Graduate Funding FAQs

Any individual beginning a new graduate degree as a member of King’s College and the University of Cambridge is eligible to apply for funding from a King’s Studentship.

Applications are made via the Cambridge University Applicant Portal.  Simply select ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Apply for Cambridge Scholarships?’ in the Scholarships section of the on line application form.

For details on how to apply to Cambridge University see the How Do I Apply? pages and for deadline dates for course applications see the relevant course details.

The Cambridge University website has details of funding sources at www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/finance/funding.

No, it is not necessary to meet with anyone at King’s regarding your application for funding. Interviews are not part of the selection process.

You apply for a King’s Studentship at the same time as you apply to Cambridge, therefore either before the 3rd January or earlier if the course you are applying for has an earlier closing date. See the relevant course details for course closing dates.

Applicants are assessed in competition with all other applicants who have applied for funding from the Cambridge University and College Shared Funding Scheme for Graduates. The studentship award winners will be those with the best academic achievements to date and, potential for academic excellence in future research.

Yes, you should choose King’s as your first choice College as by doing so, it offers you a better chance of being offered membership here, without which you would not be eligible for funding from King’s.

Yes, you must either be a member of King’s, or at some point before we close for graduate admissions, have been offered membership to King’s via the University Application system. You cannot apply direct to the College for membership.

Offers will start to be made early in March and will continue to be made up to July or even beyond.

The number of Studentship we are able to award varies from year to year. It largely depends on how many students we are already committed to fund i.e. funding for a PhD will continue for three years and some years there are more than others that we are continuing to fund. Also the amount of money we have to award will vary depending on how well the capital investment for each individual fund has made. We hope to be able to make between 15-20 new awards annually, some of these will be shared awards with the University and periodically, there will be others outside of this scheme. When such awards are available, they will be advertised on the King’s website.

We usually receive around 130 applications out of which around 50 become eligible for consideration.

The King’s Studentship Competition is very competitive as you will be able to ascertain from some of the answers above – see replies to the two questions immediately above to give you an idea of how likely you are to win an award from King’s.

No subject is given priority for funding by the Studentship Electors. All applications are assessed on academic achievement to date and potential regardless of the subject. Therefore we cannot put a figure on how many studentships are available for any particular subject.

When you apply for funding, you are considered for ALL funding King’s has available for Studentships. Therefore if your application is not successful there is no other funding you can apply for from King’s to fund your course.  

If you become a member of King’s, you may apply for funding for conferences, travel, research expenses and in certain circumstances other ad hoc expenses.

There is no fixed sum for a King’s Studentship award. The sum you are offered will vary depending on whether full or partial funding is awarded or required, i.e. applicants may already have been offered some funding from elsewhere. A full award will cover the University Composition Fee and maintenance (living expenses) at the rate advertised in the Course Fees information on the University web site. Partial awards may cover one or more of these elements.

You cannot be considered again for the same course. However, if you are starting a new course i.e. a PhD after completing the first year as an MPhil, you can apply again for a King’s Studentship.

There is no pre decided date for when we close as it is not possible for us to know how many applications we will receive or offers we will have made by any given date. Generally we close between the beginning of March and the end of April for courses starting the following October.

It is important that your application for College membership gets to us before we close for graduate admissions which is usually around the beginnning of March – end of March. Therefore we would advise that you apply as early as you can as the application process can be lengthy. If you are concerned at any time about your College application not getting to King’s on time, you can track its progress on your self service page on CamSIS and, if necessary, depending where your application is, contact the Department or the University Graduate Admissions Office to check on its progress.

The studentship competition is open to all individuals applying for a new graduate degree at the University of Cambridge and King’s, regardless of nationality, subject, sex or religion.

The award winners will be those with the best academic achievements to date and potential for academic excellence in future research. However, in cases where there is known financial hardship, the Electors may give preference to such an applicant over an academically equal applicant who does not have financial difficulties.

Please refer to the University Applicant Portal regarding what supporting information is required.

Please refer to the University Applicant Portal regarding what supporting information is required.

Yes you may, providing the University Graduate Admissions Office is in agreement.

Should an offer be made for a full Studentship, the University Composition Fee will be covered for the overseas rate. However, in some cases, depending on how much funding is available to offer, a set figure may be offered towards the University Composition Fee which may not cover the overseas rate in full.

If you answered ‘Yes’ to the question Apply for Funding in the GRADSAF application form, and you have been offered membership at King’s, you will be considered for funding from King’s and the University Shared Funding Scheme.

We cannot be precise about when you will be informed about an award, as the speed in which awards can be made is dictated by how quickly responses of acceptance or declines of awards are received, which we need to know before offers can be made to the next level.