Financial support for asylum seekers and refugees applying for universitites
Many universities in the UK offer scholarships (sometimes called bursaries) to help students with their tuition fees and cost of living. Refugees in the UK are treated as home students and they may be eligible to apply for these scholarships.
To apply we advise you to take the following steps:
- Check your eligibility for student finance: Most refugees who have not undertaken a university degree in the past are eligible for student finance
- Check which universities offer scholarships: We have included below a list of universities and their scholarships for your information
- Check your eligibility for the scholarship: This varies between universities
- Apply for the course: Our educational team is dedicated to support all refugees who would like to apply for university degrees, both undergraduate and postgraduate
- Apply for the scholarship
Universities who offer financial support:
| University | Offering | UG/PG | Details and Links |
| Birckbeck | Scholarship | UG/PG | 20 fully funded places for asylum seekers on any undergraduate or postgraduate certificate course.
Click here for more information |
| Birmingham | Scholarship | UG | One scholarship for an asylum seeker to do an undergraduate degree.
Click here for more information |
| Bradford | Tuition Fee Waiver | UG/PG | Tuition fee waiver and course costs bursary of £500 for both asylum seekers and refugees who cannot access Student Finance.
Click here for more information |
| Brighton | Fee Waiver and Bursaries | PG | Tuition fee waiver and living costs bursary of up to £15,000 for postgraduate study.
Click here for more information |
| Canterbury Christchurch | Bursaries | UG | One award available per year for asylum seekers (full tuition fee waiver plus £1,000 bursary).
Click here for more information |
| Cardiff | Home Fees and Scholarships | UG | Asylum seekers charged home fees. 2 scholarships for asylum seekers and children of asylum seekers (full tuition fee waiver and £4,000 per year).
Click here for more information. You can also apply for Cardiff Education Trust Fund. Click here for more information |
| Chester | Fee Waivers | UG | One award available per year for asylum seekers (full tuition fee waiver).
Click here for more information |
| City, University of London | Fee Waiver and Grant | UG | Three full tuition fee waivers available per year for asylum seekers including a £12,102 grant to cover living costs.
Click here for more information |
| De Montfort | Scholarships | UG | 4 people will receive a full tuition fee waiver, and 1 person will also get a £3,000 UNITE foundation bursary and free accommodation in a UNITE hall). This scholarship includes NHS funded courses.
Click here for more information |
| Edge Hill | Scholarships | UG | One award available for asylum seekers (full tuition fee waiver and £800 scholarship for cost of books and travel). And all asylum seekers pay home fees.
Click here for more information |
| Edinburgh | Scholarships | UG/PG | Five scholarships for asylum seekers.
Click here for more information |
| Essex | Bursary | UG/PG | Refugee students are eligible for a £1000 bursary.
Click here for more information |
| Exeter | Home Fees | UG | Home Fees for asylum seekers, children of asylum seekers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Click here for more information |
| Glasgow | Fee waiver and bursaries | UG/PG | ‘Humanitarian Scholarships’ – Tuition fee waiver, £5000 stipend and accommodation fee waiver for undergraduate and postgraduate asylum seekers.
Click here for more information |
| Goldsmiths | Fee waiver and bursaries | UG/PG | ‘International Response Scholarship’ – Tuition fee waiver and and accommodation fee waiver for undergraduate (link) and postgraduate (link) refugees or asylum seekers who cannot access Student Finance |
| Keele | Fee Waivers and Scholarships | UG | One award available (full tuition fee waiver for one student per year).
Click here for more information |
| Kent | Fee Waiver | UG | 4 full fee waivers for undergraduate asylum seeking students.
Click here for more information |
| Kings College London | Fee Waiver and Bursary | UG | Two awards available per year for asylum seekers (full tuition fee waiver plus £11,000 bursary).
Click here for more information |
| Kingston University | Bursaries | UG | Four bursaries every year available for asylum seekers, their partners and dependants asylum seekers who have been granted Discretionary Leave to Remain (DLR) or some other form of temporary status (full fee waivers and an annual £3,000 bursary).
Click here for more information |
| Leeds Trinity College | Fee waiver | UG | ‘Sanctuary Scholarships’ – a fee waiver for one asylum seeking student a year.
Click here for more information |
| Liverpool | Home Fees | UG | Home fees for asylum seekers, children of asylum seekers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, and people with Discretionary Leave to Remain.
Click here for more information |
| London Metropolitan | Home Fees | UG/PG | Asylum seekers pay home fees.
