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Advice and Counselling Service

Raising funds

If you are in need of extra money to fund your postgraduate studies, here are some suggestions of possible options for you to explore.

Also use our budget planning guidance to identify any shortfall in your funding, so you know how much money you need to find. You will also find useful information about money saving ideas and discounts on that page. 

Trusts and charities

Occasionally, it can be possible to obtain small amounts of funding from trusts and charities. However, this can only ever be a top-up to the core funding you already have, not a replacement for it. You will almost always be expected to have explored all other means of financial support before applying. In general, you need to have exceptional circumstances for charitable funding to be a realistic option. For example, help may occasionally be available for final year students in severe financial hardship and for whom a small payment would enable them to complete their course. Some trusts and charities only provide help with specific costs, and many trusts do not help with tuition fees at all.Many trusts and charities have only restricted available funding, with some charities not making any awards for study.  

If you contact them directly by phone or email in advance of making any written application, most will be able to give you an idea of whether they are making any awards and the amount of money successful applicants can expect to get. If the amounts they offer are quite low, and if they offer very few awards each year, make sure you have considered all other available options before deciding whether to invest the time and effort needed to apply for this type of funding.

Finding trusts and charities to apply to

Queen Mary has subscribed to the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding. This guide is a website featuring a database of over 750 charities. It was written by two postgraduate students who between them have won over £45,000 from 55 different charity awards to fund their own postgraduate studies. Read the 'Student Stories' section of the guide for helpful advice from real students who have secured funding. The guide will take you through the whole process, from identifying charities to making applications for funding. You can use the database whether you are looking for a large amount of funding, or a small amount for a specific project or conference attendance, whether you need help with tuition fees or for living costs.  

Current Queen Mary students and staff can access the information for free using the instructions on the Doctoral College PGR Funding Opportunities page (please note, you do not need to be a PGR to access the Guide).

If you are a prospective student, you can also access the guide for free, by following the instructions on the Doctoral College Prospective Students page (please note, you do not need to be a prospective PGR to access the Guide). 

Turn2Us, a charitable service, has adatabase of trusts and charities accessible via agrant search that may provide financial assistance to students. 

If you are a student with a Refugee and Asylum Seeker background have a look at our specific information about funding options. 

There are some specific trusts and charities that support students studying Medicine or Dentistry. You can find details on the links below:  

BMA Charities  
BDA Benevolent Fund   

Other examples of charities and trusts:  

  • The Gilchrist Education Trust provides grants to students who have made proper provision to fund a degree, or higher education, course but find themselves facing unexpected financial difficulties that may prevent completion of it; also, from students who are required, as part of their course, to spend a short period studying abroad.  Applicants must be full-time students at a British University. Grants are in the region of £500.  Visit their website to read about more detailed information about their eligibility criteria and application deadlines. 
  • Funds for Women Graduates.  FfWG provides Foundation Grants that are designed to help women graduates in the final year of a PhD or DPhil with their living expenses. They do not provide funds to cover fees. To be eligible you must be registered for study or research at an approved institution of higher education in Great Britain and doing the bulk of your study in Great Britain. Foundation Grants can be up to £6,000 and are awarded in July for the following academic year. 

FfWG also provides Emergency Grants of up to £2,500 to graduate women who face an unforeseen financial crisis whilst engaged in study or research at an approved institution of higher education in Great Britain. They are awarded in May and November. Applications will be considered from women studying in the UK of any age or nationality and any subject or field of study who have completed at least six6 months of their studies.  Evidence that you have the funds to pay tuition fees is required.  Visit the FfWG main site for more detailed information about their grants, eligibility criteria and application deadlines. 

When should I apply?

Many trustees meet only once or twice a year to assess applications, so it is important that you apply before the relevant deadlines. These should be stated on the trust or charity’s website.  

How do I apply?

You will need to carefully research the criteria of trusts and charities and then make separate applications to each relevant trust or charity, explaining your situation and how you meet their specific criteria. You will usually be able to apply online. Make sure you explain your situation fully to maximise your chances of success.If you are writing an explanation of your situation and would like us to check it, you cancontact a Welfare Adviser. If the trust or charity requires any evidence of your academic ability, you would need to request this from your personal adviser, tutor, or student support officer in your academic school.   
 
Your application for funding should ideally explain:   

  • How you meet the eligibility criteria – for example if the trust only helps people in a certain age group, or who live in a particular area, state clearly at the beginning of your letter your age, or the area where you live. If it is not clear to the trustees that you are eligible to apply, they might reject your application.  
  • About your studies - Explain what course you are studying and where, which academic year you are in, and when you expect to complete the course. Trusts and charities usually have very limited funds, and they want to be sure that any money they give you will enable you to complete your course. For this reason, many trusts are more likely to help final year students, so if this is the case, emphasise this. If you are not in your final year, try to explain how you plan to fund any future years of your course so that the trustees can see that you will still be able to complete your course.  
  • It can also be helpful to explain why you are studying this course, for example, share what career path you hope to take after graduation. This helps to demonstrate how serious you are about the course and how important it is for you to complete it, which can make your application more compelling.  
  • Why you are in financial need - The trustees need to understand your financial situation and why you are asking for financial support. If you have a main source of funding but it is not quite enough to cover all your costs, explain this. If your main source of funding has been temporarily disrupted or it has ended, explain this. If you have exceptional circumstances, such as long-term illness or disability, or childcare responsibilities, explain this. Make it clear whether your financial difficulties are a one-off problem, affecting you only in the current academic year, or if they will continue throughout your course.  
  • How much money you need - You usually need to present a clear budget listing your income and essential expenditure, so that the trustees can see your shortfall (how much money you need). If you are applying part way through an academic year, you will just need to show how much money you need to complete the academic year. You can use the budgeting guidance on our website to help you. If you need further help with this,contact a Welfare Adviser.  
  • Where else you are applying - Explain how many other trusts and charities you are applying to, so that the trustees understand that you are not expecting them to give you enough money to cover your entire shortfall. If you have already been granted money from another trust or charity, or from the University, make this clear, and if possible, include evidence, such as the award  

