Am I eligible to apply next year?

To be eligible to apply for a grant you must be: 

We will no longer have a lower age limit, so eligible students of any age may apply.

​

To be eligible to apply for a grant you must meet each of the following. You must be: 

a) a graduate with a First Class or Upper-Second Class honours degree (2:1) or a master’s or doctoral degree or their overseas equivalents, or be a final year undergraduate student who is expected to achieve a 1st or 2.1 (If your qualification is not from a UK institution please pay particular attention to the section below on Degrees Awarded Outside the UK.)
​
b) accepted on to or applying for a course of study at a UK university in 2022/23 for: 
a degree in medicine, dentistry or veterinary studies taken as a second degree, 
or for a Doctoral or Master’s degree in any subject 
or for a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma in any subject

and in all cases, your 2022/23 academic year must officially begin on a date in 2022 and last for at least eight months

​

c) already living in the UK at the time of application
 
d) planning to remain living in the UK throughout the course of study
 
e) facing a financial shortfall in the academic year 2022/23. 
 
Note that applications are welcome from students beginning their first year of study, as well as from those who have already embarked on their course.
​
If each one of a) to e) above applies, then you are eligible to apply for a grant when we re-open. The application form will be available from 4 January 2022. Completed application forms will be accepted from that date until we have received the maximum number of 300 applications, at which point the application ‘window’ will close.
 

Degrees awarded outside the UK 

If you have not had a grant from us before and you do not have either (i) a First Class or Upper-Second Class honours degree (2:1) from a UK university or (ii) a Doctoral or Master’s degree from a UK university, and are therefore relying on a degree/higher degree obtained overseas, then you MUST obtain and submit with your application a letter from the UK University at which you plan to study in 2022/23.

  
This letter should confirm that the University considers your overseas degree to be equivalent to a UK First Class or Upper-Second Class degree with honours, or a Master’s or Doctoral degree. Applications which come without this letter will be rejected without further discussion. (If you have previously been awarded a grant from our Trust, you do not need to submit the letter from the UK University.) 

Grant Information

The application process is competitive. Applications are assessed according to academic merit and financial need.  All grants are awarded for a full year of academic study and for one year only.  Applicants for full-time postgraduate higher degree courses may be supported for up to a maximum of three years and part-time postgraduate higher degree courses for a maximum of six years, but in both cases new applications have to be submitted each year.
 
Grants are normally from £500 to £1,200 in value. They are intended to reduce the financial shortfall incurred in meeting educational and subsistence expenses upon payment of tuition fees. Before award money can be released, applicants must confirm that their financial situation has not improved significantly and that they still have a financial shortfall.

Currently the Trust does not fund:

Please note that currently we do not fund the following: 

a) Students living temporarily or permanently outside the UK who are accessing their courses remotely from UK universities

​

b) Electives
 
c) Student placements

​

d) Professional training courses (e.g., Law Society, Royal College, examinations, PLAB tests)
 
e) Students who have already been supported by the Trust for a postgraduate degree in another field

f) PhD ‘writing-up periods’
 
g) Full-time PhD students beyond a third year of study
 
h) Part-time PhD students beyond a sixth year of study.
​
 
If you have any questions about the application process, please email admin@stapleytrust.org

Other UK Grant Makers

We would love to assist every student in financial need, but our own funds are very limited so sometimes we can’t help. Download our new guide below for some alternatives for UK-based students seeking charitable grants to finance further or higher degrees