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The Tavistock and portman, NHS Foundation Trust

Paying your fees

Information and help on how to pay your course fees

When you are offered a place of study on one of our courses and accept your place, you will be asked to make arrangements for paying your fees.

At postgraduate level, students often find there is limited financial support available to them. It is therefore important that when applying for study, you consider the availability of finance for both tuition fees and living costs.

The majority of our students pay their tuition fees through one, or a combination of the methods outlined on this page. If you intend to use a source of funding or loan that is not mentioned here, please check with our finance team before you apply, as we may not be able to support the funding application.

Self-funded students

Where course fees are over £650 per year, you will be able to pay your fees in three equal instalments.

Your fees will be collected online via your applicant portal, where you will be able to set up an instalment plan. Please note: the first payment will be taken immediately at the point at which you set up the instalments. 

Should you wish to withdraw from your place of study, any money paid will be returned in accordance with our refunds policy.  

Instalment dates are as follows:

Students applying for a government postgraduate loan will be required to pay 10% of their fee and subsequent instalments will be aligned to instalments you will receive from the Student Loans Company. 

Where fees are less than £650, the full fee is due.

Payment should be made online by debit or credit card, through our applicant portal.

Please note: the option for paying in instalments is only available for self-funding students.

Some employers are willing to pay all or part of course fees. This might be through sponsorship or a professional development grant. 

Some NHS Trusts might be able to get funding through their education and workforce development directorates.

Teachers and social workers may ask for advice from their local authority training officers.

Some children’s Trusts have professional development funds. They may also have training priorities and a prescribed list indicating what they will and will not fund. 

If you will be funded by your employer or another external source, the invoice will be sent directly to the sponsoring organisation and payment is due immediately. You must provide details of your sponsorship arrangements when you apply and enrol.

Your sponsor must pay your fees in full at the time of being invoiced, and cannot pay in instalments.

If your sponsor fails to settle the invoice, you will be liable for all outstanding fees subject to our refunds policy. 

Postgraduate loans

The government introduced postgraduate loans in the academic year 2016/17. We are pleased to say that all of our Master’s level courses are eligible for these loans and students can apply for them up to nine months after their course has started.

These loans will allow you to borrow up to £11,200 to cover fees and living costs and will be paid in instalments to your bank account. You will not start paying the loan back until you have finished your course and are earning over £21,000.

In order to enrol on a course, you will need to pay 1% of your annual fee to enable enrolment even if the loan has not been approved. The remaining fee will be due in three instalments aligned with your Student Loans Company (SLC) instalments. 

The criteria for accessing a government postgraduate loan through the SLC depends on: 

Please note that only Master’s level courses are covered by this particular loan scheme – our Trust certificates, graduate certificates and graduate diplomas, PG certificates and diplomas are not eligible. You also have to be under the age of 60 and be studying at this level for the first time.

Our eligible courses are: 

More recently doctoral loans have also become available for a doctoral course:

In order to apply for a loan, visit the GOV.UK website and follow these directions: 

Please note that applications can be made up to nine months after the start of the course and you will be entitled to receive the full loan amount. Unfortunately, students who commenced a course prior to academic year 2016-17 are not eligible to apply. 

When your application has been approved by the Student Loans Company (SLC), the SLC will release the first installment, usually up to five working days after receipt of the confirmation from the University of Essex that you are registered. 

Any change to your academic status post-registration (e.g. intermission, withdrawal, change of course, change of mode of study) will require prompt communication to the SLC, our student registry and your course administrator. 

Funding for research students

Students who are studying for a professional doctorate at the Trust can find more information and guidance about research funding through NOCLOR.

Recovery of unpaid fees

Please note that we will take all steps to recover fees that are due and unpaid. We may:

Bursaries

As part of our commitment to becoming a more inclusive education provider, we offer a number of bursaries each year to new students from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic / Global Majority backgrounds, who qualify for Home fees status. The bursaries provide assistance with the cost of tuition fees, and a number of mentoring sessions.

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