Employer sponsorship

Employer sponsorship

Some employers are willing to sponsor their employees to do postgraduate study, on either a full-time or part-time basis as part of their career development. If you are in employment, you could consider asking your employer whether they can assist with the funding of postgraduate study. You will need to be able to convince them that a postgraduate qualification is worth their financial investment, in terms of the benefits that it will bring to you and to the business. 

Your proposal to your employer will need to show that you have researched suitable courses, explain how studying a course will benefit you and your employer, and how you anticipate being able to manage the time commitment of studying alongside your job. 

If your employer agrees, they may ask you to sign an agreement tying you into working for them for a specified period. Make sure important terms and conditions are agreed in writing, for example how much of the tuition fees your employer is paying, will you be given time off work for revision and exams, and will this be extra study days, or will it be deducted from your annual leave entitlement? 

There is useful information about employer sponsorship on the Prospects website. 

The gov.uk website has information about employee rights to ask for time off work for training or study. 

Crowdfunding 

Crowdfunding

This is a way of gathering relatively small amounts of money from individual members of the public which when combined might raise the total amount of funds to pay for a project. A few students have had success raising funds, using this system, to pay for their studies. This is commonly done using a crowdfunding website. 

Crowdfunding websites usually allow you to set a funding target, post a video outlining your studies and explaining why you are asking people to fund you, and allow members of the public to pledge funds online. A fee is normally charged to use these websites and you should check the terms and conditions carefully before you sign up. Some schemes state that if you do not reach your funding target in a certain time frame, the funds already pledged will be returned to the people who made them, although other schemes can offer more flexibility. 

You can usually find a number of these organisations by searching the internet, although be aware that most crowdfunding websites are not aimed at helping people to raise funds for studies – more commonly they are aimed at helping entrepreneurs who are starting a business - but you may be able to find some if you search carefully. 

When planning your funding campaign, think carefully about what is unique about you and what you plan to achieve during and after your studies. Potential funders are more likely to offer you funds if they believe in you and share your ambitions for how your studies will be of value to you and the wider community.  

Savethestudent.org has a webpage on how to crowdfund your degree that provides lots of useful advice about crowdfunding options. 

Part-time work 

Part-time work

It is very common for postgraduate students to work part-time to top up their funding. Some academic schools have their own guidance about the maximum number of hours a week you should work to avoid this impacting negatively on your studies. 

Some courses are offered part-time.  Studying part-time may allow more flexibility, increase the hours available each week to work and help increase income.  Some students find it helpful to study this way so they can balance their work a commitments alongside their studies.   

For more information on working read our information about working during your studies. 

If you have been working full-time for several years, you are likely to need to adjust to a much lower level of income once you start your postgraduate course. Even if you get a stipend or other award, this may be much less than the salary you have been used to. You will need to consider how to adjust your spending to reflect your lower level of income. You might find it helpful to use our budget planning guidance. This includes a budget spreadsheet which you can personalise to calculate your own budget, and useful money saving ideas. 

Student bank accounts

Student bank accounts

If you are moving straight from undergraduate to postgraduate study, you may still have your student bank account with an interest free overdraft facility. However, if you have had a gap between undergraduate and postgraduate study, your account may have been switched to a graduate account.   

When you return to full-time study, ask your bank if you can switch your account back to a student account so that you can benefit from an interest free overdraft facility and let them know if your Postgraduate Loan will be paid into the account. 

If it is some time since you had a student account, you may want to compare what is on offer and consider switching banks if you can find a better account. The moneysavingexpert website compares different student bank accounts and gives information and top tips on opening and running a student account. 

The Save the student website also has a comparison of student bank accounts and advice on how to choose the best account for you.  

Make sure that you keep a close check on your account so that you do not exceed your agreed overdraft limit, as this can incur large penalty charges. Different banks have different terms and so always read the terms and conditions of your overdraft facility so you are aware of what will happen if you exceed your overdraft limit. If you feel that you will need an increased overdraft limit for a period, try and plan ahead and negotiate with your bank so you avoid paying excessive fees and charges for an unauthorised overdraft. 

One factor to consider when choosing a student bank account is what will happen to your account when you complete your studies. For more information and a comparison of graduate bank accounts see the Money Saving Expert website. 

If you cannot manage to bring your overdraft back within the limit to stop being charged fees, contact a Welfare Adviser who can advise on any possible options for increasing your income 

Contact a Welfare Advisor

for advice about planning your funding and your budget.

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