Staff Fee Scheme - for courses starting prior to academic year 2026/27
If you are a current staff member who plans to start a postgraduate course at the University of Cambridge, you may be eligible for the reduced staff fee for your course.
In order to qualify, you must:
1. Be a candidate for a research course covered by the Code of Practice for Research Students (i.e. PhD, MSc, MLitt, CPGS, EdD, those MPhils examined by thesis and oral only). Course information can be found in the University's Statutes & Ordinances, Chapter I. The MD course is not eligible for staff discount.
2. Have a contract of at least 40% full time employment with the University of Cambridge from the first day of the research course (this does not include employment in one of the University Partner Institutes, nor ESOL, nor CUPA, nor Colleges). The course is considered to start on the first day of term, which is 1 October for Michaelmas Term, 5 January for Lent Term, and 10/17 April for Easter Term.
3. Have your Head of Department's support for the reduced staff fee being charged. Where the employing department is different from the admitting department, the agreement of both Heads must be obtained.
4. Be able to demonstrate that your research will overlap almost entirely with your paid employment (for full-time courses) or contribute directly to it (for part-time courses).
5. Sign an undertaking that you understand and agree that if the employment contract comes to an end, then so will the reduced staff rate and you will be assessed for the remaining fees/maintenance in the usual way.
Staff Fee Scheme Application form
Please note: The Staff Fee Scheme will stop accepting new enrolments at the end of the 2025-26 academic year, and will be replaced by the Staff Bursary Scheme. Staff members planning to start their course in Michaelmas Term 2026 or later should apply for a Staff Bursary instead. Further details about the Staff Bursary Scheme are provided below.
Staff Bursary Scheme - for courses starting academic year 2026/27 onwards
If you are a member of staff at the University of Cambridge, and plan to start a postgraduate course at the University related to your employment on or after October 2026, you may be eligible for a Bursary to cover some of the fees for your course.
The Staff Bursary Scheme encompasses three separate bursaries, each with their own eligibility criteria. Further information about the bursaries and their eligibility criteria can be found here.
Further Staff Fee information
All Staff Fee recipients pay one-third of the Home fee for their course (part- or full-time, depending on your mode of study), irrespective of whether you are classified as Home or Overseas for fee status purposes.
- Ensure an application for admission to postgraduate study has been completed in the normal way, via the course directory and the Applicant Portal
- Complete the Staff Fee Scheme Application Form and send it to your departmental postgraduate administrator.
- Your Head of Department(s) will complete their section of the form, which should then be submitted by email to the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team or uploaded under Applicant Self Service on CamSIS. Applications are at the discretion of the department.
- Your application will then be reviewed, which includes an employment verification check. Consequently there may be a delay between a Staff Bursary application being submitted and the Staff Bursary appearing on your student record, as an application will not be approved until you have received your University employment contract or contract extension letter.
Please note:
If you are already part-way through your course and have been employed by the University since the outset, you may be eligible for a refund of the difference between the reduced staff fee and the full UCF for any terms completed since the commencement of the scheme in January 2004. Students who have completed their course are not eligible for a refund.
Students in receipt of a staff fee reduction need to inform their College Finance Office (or equivalent) of any change in their University employment status during their course, to help ensure that their College charges them the correct fee for the term(s) in question.
The Student Funding and Fee Policy Team will process your application once the appropriate paperwork has been uploaded through Applicant Self Service on CamSIS. You or your department must advise the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team of any changes to your employment or degree course that may affect your Staff Fee eligibility by emailing the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team at feestatusandpolicy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Any student in receipt of the Staff Fee whose University contract is extended must ensure that their department notify the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team to ensure that they continue to receive the Staff Fee whilst remaining employed by the University.
Please note that you will still be expected to pay the normal termly fee for any remaining term(s) of study for your course if/once your Staff Fee has ended. In such cases, your termly fee for any remaining term(s) will be either the full Home or Overseas fee for the term, according to your fee status.
This fee liability applies even if there is a delay in the Student Funding and Fee Policy Team receiving or processing your department’s instruction to stop your Staff Fee reduction.
Further information on the scheme, which results in a reduced fee for eligible staff, can be found in the University Composition Fee section of the University's Statutes & Ordinances, Chapter I.
An internal Staff Fee Scheme audit will take place each year to ensure that the Staff Fee is only awarded to eligible staff.