Click here for more information |
| London School of Economics | Scholarships | UG/PG | Two awards for asylum seekers and people who have been granted limited leave as the result of an asylum application and their children – partial tuition fee waiver (equating to home fees plus means tested bursaries of up to £11,000).
Click here for more information In addition to ten fully funded scholarships for postgraduates who are asylum seekers or refugees. Click here for more information |
| Manchester | Home Fees and Scholarship | UG | Home fees for asylum seekers, children of asylum seekers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Click here for more information. In addition to one full fee waiver including £600 grant. Click here for more information |
| Newcastle | Home Fees | UG | Limited number of tuition fee reductions for asylum seekers, making the fee equivalent to home fees.
Click here for more information |
| Newman University College (Birmingham) | Scholarships | UG | One award for: Asylum seekers and their dependents and partners People seeking asylum who are granted Discretionary Leave to Remain or some other form of temporary status and their dependents and partners (full fee waiver and limited additional financial support to assist with study and travel expenses).
Click here for more information |
| Nottingham Trent | Scholarships | UG | Two ‘Article 26 Scholarships’ available per year (full tuition fee waiver and a £500 award towards course and travel costs for each year).
Click here for more information |
| Oxford, Balliol College | Scholarship | UG | A full scholarship and living costs allowance for a refugee or asylum seeker to study an undergraduate degree.
Click here for more information |
| Queen Mary’s | Home Fees and Bursaries | UG | Up to 4 bursaries for asylum seekers, children of asylum seekers and those holding Discretionary Leave to Remain (full tuition fee waivers and grant equivalent to student finance maintenance loan (£11,002 in 2016-17) and a bursary of £1,571.
Click here for more information |
| Queen’s University, Belfast | Fee waiver and Bursary | UG | 2 full fee waivers and £8000 bursary for asylum seekers.
Click here for more information |
| Royal Holloway | Fee Waivers | UG | One scholarship for people seeking asylum or with Discretionary Leave to Remain or other temporary status and their dependents (full tuition fee waiver).
Click here for more information |
| Salford | Scholarships | UG | Three scholarships for asylum seekers (full tuition fee waiver and limited additional financial support to assist with study and travel expenses) including NHS funded courses.
Click here for more information |
| Sheffield | Scholarships | UG/PG | Five scholarships for people seeking asylum or with Discretionary Leave to Remain or limited leave to remain and their dependents and partners (full fee waivers and £9,840 to support living costs for each year of study).
Click here for more information. There are also scholarships for English language courses. Click here for more information |
| SOAS | Fee Waivers | UG/PG | 6 undergraduate and 1 master scholarships for asylum seekers, humanitarian protection, discretionary leave to remain.
Click here for more information |
| Strathclyde | Scholarships | UG/PG | A limited number of scholarships for undergraduates and postgraduates available (full tuition fee waiver plus financial support for study-related expenditure).
Click here for more information |
| St Marys Twickenham | Fee Waiver | UG/ | One full tuition fee waiver for and limited financial support for an asylum seeker or someone granted limited leave as a result of an asylum claim.
Click here for more information |
| Surrey | Home Fees | UG/PG | Partial fee waiver bringing the cost to the ‘home fee’ rate and a bursary up to £1500 for asylum seekers.
Click here for more information |
| Sussex | Scholarships | UG | Fee waiver and £3000 for people with Leave to Remain but no access to Student Finance.
Click here for more information. There are also 50 English language scholarships for Syrian refugees. Click here for more information |
| Warwick | Scholarships | UG/PG | Two fully funded scholarships for undergraduate asylum seeking students and up to 3 fully funded scholarships for postgraduate taught and research students.
Click here for more information |
| Westminster | Scholarships | UG | One scholarship for people with Discretionary Leave to Remain who are under 25 years of age.
Click here for more information |
| Winchester | Fee Waivers | UG | Full tuition fee waiver for asylum seekers or a dependent or partner of someone seeking asylum who has been granted limited leave to remain or some other form of temporary status (full tuition fee waiver for two students per year).
Click here for more information |
| York | Scholarships | UG | Fee waiver and £10,660 grant for 2 asylum seeking students.
Click here for more information |
| York S. John | Fee waiver | UG | 1 fee waiver and £1000 per year of study for an asylum seeker.
Click here for more information |
For further advice and information about university applications and available funds for asylum seekers and refugees in the UK please contact us
