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 student finance, bursaries 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.
The Welsh Government has announced it will fund a new bursary scheme to attract Welsh students to do their Masters degrees in Wales.
The scheme aims to increase the number of Welsh graduates who remain in or return to Wales to undertake a Master’s degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics or Medicine, also known as ‘STEMM’ subjects.
Funding will also be available to undertake a Master’s degree in Welsh and for Welsh students aged 60 or over.
Any funding opportunities supported by the University can be found on the following page.
Research students who are not in receipt of a Studentship, 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
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.
The Asylum Seeker Bursary will support up to two Postgraduate students each academic year. A University Panel will assess all bursary applications at the same time following the closing date and will award up to two bursaries from all these applications. Find out more
You can apply for loans and grants as a contribution towards your course and living costs if you are starting a course in 2019/20 or 2020/21 academic year.
Up to £17,000 in 2019/20 or £17,489 in 2020/21 as a mixture of loans and grants is available to Welsh-domiciled students.
A non-means tested loan is available to all eligible students. The amount of loan will be equal to the total support (£17,000 in 2019/20 or £17,489 in 2020/21) less the total grant a student is eligible for.
A non- means tested base grant of £1,000 is available to all eligible students.
An additional means-tested grant of £5,885 is also available.
The loan element is available to students under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year
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.
Please be aware that your fees will not be paid directly to the University, you will need to make separate arrangements to pay your fees yourself.
If you wish to pay using your student funding, you can set up payments in line with the dates you receive your student funding by contacting the revenue department once you enrol on the course.
*Please see full eligibility criteria and details of how to apply on the Student Finance Wales website.
You can apply for a loan as a contribution towards your course and living costs if you are starting a course in 2019/20 or 2020/21 academic year.
For new students starting their course in 2019/20, up to £10,906 is available to English-domiciled students (providing you meet the residency criteria).
For new students starting their course in 2020/21, up to £11,222 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 installments of 33%, 33% and 34% for each academic year.
Please be aware that your fees will not be paid directly to the University, you will need to make separate arrangements to pay your fees yourself.
If you wish to pay using your student funding, you can set up payments in line with the dates you receive your student funding by contacting the revenue department once you enrol on the course.
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
If you are due to start on a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma, taught
Masters or research Masters, you may be eligible to
apply for a Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan of up to £5,500 for the course, to help with
the cost of your course fees. The Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan can’t be more than the
actual fee charged by the university or college, it isn’t based on household income, and
you must repay it. It is paid directly to your university or college.
Please use Student Finance Northern Ireland's website for further updates, including how to apply.
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).
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
Doctoral Loans are not currently available to students ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland or Scotland.
Postgraduate Masters funding will be available if you don’t already hold a Masters 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 Masters degree, you won’t be eligible for postgraduate Masters funding, as you can only get postgraduate funding for a full postgraduate Masters course. You won’t be able to get Postgraduate Masters Finance if you’ve received a Postgraduate Loan before, unless you left your course because of compelling personal reasons, such as:
You would need to send student finance evidence to support this and can only use compelling personal reasons once.
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 on 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 apply for state benefits or tax credits while studying. Please see our Student and Benefits page for further information.
Private loan providers, such as Future Finance, can potentially provide loans to assist with 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 providing a Bursary from its Student Support Fund to help those who are in need of financial support, as it is recognised that caring often has financial implications (such as less availability for paid work and increased travel costs). Find out more.
