Bursary FAQs

The University of York offers different bursary schemes; an overview of each can be found on the following pages:

• Care Leavers and Estranged Students Bursary
• Hull York Medical School (HYMS) Bursary
• Refugee Bursary
• York Bursary

See all undergraduate funding opportunities

To be eligible for a bursary, you must:

• Be studying an undergraduate level course.
• Be studying full-time.
• Have UK Home fee status.
• Have had your household income assessed by a UK Student Finance provider.
• Ensure both you and your sponsor(s) have given consent to your Student Funding provider to share the information with the University.
• Have the information available to the University by the last working day of the month prior to the assessment period.

For full eligibility criteria please go to the University of York bursaries web page.

Unfortunately we don't offer bursaries for postgraduate, international, distance-learning or part-time students.

You don’t need to apply for a bursary. We will assess your eligibility automatically, using the household income assessment from your student finance provider once you have enrolled for the year.

The only way the University can assess students for the York Bursary is if your household income is means tested by Student Finance.

If you haven't applied for a loan, you can complete an application for Student Finance to have your household income means-tested without taking out a loan. To do this, please follow the steps below (UK students only):

1. Create an online Student Finance account and select that you would like to apply for a maintenance loan. Follow the steps of the application as if you were applying for the loan and provide all the necessary information.
2. When asked ‘Do you want to apply for the higher amount of Maintenance Loan?’ select ‘Yes, I want to apply for a higher amount of Maintenance Loan’. This lets Student Finance know to assess your household income.
3. Later, when asked ‘How much Maintenance Loan do you want to borrow?’ select ‘I want to borrow a specific amount’.
4. When you are asked to input the amount, type ‘0’. This lets Student Finance know that you are not taking out any loan.

When you have completed the application, your sponsors (eg parents, guardian or partner) will be asked to submit their household income information. 

If you, or your sponsor(s), opt out of your student funding provider sharing information with the University, then we won’t be able to assess your eligibility for a bursary. 

We will send a letter to your University e:Vision account if you have been awarded a bursary by the end of October. The letter will include the bursary amount you will receive, how your bursary will be paid and the payment dates. 

If you haven't received a letter by 1 November, please contact your student funding provider to check that your household income has been assessed correctly, and that consent has been given to share your household income with the University.

If your student funding provider has confirmed your household income is correct and that the information has been shared with the University, please email sfsu@york.ac.uk from your University email address, quoting your nine digit student reference number, and we can investigate for you.

You can only receive one bursary even if you meet the eligibility criteria for multiple bursaries. We will award you the bursary that will provide you the most financial support. 

For HYMS students, the bursary available for students registered at the University of York is aligned with what is available to HYMS students registered at the University of Hull. 

Students who started their course before Brexit (2020/21 or earlier)

EU students who were income assessed and confirmed as eligible for a bursary prior to Brexit will remain in receipt of their bursary for the remainder of their programme. 

Students who started their course post Brexit (2021/22 onwards)

EU students starting on or after 1 August 2021 who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme will be able to apply for student finance. We then assess your bursary eligibility automatically using the household income assessment from your UK student finance provider once you have enrolled for the year. 

EU students with an overseas fees status will not be eligible for funding from a UK student finance provider and are not eligible for a bursary.

We can’t assess your eligibility for a bursary for next year until we have received your new household income assessment information from your student finance provider, and you have enrolled for the new academic year.

If you continue to meet the eligibility criteria, we will send you a bursary award letter in October. The award amount may be lower than you received in your first year if you started your course in 2024/25 or earlier. For full details, please see theUniversity of York bursaries web page.

If you are not eligible for a bursary and find that you are experiencing financial difficulties, depending on your circumstances, you may be able to get help from the University’s Assistance Funds.

The Student Support and Advice Team can be contacted for advice on a range of issues, including financial support and money management, housing advice, academic progress issues and support for under-represented student groups. In order for the advisers to provide the most effective advice, they ask all students to submit a self-referral form.

This depends on your individual circumstances and will be advised in your letter on e:Vision. For full eligibility criteria please go to the University of York bursaries web page.

Please see your award letter in e:Vision for your payment dates. This letter sets out the payment dates and amounts you will receive. If you are unable to view your letter, then e:Vision may not be compatible with the device (phone or tablet) you are viewing it on. We would recommend accessing it from a computer.

Please submit your bank details via the secure link online. You can also use this system to update your details if you change your bank account.

Bank details need to have been submitted at least nine working days before the payment date stated in the letter or your payment will be delayed.

This system is for bursary payments only. If you need to update your bank details for direct debit collections, please see Payment methods.

We strongly recommend that if you are receiving a bursary towards your accommodation, that you pay your accommodation fees by direct debit. Paying by direct debit means that the system can automatically adjust the amount you are due to pay once the bursary is applied, to ensure that you do not accidentally overpay. You can set up your direct debit using e:Vision. 

If you do not pay your accommodation fees by direct debit, you will need to subtract your bursary award instalment amount (shown in your award letter), from the amount due on your invoice and pay the difference. 

Your accommodation invoice is generated before the bursaries are awarded, so your invoice will not reflect your bursary award.

If you have overpaid, this will appear as a credit on your account at the end of the academic year, once all remaining fees and debt to the University have been paid. Any refunds on overpayments cannot be paid back to students until the end of the academic year in July. The Fees Office will then contact you to arrange repayment.

If you have any issues awaiting a refund, please contact fees-office@york.ac.uk to discuss this further. 

