Leeds Masters Scholarships

Leeds Masters Scholarships, worth £7,000, aim to encourage eligible UK fee-paying students from under-represented groups to study a Masters qualification.  

For successful applicants, the Leeds Masters Scholarship can be awarded as a fee waiver or as monthly payments direct to you. These scholarships are funded by a combination of generous alumni donations and University funding.  

Apply for the Leeds Masters Scholarship (Online form)

Application deadline: midday, 10 June 2024.

Additional funding

If you are considering studying any of the following programmes, you may be eligible for additional scholarship funding from the Office for Students (OfS), which is being coordinated by the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA).

Each of these additional scholarships is worth £10,000 which can be put towards course costs or living costs incurred while studying.

If successful, you may be able to receive this in addition to a Leeds Masters Scholarship. Successful applicants will also gain access to the Plus Programme.

Find out more about the OfS scholarships.

Additional benefits 

By applying for a Leeds Masters Scholarship, you’ll also be considered for the University’s Plus Programme which offers many free and bespoke activities, extra funding opportunities and more. 

If your Leeds Masters Scholarship application is successful, you’ll automatically be registered on the Plus Programme. If it’s unsuccessful, you may still be able to benefit from access to the University's Plus Programme throughout your studies. 

I saw the MA Advertising and Design I knew it was the one, but I couldn’t afford the course fees and accommodation. A Leeds Masters Scholarship made this possible and I was able to continue my university studies. 

Liberty Maher. MA Advertising and Design graduate

Eligibility criteria 

You can apply for a Leeds Masters Scholarship if you meet all of the main criteria and one of the financial criteria. This does not mean you will automatically get a scholarship, but we will consider your application carefully. 

Main criteria

You must meet all of the three main criteria: 

  • Start a full-time, part-time or distance learning Masters programme (which is not 100% online with the Digital Education Service) at the University of Leeds in September or October 2024. This must lead directly to an MA, MBA, MEd, MMus, MPH, MRes, MSc, LLM or Masters by Research qualification. Please note, students undertaking an integrated Undergraduate and Masters degree are not eligible to apply for a Leeds Masters Scholarship. 
  • Be paying postgraduate tuition fees at the UK rate. 
  • Not already hold a Masters degree. 

Financial criteria

To apply for a Leeds Masters Scholarship you must meet all of the main criteria and one of the following financial criteria: 

If you graduated from full-time undergraduate education from 2021 onwards

You must be able to evidence that: 

  • For Student Finance England funded students, you were in receipt of a Maintenance Loan greater or equal to the value(s) indicated in the following table  for at least one year of study. 
Academic year If you were studying while living in the parental home If you were studying in London If you were studying outside London and not living in the parental home
2017/18 £4,959  £8,801  £6,266 
2018/19  £5,118  £9,083  £6,469 
2019/20  £5,261  £9,339  £6,650 
2020/21  £5,414  £9,614  £6,845 
2021/22  £5,582  £9,914 

£7,060 

2022/23  £5,713  £10,143  £7,224 
2023/24 £5,876 £10,428 £7,429
  • For students funded by either Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland or the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, you were in receipt of any value of Special Support Grant/Welsh Assembly Learning Grant/SAAS Bursary, or in receipt of a Welsh Government Learning Grant of £4,000 or more, for at least one year of study.
     

All other applicants

You must be able to provide evidence of individual, gross taxable income during the 2022/23 tax year of no more than:  

  • £42,327 if you lived in the Greater London region 
  • £29,764 if you lived anywhere else in the rest of the UK 

The Postgraduate Loan and Leeds Masters Scholarship

You can receive a Postgraduate Loan from the government and still apply for a Leeds Masters Scholarship. No Leeds Masters Scholarship payments (including fee waivers) are made until after you have completed registration. If you have opted not to take the Postgraduate Loan, this means you will be liable to pay at least 50% of your fees before the scholarship can be processed. Furthermore, if you opt not to take out the loan, you will not be eligible to receive support from the Financial Assistance Fund if you encounter financial hardship during your studies. Even if you intend not to take the loan, we recommend you ‘pre-apply’ for it, meaning the money can reach your account much more quickly if you encounter hardship (a fresh application can take several weeks for the money to reach you).

How to apply 

Applications close at midday on Monday 10 June 2024. 

Please note: information relating to scholarships changes from time to time. While the University aims to keep this information as up to date as possible, we cannot be held liable for any inaccuracies. 

FAQs  

Does the Leeds Masters Scholarship cover fees or maintenance? 

 If you are successful, we will give you the option to receive your scholarship as a fee waiver or in monthly instalments directly to your bank account. There is no difference in the value of the scholarship whichever format you choose. 

Remember though, as a Masters student you are responsible for making the arrangements to pay your fees yourself. 

How will the Leeds Masters Scholarship be paid? 

If you choose to receive the payments directly, the Leeds Masters Scholarship, worth £7,000, is paid in eight cash instalments of £875 when we have verified you as registered on your course. We pay the money directly to you from the end of October to the end of May. If you are studying over multiple years, we will split the £7,000 evenly amongst all your years of study.  

If you choose to receive it as a fee waiver, we will take the money off your fee balance and you will be responsible for paying the remainder as per the normal terms and conditions of your tuition fee payments. 

Do I need to have applied for my Masters course before I can apply for Leeds Masters Scholarship? 

No, you can apply for a Leeds Masters Scholarship before you have applied for your Masters course at Leeds. Note: this may not be the case for other scholarships in the University. 

Should I wait until I know if I have a scholarship to apply for my Masters programme? 

Some Masters programmes will close applications before the scholarship results are announced. We would encourage you to apply for your programme as soon as possible to avoid missing any deadlines. 

Can EU or international students apply? 

Unfortunately only students paying fees at the UK rate (including those with settled status) are eligible for a Leeds Masters Scholarship. If you are unsure what residency status you have, please check this with your school’s admissions team. 

Can part-time students apply? 

Yes, part-time students are eligible to apply. If you are studying part time, your scholarship can be split across the number of years you will study. 

I meet all the eligibility criteria. Will I get a scholarship? 

Meeting the criteria does not mean you will automatically receive a scholarship. The Leeds Masters Scholarship scheme is very popular with far more eligible applicants than scholarships available.

When will I find out if my application has been successful? 

We aim to respond to applicants by the end of July. We assess applications as quickly as possible following the closing date, however this is a lengthy and time-consuming process. 

How much detail should I give in my answers? 

Give as much detail as you can in your answers to make sure we can assess your application as fairly as possible. 

The scoring process takes into account both financial and non-financial criteria, so if there are circumstances which have, now or previously, affected you whilst studying, we encourage you to mention these in your application. 

We can only consider the information you provide in the application. 

What evidence do I need to submit and when? 

We will only ask you to submit evidence to support your application if you have been provisionally selected for a scholarship or if you are a reserve candidate. 

If we ask you to supply evidence, you will need to prove that you meet the financial criteria listed previously on this page. 

We may also ask for other evidence, depending on what else you say in your application. We will explain this clearly at the time. 

Why are there so many different financial criteria? 

 Changes in government funding over the years mean we may ask you for different information, depending on when you graduated. This may include whether you had a maintenance loan, a grant or bursary, or what your annual income is. 

Read the ‘Financial criteria’ section of this page to find out which financial information you will need to provide. 

If your question is not answered in our FAQs, please email the Leeds Masters Scholarship Team at pg-fsp@leeds.ac.uk.