ALTERNATIVE Financial Support

Whether they are called trusts, scholarships, endowments, grants or bursaries, there are many alternative sources of funding that can help you through your studies.

Due to the large number of trust funds available, we are unable to offer bespoke advice about funds you may be eligible for. However, whether you are looking for grants to pay tuition fees or top up your living cost support, this page is a good place to start.

Searching for your own funds

When searching for additional financial support, it is important to understand that this can take up a lot of time. While there is no guarantee that you will find a source of funds for you, you definitely won’t find anything if you don’t try.

This type of funding can vary from small amounts, such as £200, to larger amounts that might cover your full tuition fee for a year. Most students who achieve success with these types of funds do so because they continually research and apply to everything they can. Numerous grants of £200 can really add up.

It’s also important to remember that most of these funds are competitive, similar to applying for a job. Many people might apply, but there may be only one award available. As such, it is important that you spend time on any application. Carefully follow the guidance notes and make sure your application will stand out in a crowd.

The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding is a web resource that UWS subscribe to, making it free for our students and prospective students to use. It includes a funding database of over 600 charities and trusts, and access comprehensive guidance on how to produce a high-quality application.

  • Accessing this guide from a campus PC? You can automatically log in without creating an account.
  • Already have a UWS email account? You can create an account in less than 30 seconds.
  • Are you a prospective student? We understand you won’t be able to access our campus PCs nor will you have a UWS email address. Simply email the Funding and Advice Team at ago@uws.ac.uk, and we will send you a PIN to access this resource.

SAAS maintain a register of educational endowments, which is just another way of saying they have a list of possible trust funds or scholarships that you may wish to investigate. Some of the schemes they have on their list include eligibility criteria, links to websites or email addresses of the organisation. Others may require you to write away for more information.

You can view the list on the SAAS website.

You can use The Scholarship Hub to search for UK scholarships, grants or bursaries, as well as find information on how to apply for these opportunities. You should check the website regularly as opportunities can open up throughout the year.

Prospects is a useful website offering lots of information about postgraduate study and job advice with specific information on postgraduate study funding.

You can use Scholarship Search to look for funds by organisation, subject area or level of study.

You can use Uni Grants to search for funds by organisation, subject area or level of study.

The National Postgraduate Committee website contains lots of useful information, resources and guidance on postgraduate funding. You can read information they have on funding here but may also find a lot more helpful guidance on postgraduate study more generally.

Last updated: 30/10/2023