Funding for undergraduates

Find out what funding options are available to support you during your studies
Funding for undergraduates

As an undergraduate at Plymouth, there are plenty of funding options available, including:

  • * Tuition fee loans
  • * Living cost loans
  • * Scholarships, bursaries and awards

Tuition fee loans

 At the University of Plymouth all Home and EU students are able to apply for a tuition fee loan equivalent to their fee – £9,250. For more information, visit our fees and funding page, or visit the Student Loans Company website.

Living cost loans 2023/24

All students are eligible to apply for a living cost loan (also called maintenance loans) if you’re studying full time. This is to help towards your day-to-day spending such as food, travel and accommodation.
In 2023/24 the maximum annual loan available will be:
  • Students living at home £8,400
  • Students living away from home £9,978
  • Students who are eligible for benefits and living at parental home £9,910
  • Students who are eligible for benefits living away from parental home £11,374
You won’t have to repay your tuition fee or living costs loans until you graduate and earn over £25,000 a year. This figure is updated in April every year. You will pay 9% of everything your earn above the £25,000 threshold. If you haven’t repaid the loan 40 years after you left the University, any remaining debt will be written off.

Living cost loans: living at home rates 2023/24

Annual household income Repayable living cost loan
£25,000 or less £8,400
£30,000 £7,694
£35,000 £6,988
£40,000 £6,282
£42,875 £5,876
£45,000 £5,576
£50,000 £4,869
£55,000 £4,163
£58,291 and over £3,698

Living cost loans: living away from home rates 2023/24

Annual household income Repayable living cost loan
£25,000 or less £9,978
£30,000 £9,265
£35,000 £8,552
£40,000 £7,839
£42,875 £7,429
£45,000 £7,125
£50,000 £6,412
£55,000 £5,699
£60,000 £4,986
£62,343 and over £4,651

Scholarships and awards

In addition to those listed below, the University offers a number of course-specific scholarships. Please visit your course/programme page for further details

Nancy Langhorne Astor Scholarships Trust Bursaries

The Nancy Langhorne Astor Scholarships Trust provides financial support for students relating to their interests in the care and education of young children (0–8 years). The trustees are particularly interested in supporting students to access experiences abroad that they would not otherwise be able to do.

Successful applications in previous years have funded study trips abroad to The Gambia and Prague as well as Forest School and Beach School Training.

Find out more about this scholarships trust bursary
Lady Nancy Langhorne Astor

Sanctuary scholarships

Sanctuary scholarships are a financial support package for students who may have difficulty accessing home fees due to their immigration status. They are for any students living in the UK (however, priority is given to individuals living in the Plymouth area). Each Faculty offers one scholarship per year, meaning there are three scholarships available annually. Each scholarship includes:

  • a full fee-waiver for the entirety of the undergraduate course
  • £1000 per year toward study costs (for the first three years)
  • a fully-funded pre-sessional English course (to ensure scholars meet IELTS 6.0 requirements).

Find out more about the Sanctuary scholarships

<p>Graduation</p>

Santander Scholarships

Open to University of Plymouth students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and staff who wish to undertake a period of research, study or work based learning in any country within the Banco Santander network.

Find out more about the scholarships
Santander Scholarships 2015 winners and organisers

Tamar Engineering Project 

The Tamar Engineering Project is for ambitious students who want to embark on a career in engineering and who have shown potential for high academic achievement at A level, but whose background or personal circumstances may be a barrier to university study. Through a combination of mentoring with the University’s business partners and financial support, students on the programme can focus on their studies while building industry and workplace knowledge to help them succeed as an engineer.
Successful applicants will receive:
  • £3,000 per annum towards living costs for the duration of the taught element of their degree (usually three years)
  • £1,500 fee waiver per annum
  • one-to-one mentoring from an industry expert.
<p>Gemma Maynard</p>

Mayflower Award

The University of Plymouth is proud to offer students a life-changing, transformative experience while they learn and research. We also know that embarking on such an exciting experience can be daunting and that students from particular groups may face additional difficulty in accessing higher education.

To support the University’s ambitions around widening participation, we are pleased to offer financial support in the form of a bursary to undergraduate students from the following groups:

  • Students whose household income is between £0 and £35,000 per year
  • Care leavers
  • Students who are estranged from their families
  • Young adult carers

Find out more about the bursary

Managing your money