Financial Support

Further information is available on the CUSU website.

PhD students can apply for one or more grants totalling no more than £450 during their three years to enable them to attend a conference. Students must ask both their department and their major funding source for assistance before the College will consider the request. Application forms are available from the Tutorial Office. For MPhil students the maximum that can be applied for is £150. In certain subjects, such as Spanish and Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Plant Sciences and Theology earmarked funds exist, which could allow larger awards to be made.

It is expected that students' own departments will meet all research expenses involved in a PhD or MPhil project. Students should consider whether the resources available are adequate before settling on a particular project. Nevertheless, the College is prepared to consider applications from PhD students for one or more grants totalling no more than £450 during the three years to assist with the costs of working away from Cambridge, either fieldwork or conducting research in other laboratories, libraries, etc. or attending a taught course relevant to their research. Only the additional costs of working away compared with working in Cambridge will be considered. Application forms are available from the Tutorial Office. For MPhil students the maximum that can be applied for is £150. In certain subjects, such as Spanish and Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Plant Sciences and Theology earmarked funds exist, which could allow larger awards to be made.

The College makes grants from the Windsor fund to assist students engaged in sports at University level or higher. The Windsor Committee usually refunds about 50% of the allowable expenses, up to a maximum of £250. Allowable expenses include subscription fees, match fees, travel costs, sports clothing and equipment but do not include the costs of social events or non-sports clothing (such as ties or blazers). Applications should be made in writing to your tutor, listing all allowable expenses and including receipts wherever possible.

Grants can be made from the Sansom Fund to assist in the purchase of computer equipment or software where it is necessary for the student's work and where the expense would otherwise cause some financial difficulty. Applications should be made in writing to your tutor and should include:

1. full details of the costs involved
   
2. an explanation of why the purchase is necessary and why the facilities available within College or your department are inadequate
   
3. a breakdown of your total annual income and details of any exceptional expenditure which you have to make (over and above the normal accommodation and subsistence costs).

The Board of Graduate Studies makes grants to assist with thesis production costs, which the College will match up to a maximum of £50. Application forms are available from the Tutorial Office.

The College offers an average of four external research studentships per year. These are awarded to the applicants with the best academic record who do not have a first degree from Cambridge. The value of the awards is £600 p.a.. Applications should be made in writing to the Graduate Tutor before 15th June and your supervisor should also write a letter of recommendation. Applications from existing graduates will be considered in competition with those from admission candidates.

Cambridge graduates who obtained a first in their final exams are automatically awarded a scholarship worth £300 p.a..

Every year the College offers one full-cost studentship (or more than one part-cost studentships) to students intending to study for a PhD and up to two full-cost studentships for prospective MPhil students. The value of the full-cost studentships is equal to the University and College fees plus the minimum provision for maintenance required by the Board of Graduate Studies. Existing graduates may apply (even midway through their course) as well as prospective ones. The awards are primarily intended for Home or EU students but an Overseas student with an ORS award may be considered if there are no Home or EU applicants of sufficient merit. In addition, part-cost awards may be made from the Benson and Carslaw Funds to students from Commonwealth countries. To apply for one of these awards, write to the Graduate Tutor before 15th June enclosing a CV (with all available exam marks), a one-page description of your proposed research, and an account of the funding that you have available, have applied for or intend to apply for. Also ask two referees to send references direct to the Graduate Tutor. Home and EU students are expected to also apply for a Research Council studentship, one of the University's Domestic Research Studentships, and any other available studentships.

All PhD students in the sciences (including Maths and Engineering) are eligible to join the Cambridge Philosophical Society. This society offers travel grants and grants to assist students who overrun their grant. All science students who might need to stay on into their tenth term are strongly advised to join the society before the end of their second year, otherwise they are not eligible to apply for assistance.

The University administers the Access to Learning Fund (which comes from the Government). These funds are primarily used to support students with exceptional costs, e.g. because of living in non-College accommodation or having dependent children or because of a disability. Students in their fourth year, who have overrun their grant, are eligible to apply and are normally the main beneficiaries. Clinical Medics and Vets with little parental support are also likely to benefit. Only Home students are eligible. Applications forms are available from the Tutorial Office.

In exceptional cases the College will give assistance with medical costs where appropriate treatment:

1. is not available from the NHS
2. is considered necessary in order for the student to carry out his/her studies
3. will only be short term. The College will usually in these cases seek to share the costs with the University's Crane's Charity Fund.

The Panton Trust is a charity which has for a number of years made awards to Emmanuel students to enable them to go on expeditions or trips to work with or study animals (anywhere in the world) or study conservation or ecology (in the UK). Applications should be made through your Tutor. The deadline is normally around the middle of the Lent Term.

A proportion of all rents paid by students is used to provide rent rebates for poorer students. For home undergraduates this is done automatically on the basis of their LEA assessments but there is no equivalent measure for graduate students. Therefore graduate students who think they may qualify should apply to their Tutor, giving a full account of their sources of income for the academic year and any exceptional expenditure. Students in receipt of a full studentship from any source do not qualify but any student who is wholly or partly self-funded (from savings, family sources or loans) or on undergraduate-type funding (e.g. Clinical Medics and Vets, PGCE students) may qualify. These rent rebates are normally decided during the Lent Term. In 2005 the awards were up to a maximum of £890.

The College has Hardship Funds which can be used to support students who find themselves in financial difficulty through circumstances which were unforeseeable when they originally applied and are no fault of their own. Students who wish to apply for a Hardship Grant should fill in a College Hardship Application Form and then take it to their tutor in person and be prepared to give a complete account of the state of their finances and the reason for their difficulties. In cases where a Hardship Grant is not appropriate, the College may agree to make a loan instead. All loans must normally be repaid before a student is allowed to take any degree.

The University also has hardship funds; the ones most likely to be of use to graduates are Research Awards administered by Board of Graduate Studies (for PhD students only). Details of these and numerous other University funds can be found in a special issue of the Cambridge University Reporter published at the beginning of November each year.