Postgraduate study: costs and funding

How it works

1. 1

   Step 1: Pick a subject

   See courses at universities in England, with fees and what graduates earn.

2. 2

   Step 2: Add your figures

   Money coming in, essential spending and savings. Nothing is saved.

3. 3

   Step 3: See what you could afford

   Each course shows whether you could pay the university directly, and where a StepEx loan is available.

Questions students ask

• Student loan for the PGDL

  No. The PGDL is a postgraduate diploma, and the Master’s Loan is only for a full master’s. The ways round it, and what they cost.

  Read the guide: Student loan for the PGDL

• Funding the Bar course

  The Bar course as a diploma gets no student loan; as an LLM it does. Inns of Court scholarships, the BSB fee, and the ways to pay.

  Read the guide: Funding the Bar course

• University career accelerators

  Six-month online programmes from King’s, Cambridge and LSE with FourthRev. No student loan, a university certificate, and the ways to pay.

  Read the guide: University career accelerators

• Buckingham two-year degree and the FEA

  A £27,750 two-year degree, a Student Finance England loan that stops at £15,660 or £16,310, and a future earnings agreement for the rest. What an FEA is.

  Read the guide: Buckingham two-year degree and the FEA

• Is the Master’s Loan enough?

  The loan is £13,206 for fees and living costs together. Typical fees and living costs, and the gap most people need to plan for.

  Read the guide: Is the Master’s Loan enough?

• Paying without a student loan

  Instalments to the university, employer sponsorship, level 7 apprenticeships, scholarships, savings and a StepEx loan. What each involves.

  Read the guide: Paying without a student loan

All funding guides

Universities

Courses, fees and funding at each university in England.

• Anglia Ruskin University61 coursesFees £10,800 to £24,550
• Aston25 coursesFees £9,700 to £26,000
• AUB10 coursesFees £9,975 to £14,000
• Bath52 coursesFees £12,996 to £39,700
• Bath Spa14 coursesFees £9,920 to £10,985
• Birkbeck53 coursesFees £11,670 to £16,080
• Birmingham City58 coursesFees £8,505 to £15,640
• Bishop Grosseteste11 coursesFees £7,800 to £9,750
• Bolton10 coursesFees £8,496 to £9,720
• BPP University18 coursesFees £15,300 to £19,200
• Bradford16 coursesFees £8,549 to £13,134
• Brighton56 coursesFees £9,990 to £19,044

Estimates, not advice. Figures come from student finance bodies and universities; each page shows its sources and when they were checked.

Questions about these tools? Contact us.