Government postgraduate loans
If you are ordinarily resident in England or the Republic of Ireland and planning to start your first full-time, part-time or distance learning taught or research Masters course you may be eligible to apply for a UK government Postgraduate Masters Loan to help towards your study-related costs.
The loan will be paid directly to you in three instalments in each year of study, and you can choose to use it towards payment of your tuition fee or to help with living costs.
To check your personal and course eligibility, see how much loan you will receive and find out how to apply for the UK government Postgraduate Masters Loan, visit the government’s Funding for Postgraduate Study page.
It is important to note that the loans are not available for Integrated Masters courses.
If you are funded by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS), Student Finance Wales or Student Finance Northern Ireland, the value, personal and course-related eligibility criteria and method of payment vary. Scottish and Northern Irish applicants may also be eligible for funding for non-Masters programmes.
Registering with the University
After you apply for postgraduate funding and it is approved, the Student Loans Company will notify the University that your funding is in place.
It can take a couple of days to update our student system with this information, so please wait two days before completing step 6 of online registration. This means that you should be able to register without paying your tuition fee at the point of registration.
You will instead be required to set up an instalment plan to pay your tuition fee over three instalments, to coincide with the payment of your Postgraduate Masters loan.
If you have any problems with registering because your postgraduate funding isn’t in place you should email the Student Funding team via funding@leeds.ac.uk.
To receive your funding
- Students from England, Scotland and Wales will need to have registered and had an identity check before the University is able to confirm your registration to the Student Loans Company. Once we confirm your registration you should receive the first instalment of your postgraduate funding within three working days
- If you are studying by distance learning you will need to follow the procedure to get a student card remotely
- The funding for students from Northern Ireland is paid as a tuition fee loan, so it will be paid directly to the University of Leeds
Applying for funding
If you are having difficulty applying for your funding, please email the Student Funding team via funding@leeds.ac.uk.
Sharia law and postgraduate loans
Islamic Sharia law prohibits 'Riba' – the paying and receiving of interest for profit. Sometimes the inflation-only interest that is paid on study loans for is seen as Riba (although not all Islamic scholars share this view). Explore more information about Sharia Law and study loans.
Other sources of funding
You can also search our fund your Masters pages.
Consumer advice site Money Saving Expert has guidance on postgraduate student loans.