No, unfortunately bursary payments cannot be made earlier than the date advised in your award letter.

In the first instance, please check your University emails for remittance advice (these are sent two or three days before the payment is due) and your bank statements for any payments from the University. Payments are always made on a Friday.

Common reasons why students haven’t received a bursary payment include:

• First year students living in University accommodation — the payment has been paid directly to your accommodation.
• Your circumstances have changed, eg you've changed course, taken a leave of absence, household income has changed — please check your e:Vision account for an updated award letter. Further FAQs can be found in the ‘Change in Circumstances’ section below. 
• None of the above — if you are still unclear why you have not received your bursary instalment, please email sfsu@york.ac.uk from your University email account quoting your nine digit student number so we can look into it for you

Depending on the outcome of your household assessment, your bursary entitlement may change. If your bursary changes, we will email your University email account to let you know. It can take up to eight weeks for your funding provider to reassess your household income and share this with the University of York.

Three bursary assessments take place each year, with the assessments starting on 1 October, 1 January and 1 April. When the next bursary assessment takes place, we check for any new or updated household income information from student funding providers.

If your household income has increased, you would not be expected to repay any disbursements of the bursary that you have already received before you were reassessed. Any remaining disbursements that were due to be paid will be adjusted or cancelled accordingly.

If you’ve transferred course, your bursary may be cancelled until your student record has been updated and a new fee record has been created. Once your records have been updated, we will then be able to reassess your eligibility for a bursary. 

If your course change results in a different type of bursary being awarded, we will send a letter to your e:Vision account to advise of any changes to your bursary. If the course change means that you were not eligible for an earlier payment, any overpayment may be corrected by amending future bursary payments. 

If you think your course change might affect which bursary you are eligible for, please contact sfsu@york.ac.uk, quoting your nine digit student number in the email title and explaining which course you are changing to.

If it’s your first year of repeat study, you may be eligible for a bursary if you meet all other criteria. If you have already repeated one or more years of study previously you won’t be eligible for a bursary. 

HYMS students registered at the University of York are not eligible for the HYMS bursary for any period of repeat study. This is in alignment with what is available to HYMS students registered at the University of Hull. 

For full details, please see the University of York Bursaries web page. 

To be eligible for a bursary, a student has to be paying tuition fees for the current academic year. If your mode of study changes from full-time to full-time in part-time attendance, you can only be eligible for a bursary in the year(s) when you are paying tuition fees. If you are not paying the full UK Home tuition fee for the year, your bursary will be prorated by the same percentage as your fees.

If you take a Leave of Absence (LOA) from your studies, you will not have to repay any bursary payment; as long as you are in attendance on the date that bursary payments are made. If you take a LOA before the next bursary payment date, you will not receive further payments.

If there is a delay in SFS being notified of your LOA and a disbursement is made to you whilst you’re on a LOA, please contact SFS about returning the payment. SFS can be contacted at sfsu@york.ac.uk. Please quote your nine digit student number in the email title. 

Please see the University of York bursaries web page for full details about your eligibility upon returning from a LOA. 

If you withdraw from your studies, you will not have to repay your bursary instalments if you were in attendance on the date that the bursary payment was made. Any future bursary instalments will be cancelled.

If there is a delay in SFS being notified of your withdrawal and a bursary payment is made to you, please contact SFS about returning the payment. SFS can be contacted at sfsu@york.ac.uk, please quote your nine digit student number in the email title.

I’ve been assessed as estranged by my student funding provider — what do I need to do to receive the bursary?

If you have been assessed as independent by Student Finance because you are estranged from your parents, please contact our dedicated contact for care experienced and estranged students at student-independent@york.ac.uk. 

I’ve not been assessed as estranged by my student finance provider, but I think I should be — what should I do?

Please contact our dedicated contact for care experienced and estranged students to discuss your circumstances, they can offer support and assist you in establishing estrangement status with your student finance provider. 

Further information can be found on our Estranged Students webpage.

Do I need to tell the Student Loans Company that I received a bursary toward my tuition fees?

No, the University will tell the Student Loans Company (SLC) about the fee reduction for you. The SLC will then adjust your tuition fee loan and send you a letter regarding the adjustment.

I am a fifth year medical student — am I eligible for the HYMS bursary?

Yes, you can receive the HYMS bursary in your fifth year if you meet the eligibility criteria.

Students in their fifth year who are receiving the NHS bursary may only be eligible for the minimum maintenance loan from Student Finance, and so don’t request that their fifth year Student Finance application is means-tested. In order to be included in the automatic assessment for the HYMS bursary, however, the University requires students to have their application means-tested by their student finance provider as the household income is part of the eligibility criteria. 

To ensure that your loan application is mean-tested, please follow the steps below:

1. Create/log into your online Student Finance account and select that you would like to apply for a maintenance loan. Follow the steps of the application as if you were applying for the loan and provide all the necessary information.
2. When asked ‘Do you want to apply for the higher amount of Maintenance Loan?’ select ‘Yes, I want to apply for a higher amount of Maintenance Loan’. This lets Student Finance know to assess your household income - this is ‘means-testing’.

If you, or your sponsor(s), opt out of your student funding provider sharing information with the University, then we won’t be able to assess your eligibility for a bursary.  

For full eligibility criteria please go to the University of York Bursaries web page.

I think I’m eligible for the Refugee Bursary, what should I do? 

Please see the York Refugee Bursary web page for information on eligibility and who to contact regarding refugee status. 

Further information regarding support available to refugees can be found on the Support for refugees web page.