SOAS Bursary

At SOAS we want to support all students to fulfil their potential. The SOAS Bursary offers additional financial support for students with the greatest financial need.

For September 2025 entry, the SOAS Bursary offers:

• £4,500 of cash bursaries over the duration of your degree
• £1,500 cash bursary in first, second or third, and final year (£0 in language year abroad)

These bursaries are not available during a student's repeat year of study.

You do not need to make an application for the SOAS Bursary. 

Once you have applied to study an undergraduate course at SOAS, you must make an application for student finance. Provided you and your parents/guardians have consented to share your information on your Student Finance application we will assess you automatically based on your household income. This will allow us to view your details on a portal at the Student Finance website. 

Where a student is undertaking a programme of undergraduate study that would normally attract student finance, but cannot take up student loans for either tuition fees or maintenance support due to religious reasons, you can be income assessed without lending. For guidance on this, please contact us at funding@soas.ac.uk.

The Student Finance portal will only provide the information we need to assess your entitlement to an award.

To be eligible for a SOAS bursary, you must: 

• Enrol onto the first year of a full-time undergraduate/foundation degree course at SOAS that commences in 2025/26.
• Ordinarily be a resident in England and a Home student for fee purposes.
• Be a new student and not already hold a first degree or higher qualification.
• Have been income assessed by Student Finance and have a household income of £25,000 or less, even if you do not intend to take up the maintenance loan.

Meeting the listed criteria alone will not guarantee this award as these are limited in number. Priority will be given to students:

• With experience of care.
• From the lowest participation neighbourhoods (Polar Quintile 1).
• With the lowest household income (students with a household income closer to £0 will be given priority over those with an income of £24,999, for example)
• Who are first* in their family to go to university.
• With refugee status.

Notes

* 'First’ means that an applicant’s parents, step-parents or guardians did not attend university. This is self-declared data which applicants include in their UCAS application form. If you are the first generation in your family to attend a higher education institution you must declare this in your UCAS application to be considered for this award.

‘Low participation neighbourhoods’ are areas identified using data of the participation rate of young people in higher education by ward or region. This information is included with an applicant’s UCAS application form. There is a postcode lookup tool on the Office for Students website if you wish to check your postcode.

Notifications of bursary awards are sent from Student Finance and awarded students will normally receive these once fully enrolled. 

The payment for each award are made in instalments. For the bursary of £1500, SOAS will deposit the cash bursary directly into the student's bank account as follows: