address with a CF or NP postcode and come from a low-income background. Find out more.
Any funding opportunities supported by the University can be found on the following page.
Research students may be eligible to apply for the Postgraduate/Doctoral Loans detailed below.
For more information regarding any aspect of graduate research please visit the Graduate Research Office pages or contact gro@southwales.ac.uk.
For postgraduate research students who have already completed either a USW undergraduate or USW taught postgraduate course, Lydon Hodges Bursaries are awarded annually to individuals who can best demonstrate why they feel entry to a postgraduate research course will be beneficial to them – personally or professionally, and how they will be approaching their studies. The Bursary is to provide financial relief upon entry to studies for new students, and successful Bursary applicants will demonstrate how postgraduate research studies are a personal or professional enabler. Find out more
As part of the to the National Cyber Security Programme, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is providing bursary funding for adults looking to retrain and start a new career in cyber security. The bursaries are for GCHQ certified courses only. USW has been working with DCMS and anticipate bursaries being available for our GCHQ certified MSc Computer Forensics course. Full criteria will be published shortly but the bursaries will be for career transitioners rather than students coming straight from undergraduate courses. Bursaries will be for tuition fees only. More information can be found here and expressions of interest should be sent to andrew.bellamy@southwales.ac.uk, course leader for Computer Forensics. Find out more.
Our Sports Scholarship is available to students performing to a high standard in their chosen sport, and representing the University in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) league. Find out more.
You can apply for a loan as a contribution towards your course and living costs if you are starting a course in 2018.19 academic year.
Upto £13,000 is available to Welsh-domiciled students
Upto £10,609 is available to English-domiciled students (providing you meet the residency criteria)
Available to students under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year
You will get the first payment after you have started your course, and your university confirms that you’ve registered.
Payments will be made in three instalments of 33%, 33% and 34% for each academic year.
*Full eligibility criteria and detials of how to apply can be found on the applicable funding providers websites below:
Student Finance Wales has created an introductory film for Welsh-domiciled students starting a postgraduate Master's course in 2018, including information on what's available and how it's repaid.
Student Finance England has created an introductory film for English-domiciled students starting a postgraduate Master's course in 2018, including information on what's available and how it's repaid.
Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan
The funding available is a loan to help you pay all or some of your tuition fees up to a maximum of £5,500 for full-time courses. If you choose to take out a loan to pay all or some of the fees, you will do so on the same terms as a student loan for living costs.
If you withdraw from your course, you may not be eligible for a loan to help with the cost of your fees. However, your university may still charge you fees for the time you have been on the course.
Postgraduate Living Cost loan
Eligible full-time postgraduate students can apply to us for a living-cost loan up to £4,500. To be eligible for the living-cost loan, in addition to meeting our eligibility conditions, you must:
Further information can be found on the Student Award Agency Scotland website.
*Source: SAAS
The Department for the Economy plans to introduce Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loans for Northern Ireland students from the beginning of Academic Year 2017/18.
Whilst the exact details are yet to be finalised, it's likely that non-means-tested tuition fee loans of up to £5,500 will be available to help with course costs, and that students will be able to apply from Summer 2017.
Please use Student Finance Northern Ireland's website for further updates.
*Source: Student Finance Northern Ireland
You can apply for a loan to help with your course fees and living costs while you study if you are starting a full time or part time doctoral course (PhD) from 1st August 2018.
You may also be eligible if you’re an EU national and all the following apply:
You will get the first payment after you have started your course, and your university confirms that you’ve registered.
Payments will be made in three instalments of 33%, 33% and 34% for each academic year.
Full details on eligibility and how to apply can be found on the relevant authority websites below
Student Finance Wales have created an introductory film for Welsh-domiciled students starting a postgraduate Doctoral course in 2018, including information on what's available and how it's repaid. This is available on their website above.
Student Finance England has created an introductory film for English-domiciled students starting a postgraduate Doctoral course in 2018, including information on what's available and how it's repaid.
Applications are now open for 2018/19
Doctoral Loans are not currently available to students ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland or Scotland.
The Postgraduate Loan will be available if you don’t already hold a Master’s degree or other higher qualification gained either in the UK or overseas. If you have a lower level qualification and want to ‘top-up’ to a Master’s degree, you won’t be eligible for a Postgraduate Loan as you can only get a Postgraduate Loan for a full postgraduate Master’s course.
Source: Student Finance Wales
Details regarding how you will need to repay your postgraduate student loan, including how this will work if you also have an existing undergraduate student loan, can be found of the Student Loan Company's website.
The University of South Wales is committed to providing support for students from care and those leaving care who want to go on to higher education.
We at the University of South Wales can help you at every stage of your university experience, with specialist help and advice before, during and after you are a student with us – leaving you to concentrate on your studies and enjoy university life.
How to contact the Care Leaver Team
To ask further questions and start the support available to you as a Care Leaver please contact the Care Leaver Coordinator
If you not quite sure if you qualify as a Care Leaver please contact us and we can advise you further. If you are a social worker or work on behalf of an organisation such as Barnardos please feel free to contact also.
Some students may be entitled to state benefits or tax credits while studying. Please see our Student and Benefits page for further information.
Professional and Career Development Loans are bank loans that can be used to help pay for work related learning. You can borrow between £300 and £10,000 to help support the cost of up to two years of learning (or three years if it includes one year’s relevant unpaid practical work). The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) will pay the interest on the loan while you are learning and for one month afterwards.
The loan can be used to pay course fees or other costs such as travel and living expenses. You can also use the loan to supplement other forms of support such as grants or bursaries. Because the Professional and Career Development Loan is a commercial loan product, they should only be considered as an option once all other student funding options have been investigated.
For further information on financial assistance to support your learning, please visit Gov.UK or contact National Careers Service on 0800 100 900.
Our learning provider registration number is: 7993.
If you have a query regarding course eligibility after you have applied please email revenue@southwales.ac.uk
Private loan providers, such as Future Finance, can potentially provide loans to cover tuition fees and costs of living, with variable interest rates depending on your credit history. These are some of the key facts:
The University is keen to offer support to student carers, including a Bursary from its Hardship Fund, as it is recognised that caring often has financial implications (such as less availability for paid work and increased travel costs).
The Carers Bursary is worth £1,000 (full-time students) and £500 (part-time/first or final year March starter students) to eligible USW students who are currently unpaid Carers. The Carers Trust definition of a carer is “anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.” Please note that these duties would be in addition to the usual caring responsibilities that a parent would have for a dependent child.
Students who received the Bursary in previous academic years and students who have disclosed that they are an unpaid Carer on their current year's University enrolment form will be emailed the link to apply for the Carers Bursary following enrolment. They will be required to provide confirmation from a person, who is involved with the family on a professional basis (e.g., Social Worker, GP etc) that they are a carer and current bank statements. Students who were previously in receipt of Carer’s Allowance will need to provide proof from the Department of Work & Pensions that this has now ceased.
Carers who are paid a salary in exchange for their caring duties or are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance would not be eligible for the Bursary.
If you have any queries regarding the Carers Bursary or would like to apply, please contact the Student Money Advice Team or email hardship@southwales.ac.uk.
If you need advice regarding issues which are having an impact on your studies, please contact your Advice Zone.
