Postgraduate taught

Funding your Masters

We recommend you start looking as early as possible for funding, especially if you will need financial assistance to undertake a Masters course.

There are a number of ways to fund postgraduate study including: scholarships, studentships, wages, bursaries, savings, inheritance, and, increasingly, alternative methods such as crowdfunding and philanthropy. The options available may depend on your fee status or other criteria.

We’ve provided the information below to help you get started on finding funding opportunities that are available to you.

Government-backed loans for Masters programmes are making postgraduate study a realistic option for the first time in years.

Key facts

  • You can borrow up to £11,222 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2020
  • Available for any Masters programme in any subject, taught or research
  • Full-time or part-time and distance learning are included
  • Loans available at any university with degree awarding powers in the UK
  • Anyone aged under 60 is eligible
  • Repayments are income-contingent with a £21k threshold and will not begin until the year after graduation

Apply for postgraduate loan

The University of Exeter offers a range of scholarships for Masters study. Visit our dedicated page for details.

University of Exeter Global Excellence Scholarships

At the University of Exeter we combine world-class teaching and research from exceptional locations in South West England.

We have more than £2 million worth of scholarships available for international fee paying students applying to study with us in the 2020/21 academic year.

Scholarships will be awarded for outstanding academic quality.

Find out more >>

Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme 

The Shared Scholarship Scheme is a joint initiative between the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and UK universities, to support students from developing Commonwealth countries who would not otherwise be able to study a Masters programme in the United Kingdom.

The University of Exeter has been granted a total of six awards. For more information on the scheme please visit our dedicated page.

Chevening Scholarships 

Chevening Scholarships are the UK government’s global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisations. The programme makes awards to outstanding scholars with leadership potential from around the world to study postgraduate courses at UK universities.

You can find out more at the Chevening website.

Fulbright Awards

The US-UK Educational Commission (Fulbright Commission) fosters mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between both nations, including the prestigious Fulbright Awards Programme

You can find out more at the Fulbright Commission website.

Alternative funding

Our students have also had success securing funding from a range of local, national and international philanthropic sources, most usually charitable bodies. It's worth investigating parish churches, city councils, and other local bodies, many of which offer scholarships, grants, or bursaries of some kind. 

Charitable trusts

Details of charitable trusts and other funding organisations can be found in a number of publications including the Grants Register, published by Palgrave Macmillan, and the Directory of Grant-Making Trusts. These can be found in libraries and university careers services. Most of these organisations make relatively small contributions towards the costs of your studies, but they can augment other sources.

We have subscribed to this online guide, which can help you find alternative sources of funding - especially charities - which can make awards (for fees, maintenance, or research costs) to any student regardless of subject, or nationality.

The guide contains a huge database of funding opportunities, comprehensive guidance, and numerous tools to help you prepare a winning grant application. The guide is free for all current University of Exeter students and staff; simply select 'logon automatically from campus'.

Login to the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding

You may have seen stories in the press about people crowdfunding to help pay their tuition fees. Crowdfunding services, such as www.studentfunder.com, www.indiegogo.com, or www.hubbub.net, allow you to raise monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet, and can help you fundraise directly towards the cost of your degree. It's worth researching the options available via these and other services to see if they suit your needs.

The list below outlines a variety of opportunities for external funding from charities, organisations, governments and businesses. It should be noted that the eligibility criteria and application deadlines vary.