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Postgraduate Doctoral Loan

Government loan for Postgraduate Doctoral Study

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan is available for students normally residing in England to help meet the cost of doctoral study in the UK.

For the 2023/24 academic year, the UK Government is offering a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan of up to £28,673 per student. The loan, which is not means tested, will be divided equally across each year of your course. The money will be paid directly to you, so you can choose to use it towards your course fees or living costs.

Key information

  • A loan of up to £28,673 will be made available to students applying to doctoral research courses starting on or after 1st August 2023.

  • The loan will be available to students across all discipline subject areas for full-time, part-time and distance learning doctoral programmes, so long as you do not have existing qualifications at Doctoral level or above.

  • The loan will be paid directly to you, into a UK bank account.

  • The loan is available to UK nationals who normally live in England. A different Postgraduate Doctoral Loan is available if you normally live in Wales. Moving somewhere to study does not count as normally living there.

  • EU nationals with settled or pre-settled status may also be eligible for the loan. Further details are given below.

Important note: course length is counted from initial registration up to the expected final thesis submission (for a standard full-time doctoral course this means three years of supervised study plus one year of writing up period, equalling four years in total).

For more information about the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, visit the UK Government website.

Postgraduate Doctoral Loan explained - Thumbnail for YouTube video

Eligibility and how to apply