Finances and financial support

The tuition fees for students with Home fee status are regulated by the UK Government. Please see here for the most up-to-date information.

Students with Home fee status are not required to pay their tuition fees up front or while studying at the University. Instead, you can take out a government student loan for your tuition fees, which you'll only start repaying once you've left university and are earning a specified minimum salary. For more information, please see here.

If you are an International/Overseas fee status student, you must pay annual fees to both the University and the College. The University tuition fees depend on the subject being studied. These are normally fixed for the duration of your undergraduate course, so your University tuition fees usually will not change while you are studying. Please see here for more information.

The King’s College fee for the academic year 2025-26 will be £12,482. This covers the cost of the educational service provided specifically by the College. This is paid on top of the University tuition fee for your course. The College fee of will normally be fixed for the duration of your undergraduate course, so it usually will not change while you are studying.

At university, you will need to pay for your maintenance/living costs, including accommodation, food, transport, study-related expenses, leisure activities, and more. The living costs for students at Cambridge are comparable with other UK universities, and often can be less. For 2025-26, a reasonable estimate by the University of the required maintenance/living costs is £11,160 for Home students (assuming 9 months resident in Cambridge) and £14,880 for International/Overseas students (assuming 12 months resident in Cambridge). More details on living costs at Cambridge can be found here for Home fee students and here for International/Overseas students.

Particular types of living cost include:

• Rent: Unlike most UK universities, Cambridge guarantees accommodation to all undergraduate students throughout their courses. At King's, we have two types of room rental arrangement: a 29-week “short contract” and a 35-week “long contract” (which allows you to stay in your room over the Christmas and Easter vacations). You can also get special permission to stay in College rooms during the vacations, if needed. For 2023–24, the cheapest rent is £1,459.08 per term (for the cheapest rent band on a "short contract") and the most expensive is £2,493.01 per term (for the most expensive rent band on a "long contract"). The prices include heating, electricity, water, hot water, internet access, kitchen fixed charge, and a charge for possessions insurance.
• Meals: All students have access to College dining facilities, where you can buy cafeteria-style meals three times a day. A typical one-course meal is in the range of £3-4. Students do not have to eat in the cafeteria, and there are shared kitchens available in most accommodation blocks, each equipped with a fridge and microwave. Larger kitchens may also have ovens and hobs.
• Transport: Transport costs in Cambridge are minimal, as the city is small enough to walk or cycle.
• Books: There are a total of 149 libraries across the university, and a very well-stocked library in King's. Specialist study needs are catered for in departmental libraries and in the main University Library. With so many libraries available, you shouldn’t have to buy many books for your course.
• Computers: Excellent computer facilities are available in King’s with free internet access. Most of the current students choose to have their own computers, with high-speed internet access available in student rooms and wifi in the bar and coffee shop.
• Socialising: How much you spend on socialising is your choice, but it is worth noting that, as many social events are College-based and student-run, they do not cost very much. You'll also find discounted prices at the King's bar.
• Clubs and societies: King's has a range of facilities to support all sorts of activities, from art, music, and photography to a wide variety of sports. These activities are all available free or at a very reduced rate to current students.

As a student with Home fee status, you will be able to borrow money towards your living costs each year in the form of a maintenance loan (paid directly into your bank account by the Student Loans Company). The amount you can borrow depends on your assessed household income. If you are from England, you can use the Student Finance calculator for an estimate of the how much you might be eligible for. The Student Awards Agency Scotland, Student Finance Wales, and Student Finance NI also have resources available.

The University estimates that students from the UK need about £11,160 to cover living/maintenance expenses in Cambridge, during term, for 2025-26. The government student maintenance loan you are eligible to receive will not cover this amount fully. However, you may be eligible for non-repayable bursaries or grants from various sources, including the Cambridge Bursary Scheme (see below). The difference between the income from maintenance loans and bursaries and the amount needed for living/maintenance costs will need to be provided by personal finances: you, your family, guardians, etc. More information about the expected contribution from personal finances can be found here.

The government maintenance loan is paid back in instalments once you have graduated and are earning a specified minimum salary. More information about the terms of these loans is available here.

If you are not comfortable taking out loans for faith or other reasons, you might find the University's webpage helpful.

Grants may also be available for certain groups of students with additional costs, such as student parents and those with a disability, long-term health condition, mental health condition, or specific learning difficulty. More information about these is available here.

Cambridge Bursary Scheme

The Cambridge Bursary Scheme is for students with an assessed household income of less than £62,215 from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The amount you can receive is based on assessed household income and calculated on a sliding scale. In some cases, the bursary may be "enhanced" with more money available, e.g. for students who are classed as independent by their regional funding body. A further one-off Educational Premium payment may also be paid to students who were eligible for Free School Meals. Information on all of these bursaries can be found here.

