Funding your studies

Check out what our Postgraduate Ambassadors did to fund their studies at Cardiff Univeristy.

“I was very lucky to receive the Master’s Excellence Scholarship from the University and it has alleviated a significant amount of financial pressure. I also applied for the government-backed postgraduate loan and the £10,000 from this really made a difference.” Linh, MSc International Economics, Banking and Finance

“I decided the best option for me was to try and get a part time job. Though instead of running for the first incoming position, I carefully marketed myself as a freelance engineering student.I was able to successfully land a very well paid position as a project leader for exo-skeleton technology development. I would definitely recommend this procedure to any student having difficulties funding their studies. It’s a win-win situation, I can fund my studies as well as greatly improve my resume and develop my skills.” Pierre, MSc Structural Engineering

“It is definitely worth looking at the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding, as you may be offered funding you had no idea was available.” Luca, MSc Care of Collections

“I am funding my postgraduate study at Cardiff University through the Cardiff University Master’s Excellence Scholarship, and I have also received a scholarship from the James Pantyfedwen Foundation.  I would strongly advise prospective students to start looking at different funding options as early as possible as many scholarship organisations close their submissions fairly early in the year.  The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding was a hugely useful source of information and advice, and I recommend anyone looking for postgraduate funding to start their search there.” Heledd, MSc Social and Public Policy

“Having worked full-time before returning to university study it was really important for me to maintain some sort of employment during my Master’s. Once I received my timetable, it was clear that I would have a few days free each week to fit in some paid work. I found employment through, Jobshop, which is the University run student employment service. I was able to sign up as soon as I was registered on my course, after filling out a simple online form I dropped into the Jobshop office which is located in the Students’ Union to provide evidence of eligibility to work. Soon after this I began receiving regular emails with a wide variety of employment opportunities from one off shifts to more regular positions.” Sarah, MSc Education, Policy and Society

“Last year I was successful in receiving some funding towards my living costs. When I went to the Postgraduate Open Day in November 2015 I was worried about financing my time in university and was told about the Cardiff University Alternative Funding Guide. The guide was really helpful in explaining how to write to recognised Trusts and Charities across the UK and provided a list of different contacts. It included example letters and statements from previous students so I found this really useful. I wrote around 50-100 letters to different organisations and, yes, I did have a few knock-backs but I was successful in receiving a grant from a charity which was enough to help me pay for my first term’s living costs alone.

My biggest piece of advice is to be organised and confident in yourself. If you want to be successful you need to start looking at the deadlines for organisations and form some sort of timetable to help you send out all of your letters and emails – the last thing you want is to miss a deadline! Don’t feel too disheartened if you get a lot of rejections, there is a lot of competition for this type of funding, but if you truly believe you are suited to a particular organisation, put all of your effort into the application and hopefully you’ll be as lucky as I was. “ Laura, MSc Eco-Cities