Online and Distance Learning fees

A Postgraduate Master’s Loan can help with your course fees and living costs while you study. If you live in England, you can apply to Student Finance England for a loan. If you intend to apply for a government loan, please note your course type will be listed as part time and you must choose from the ‘part time options’ on the form available from Student Finance England. You can find all the programme titles and course codes required for making a Student Finance application on the Master's loan webpage.

To enrol on the programme, you will need to pay for the first module upfront. Once you have paid, your attendance and registration will be confirmed with Student Finance England who will then start the payment of your loan.

We recommend you create a budget to make sure you know the payment deadlines and when you will receive your loan instalments.

Sponsored students

If you require an official SOAS invoice for your module fees, you will need to supply a letter from your sponsor confirming that they will be sponsoring all, or part, of your programme fees.

Sponsored students are not required to pay by the same deadline as independently-funded students but your sponsorship letter will need to be received by the end of the enrolment period.

Letter from sponsor

Your sponsor letter must be on company-headed paper signed by an authorised person. It must contain the following information:

• Full name of student being sponsored and their 6-digit SOAS student number.
• Amount that the student is being sponsored for in pounds sterling (GBP).
• Title of module(s) and session(s) of study.
• Name, contact telephone number and email address of budget-holder or person responsible for processing payment.
• Address of company.
• Purchase order number (this can be supplied separately but must be sent at the same time as sponsorship letter).

When we have received your sponsorship letter, we will process your enrolment and send confirmation to you. The invoice will be created by our finance department and sent by email directly to the sponsor for payment.

For further advice on acquiring sponsor funding, please see our Gaining support from your employer guide.

Part-sponsored students

You will be liable for paying any remaining balance of your fees that is not covered by your sponsor. In order to enrol, you must pay this balance by the end of the enrolment period, along with providing your sponsor letter. Your sponsor will then be invoiced for their partial funding of your studies.

Non-payment by sponsor

Sponsors must pay the invoice immediately upon receipt. In the event of non-payment by a sponsor by the due date of the invoice, the student will become personally liable for the payment of fees in full and the balance will be due immediately. In the event that the student does not pay, SOAS will terminate their studies and refer the debt to a debt collection agency.

Sponsors are expected to settle invoices promptly upon receipt. In the event of non-payment by a sponsor by the invoice due date, the student will become personally responsible for the outstanding fees, which will need to be paid immediately. If the student does not clear the balance, SOAS reserves the right to terminate their studies and refer the debt to a collection agency.

SOAS reserves the right to refuse to process future enrolments by the student or sponsor if there is a history of non-payment of invoices.