The Master’s Loan provides up to £12,471 for eligible taught Masters degree (MA/MSc/LLM), MBA or Masters by Research (MRes) programmes at Edge Hill University. This is for academic year 2024/25. If you will be studying part-time over two, three or four academic years, the loan will be divided equally across each year of your course.

Appling credits to your application in the form of Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) will result in your application for a Postgraduate Master’s loan being cancelled as you will no longer meet the eligibility criteria for the loan

The loan will be paid directly into your UK bank account in three instalments across each academic year. The first instalment will typically follow your course start date (subject to confirmation of enrolment). The second and third instalments can be expected after four months and seven months of study respectively. They will typically be paid on the last Wednesday of the month.

The Government is offering Doctoral Loans worth up to £29,390 for eligible PhD and Professional Doctorate students embarking on research programmes.

To be eligible, you must:

• be 59 or under,
• not already hold qualifications at Doctorate level, and,
• not be receiving Research Council funding.

Repayments of your Postgraduate and Doctoral Loans start from April 2025. This is subject to you earning above the current repayment threshold of £21,000 a year, from that date.

The amount you repay is linked to your income. You will expect to repay 6% of your income that is above £21,000 a year. This is in addition to repayments of any outstanding Tuition Fee or Maintenance Loans from undergraduate study (for which different repayment criteria apply).

Research Council grants

Research Councils are the main public investors in research in the UK. As such, they are a potential source of funding for postgraduate study.

Further information about Research Council Grants is available on the UK Research and Innovation website and Prospects website.

Charity and trust funding

Several charities, foundations and trusts offer limited funding to postgraduate students. Typically, you will need to comply with specific criteria. Such awards are often available to students from lower income families or those students who have achieved academic excellence. Funding from charities and trusts is unlikely to cover your course fees and expenses in their entirety but may help towards your overall costs.

Turn2us’ Search for Grants is a useful starting point to identify potential sources of funding. Alternatively, you can consult publications such as the Educational Grants Directory, Charities Digest, Grants Register, or Directory of Grant Making Trusts to find out more.

Taking out student loans and paying the required inflation-based interest is an issue for some students and could be prohibited for religious reasons.

The Government is working towards an alternative Sharia-compliant student finance package for these circumstances. The suggested alternative financial product would result in identical graduate repayments to the current student loan system but would not be interest based.

Further details are to be confirmed by the Government. In the meantime, you may find it useful to contact a local Imam to discuss Sharia-compliant finance if you have any concerns.

If you are a prospective research degree student, you may be able to take advantage of the opportunity to study for a fully funded doctorate while gaining valuable teaching experience. Our Graduate Teaching Assistant studentships may waive some or all of the tuition fees (depending on the studentship) and typically include payment for the delivery of undergraduate teaching (or teaching support) duties.

The University usually advertises its Graduate Teaching Assistant studentships on jobs.edgehill.ac.uk early in the calendar year for entry the following October.

Other studentships, such as Doctoral Tutor studentships, advertise throughout the year on departmental webpages and through our Graduate School.