Sources of Funding - Rest of UK
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England
If you are normally resident in England, you will be eligible for the same funding package that you would benefit from if you attended an English institution. You can apply for a loan to cover up to the full tuition fee cost of your course from Student Finance England at: https://www.gov.uk/student-finance
Student Finance England is a service provided by the Student Loans Company. They provide financial support on behalf of the UK Government to students from England entering higher education in the UK. You should apply for your tuition fee loan before the start of your course although you can still apply for the loan up to 9 months after the first day of the academic year for your course. You don’t need to have applied for a course or received an offer in order to begin applying for funding; it’s best to apply early to avoid any disappointment.
Have a look at Student Finance England’s Quick Start Guide for advice on how to apply for funding in 2025/2026. Information is also available via The Student Room.
Postgraduate Study
Postgraduate students from England can benefit from a postgraduate loan of up to £12,471 (24/25) to be used towards tuition fees and/or living costs. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/funding-for-postgraduate-study
Doctoral Study
A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help pay for course fees and/or living costs while you study a postgraduate doctoral course, such as a PhD. If you’re eligible you can get up to £29,390 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024. For more information go to: https://www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan
Wales
Undergraduate Funding
If you are an undergraduate student from Wales you can make an application for funding (WGLG – Welsh Government Learning Grant or Special Support Grant – SSG) online through StudentFinance Wales. You can also apply online for your tuition fee loan and your maintenance loan. The deadline for applying is usually in April of the year you intend to begin studies, but it is your responsibility to check the Student Finance Wales website for any changes in deadlines. You don’t need to have applied for a course or received an offer in order to begin applying for funding it’s best to apply early to avoid any disappointment.
Full information on available funding through grants and loans for students from Wales is available at: https://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/discover-student-finance
Postgraduate Funding
Welsh students at postgraduate level can apply for a combination of a loan and a grant to help with course and living costs. Students whose course starts in academic year 2024/2025 can get a maximum of £18,950 made up of loan and grant. For further information go to: https://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/postgraduate-finance/master-s/
Doctoral Loans
If you’re starting a full-time or part-time postgraduate Doctoral course from 1 August 2024, you can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan of up to £28,655. Further detail is available at: https://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/postgraduate-finance/doctoral/
Northern Ireland
If you are normally resident in Northern Ireland, your financing will come from Student Finance NI. Undergraduate students from Northern Ireland could be eligible for up to 10 types of student finance, based on their selection. You do not need to apply for these individually as your funding body (SFNI) will tell you what you qualify for. You can apply for a loan to cover up to the full tuition fee cost per year. This is called a tuition fee loan. You can also apply for a maintenance loan to help with living costs and depending on your household income you could also be eligible for a Maintenance Grant and/or a Special Support Grant. Certain students might also qualify for extra help by way of additional funding to help in various circumstances, such as with having a disability or long-term health condition.
Applying
You can make an application for funding online through Student Finance NI. You don’t need to have applied for a course or received an offer in order to begin applying for funding it’s best to apply as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment!
Support from RCS
In addition to any support you may receive from student finance, the Royal Conservatoire has introduced additional scholarships for new RUK students to partly offset the introduction of a higher level of tuition fee. We will use the residual household income figure as calculated by the Student Loans Company (SLC) when assessing scholarship entitlement. Depending on your residual household income you will be guaranteed to receive the following level of scholarship for each year of your degree programme if you are successful in taking up your offer of admissions to the Royal Conservatoire. You will be able to use your scholarship to either contribute towards your tuition fee or towards your general living costs. Further details will be made available in due course.
The amount you can qualify for depends on your country of residence:
England and Northern Ireland
| Residual Household Income | Royal Conservatoire English/Northern Irish Scholarship |
| Up to £25,000 | £3,000 |
| £25,001 to £30,000 | £1,750 |
| £30,001 to £35,000 | £1,250 |
Wales
| Residual Household Income | Royal Conservatoire Welsh Scholarship |
| Up to £25,000 | £1,000 |
| £25,001 to £30,000 | £600 |
| £30,001 to £35,000 | £500 |