Cambridge Trust Scholarships

Students with International/Overseas fee status may be eligible for a part-cost scholarship offered by the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust. The Trust estimates it will award around 40 part-cost undergraduate scholarships across the University for the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, the Trust intends to award 5 means-tested full-fees awards (i.e. College and tuition fees). See here for more details.

Further details will be sent to all International/Overseas offer holders a few days after their offer letters.

King’s International Studentships

King’s also offers a small number of overseas studentships based on financial need and academic excellence. The eligibility criteria are the same as for the Cambridge Trust Scholarships, so there is no extra form or application to complete. Instead, your eligibility for a King’s International Studentship will be determined based on the information provided within the Cambridge Trust Scholarship application form and any supporting evidence provided. The amount of funding provided by the King’s studentships can vary, and students should not necessarily expect that their full costs will be covered via the King’s International Studentships and/or the Cambridge Trust Scholarships.

Other University International financial support

There may be other funding opportunities available which are dependent on your nationality and/or degree course. The University fees and financial support page for international students offers further information and links on specific opportunities.

There are two main costs to studying at the University: tuition fees (the fees paid to the University and College towards the cost of teaching) and living costs (the money you will need to spend on rent, travel, food, etc.).

Students with Home fee status are eligible for help with both of the above costs in the form of loans (for tuition fees and maintenance) and a non-repayable bursary from Cambridge (if eligible based on assessed household income). All Home students can access a tuition fee loan, and tuition fees are the same for all students and all courses. All Home students can also access a maintenance loan to help cover living costs, although the amount available depends on your household income. A minimum amount is available to all students and it is expected that students from higher-income households are supported by personal finances. A Cambridge Bursary is available to students from lower-income households. For more details, see Maintenance/living costs sections above.

Students with International/Overseas fee status must pay the full cost of tuition fees (including a separate College fee) but may be entitled to apply for scholarships or studentships from the Cambridge Trust and from King’s. Only a very limited number of King’s studentships are available; competition for funding is very intense, and we cannot guarantee that you will be successful. For more details, see the Maintenance/living costs sections above.

Both the College and the University have funding to help students who, when here in Cambridge, find themselves in unexpected financial difficulties. The University’s support includes the Undergraduate Financial Assistance Fund, the Realise Fund, and the Crane Fund. King’s also offers student support grants, study-related expenses grants, and medical grants. Recently, the College has also received funding to offer vacation grants, which support students who are distanced from their families with the costs of accommodation over one or more of the vacation periods. Although the College and University expect students to ensure that they have sufficient funding available for the duration of their studies before coming to Cambridge, the College is sympathetic that circumstances can change and is proud of the financial support which we can offer our students to help them successfully complete their course of study.

King’s also offers a broad range of grants to enable students to engage in activities which will further enrich their time in Cambridge. During the 2024–25 academic year, the King’s grants available to undergraduate students included:

• travel grants for students travelling overseas for educational purposes
• equipment grants for first-year students to purchase equipment that would help them benefit fully from their time at King’s
• cultural grants for students pursuing cultural projects, including performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• music grants for students to take music lessons (including singing), either as part of a music degree or as an extra-curricular activity
• sports grants for the costs associated with playing sport at the highest level within the University
• language grants for students to take a language course run by the Cambridge University Language Centre
• theatre and exhibition ticket grants for students attending the theatre and exhibitions outside of Cambridge

The College also offers a range of competitive prizes including the Rylands Art Prize, the James Essay Prize, the Derek Cornwell Scholarships for musical instrumentalists, the Tilley Translation Prize, the Susie Gautier-Smith Prize for drama, and the John Rose Prize for the best explanation of a scientific principle.

Some years ago, the College received some generous donations that allow it to provide additional support to a small number of students who have not had the same educational or financial resources available throughout their educational lives as others. These students may benefit from additional support in the lead up to, and following the start of, their studies at King’s. 

These donations allow the Admissions Tutor to identify around 30–35 students each year to receive tutoring and mentoring throughout their A Levels and around 20 students to attend the College’s Bridging Programme, a one-week residential that combines a range of academic sessions with activities to help students get to know Cambridge and King’s and to bridge the gap between secondary school/sixth form and higher education. 

From these students, the Admissions Tutor also identifies 10–12 “Turing Support Students” (capped due to limited funding) who are eligible for a range of additional, more targeted support throughout their degrees. Turing Support Students are students who have, and are likely to continue to face, the most significant socio-economic barriers to thriving at King’s, as evidenced by contextual data supplied during and after the admissions process (e.g. Free School Meals status, low household income, educational disruption, disability, caring obligations, difficult home circumstances, etc.).

The additional support offered to Turing Support Students includes first-year tutoring via The Profs, a technology grant, a summer internship grant, and free accommodation in College over the Christmas and Easter vacation if their home environment is not conducive to study and/or their wellbeing. The College is extremely proud that it can provide this additional support to students who have not had access to the same resources and opportunities as others up until this point.