Asylum Seeker Bursary 2022 entry

The University of Surrey is pleased to be offering financial support to those seeking sanctuary in the UK. This award has been developed to provide asylum seeking students with greater access routes to the University.

About

For 2022 entry, tuition fee and maintenance support is available for one undergraduate student and one postgraduate taught student who are asylum seekers or who hold Discretionary Leave to Remain.

Successful applicants will be awarded:

  • A partial tuition fee waiver that will cover the difference between the UK/EU tuition fee and the oversees fee charged (up to £21,000). Under this waiver, students will still be classed as international students but will be able to pay a lower rate of fees
  • A maintenance bursary of up to £1,500 towards set up costs, books, and travel in your first year of study.

The tuition fee waiver is available for each year of study. This is unless, as a result of an asylum application, you (or the person of who you are a dependent of) are granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK. If this happens, you must inform the University and the award will cease from the start of the next academic year, when you would be expected to apply for student finance instead.

Please note that application to the Asylum Seeker Bursary is competitive and not all applications will be successful.

Final decisions on bursary applications will be made by a panel so please be aware that you may be invited to attend an interview to discuss your bursary application.

Eligibility criteria

To be considered for the Asylum Seeker Bursary you must:

  • Be an asylum seeker or the dependent of an asylum seeker OR been granted Discretionary Leave to Remain (DLR) or be the dependent of someone who has been granted DLR
  • Be unable to access funding through Student Finance England
  • Have firmly accepted a place on an undergraduate or postgraduate course at the University of Surrey
  • Not already hold an equivalent or higher level qualification.

How to apply

To apply you must have the following:

  • A completed application form (doc)
  • A supporting statement from a referee
    • The referee must provide their contact details and confirm that the school, college, community or voluntary group that they represent wishes to support your application. The supporting statement should be no longer than 500 words
  • All the documentation that you have received from the Home Office in relation to your asylum claim.

Please email everything to the Fees and Funding department at feesandfunding@surrey.ac.uk.

Application deadline

Contact details

For enquiries regarding your application please contact: feesandfunding@surrey.ac.uk.

Male student in Heart and Soul cafe

Scholarships and bursaries

There is a range of support available to help finance your studies.