Information for UK undergraduate applicants and current students.
The bursary provides free financial support of up to £3,500 a year for full-time undergraduate students, to help with your Cambridge fees or living costs. Like a scholarship or grant, the payment is non-refundable – you don’t need to pay it back. It doesn’t matter what you’re studying or which College you’re at. Higher amounts are available for medical students in their clinical years, independent students including care leavers, and students who were eligible for free school meals. Visit the What you could get page for more information.
Cambridge offers one of the most generous bursary support packages in the UK. Over £10 million a year is awarded to undergraduate students from low and middle income families through the Cambridge Bursary Scheme. We grant over 3,300 Cambridge Bursaries annually, which equates to one in three of our UK undergraduates, and almost half of those receive the maximum award.
Applying
There’s no separate application for the Cambridge Bursary. If you’re eligible, you are automatically considered when you apply for a student loan through your regional funding body:
- Student Finance England
- Student Awards Agency for Scotland
- Student Finance Wales
- Student Finance Northern Ireland
EU students should apply through UK Student Finance for a tuition fee loan.
Clinical medics and vets must request means-testing by their regional Student Finance body. Forms are available on the Clinical medics and vets page.
To get the Cambridge Bursary you need to:
- be a UK student, or EU student with settled or pre-settled status
- be studying your first full-time undergraduate degree
- be paying University of Cambridge tuition fees
- apply for and be offered a Student Finance loan
- get your student loan application approved by 30th June at the end of the academic year you need the bursary for
- have a household income of under £62,215 a year
Household income refers to the earnings before tax of parents, partners of parents or legal guardians, who you live with. From this amount, anything they pay into a pension is taken off. If they have other dependent children a deduction of £1,130 is made for each one. Your regional student finance funding body assesses your household income.
If your household income stays the same, you could receive the Cambridge Bursary every year of your course of study, whatever the length. This also applies to students who need longer to complete their course due to disability or for medical reasons.
Your regional funding body assesses your household income, which determines your bursary amount. Applying for this assessment is necessary, even if you choose not to take the loan or request a loan value of £0, as they handle bursary payments on behalf of the University.
If you receive a bursary and your household income has reduced by more than 15% since you applied for student finance, apply to your regional body for a current year income assessment.
If your predicted household income for the next tax year is assessed as becoming lower, your bursary award increases. You’re likely to receive the higher amount in the Easter term but it will depend on when you applied for the reassessment. There’s a slightly different process for EU students.
For Scottish students, Student Awards Agency Scotland assesses household income differently to other regional finance bodies.
Your college will let you know in writing when they’ve approved your bursary and the amount you’re being awarded. If you applied for student finance over 6 weeks before your course starts, your college should be able to let you know the details of your bursary in the first week of term. This is the same for EU students.
If you have not heard anything about your bursary contact us.
When your bursary is paid depends on when you apply for a student loan, and when the University receives confirmation of your attendance from your college. The earliest dates it could arrive:
- Michaelmas Term – 28 October, 2025
- Lent Term – 10 February, 2026
- Easter Term – 19 May, 2026
Your bursary is paid directly to your UK bank account by your regional funding body.