Students on health and social care courses can access a range of funding options at university. From tuition fees to placements and living costs, there are grants, bursaries and loans available to support you throughout your studies.
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NHS Learning Support Fund
The NHS Learning Support Fund offers a non-repayable training grant of £5,000 to all eligible new and current pre-registration students on nursing, midwifery and some allied health professional courses. This applies to both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
As well as the Training Grant, you may also be eligible for:
- £2,000 parental support if you have at least one dependent child under 15 years, or under 17 years if registered with special educational needs.
- £1,000 if you are studying a shortage specialism, including mental health nursing, learning disability nursing, diagnostic radiography, and radiotherapy and oncology.
- Exceptional Support Fund (income-assessed) Up to £3,000 per academic year for students who find themselves facing unexpected financial hardship which they are unable to manage by their own actions.
Find out more about the NHS Learning Support Fund and Training Grant.
Foundation Years
When studying a foundation course in health, your first year of study wouldn't be eligible for any training grants but could be funded by a student finance loan. From the second year of a pre-registration course you would then be eligible for any applicable training grants which are available to those course areas at that time. Please see the learning support fund information on this page.
Loans from Student Finance England
Undergraduate pre-registration courses
Undergraduate students on nursing, midwifery, and allied health professions courses in England can apply for student loans from Student Finance England, to cover tuition fees and living costs.
Postgraduate pre-registration courses
Postgraduate pre-registration students follow the same funding model as undergraduate students. This means that if you are applying for one of the following postgraduate pre-registration courses, you are eligible to apply for a loan from Student Finance England to contribute to your tuition fees and living costs.
- MSc Nursing (Adult, Child or Mental Health) pre-registration
- MSc Occupational Therapy pre-registration
- MSc Physiotherapy pre-registration
- MSc Dietetics
Check if you’re eligible on the Student Finance England website.
BSc (Honours) Paramedic Science
Unlike other health and social care pre-registration courses, students who have already received a loan from Student Finance England for a previous honours degree may not be eligible for a second loan to study paramedic science.
Maintenance loans
You may be eligible for a maintenance loan to help with living costs, depending on your circumstances. Find detailed information on the Government website.
Funding for social work courses
The Department of Health and Social Care allocates a limited number of bursaries for social work students. For MSW Social Work the bursary applies to both years of study, for BA (Honours) Social Work it would apply to the second and third year of study only.
Due to the limited number of bursaries, the process for recommending students to the Department of Health and Social Care requires us to prioritise candidates. We do this based on applicant performance against our admissions criteria during course selection.
Find out more on the NHS Social Work Bursaries website.
BA (Honours) Social Work
Bursaries are not payable in the first year of undergraduate study, however you may be eligible to apply for the undergraduate student loan.
MSW Social Work (Master of Social Work)
Where an NHS social work bursary is not available you may be eligible to apply for the postgraduate student loan.
Placement funding
Some healthcare courses require you to spend time on clinical and community placements away from the University. This may require travel and time away from home.
Students who are eligible to receive the NHS learning support fund may be able to claim back the cost of excess additional expenses occurred due to attending a practice placement. This would cover some types of travel (which is in excess of your usual journey to university) and accommodation costs. Please check what you can receive as part of the NHS Business Services Authority Learning Support Fund.
