Application fee
Guidance on paying the application fee.
A standard application for graduate study requires the payment of an application fee. These fees are used to support the University’s graduate access and widening participation initiatives for applicants or students from disadvantaged or underrepresented groups at Oxford. This helps us particularly to support applicants and potential applicants from all backgrounds, at every stage of their journey into graduate study at Oxford. You can find more information on some of our Graduate Access programmes on our website.
A range of application fee waiver schemes are available.
The application fee for applications to research courses is £20. Research courses comprise Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT), DPhil (including Neuroscience 1+3), MSc by Research, MPhil Socio-Legal Research, and MPhil Law.
The application fee for applications to taught courses is £75. Taught courses comprise MPhil, MSc, MSt, PGDip, PGCert, MPhil + DPhil Economics.
Paying the application fee
Recent UK and EU regulations require Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) by banks and card providers. This might require you to have access to a card-reader device, mobile app or phone at the point of making a payment. If you are not sure whether this will affect your payment, we recommend that you submit your application as early as possible before the deadline. Paying the application fee is an essential part of submitting your application, and late applications will not be accepted for the deadline.
You must pay in GBP (£) via credit or debit card and your card will be charged as you submit your application. The following payment cards are accepted:
- Visa
- Visa Debit
- Mastercard
Your application fee cannot be refunded, even if you later decide to withdraw your application. This payment does not go toward the course fees you will need to pay if you are offered and accept a place at Oxford.
Your application will not be considered unless you have either paid the application fee or have been granted an application fee waiver, and have completed submission of your application.
A friend or family member can make the payment on your behalf; see below for further instructions.
How can someone else pay the application fee on my behalf?
If you are in the presence of the person who can pay the application fee on your behalf, when you reach the payment pages, the payer will need to input the following credit or debit card details in order for the submission of your application to complete:
- cardholder name
- credit or debit card number and type
- expiry date
- 3-digit security code (found on the reverse beside the signature strip)
- billing address.
If it is not possible for the payment to be made in your presence, we recommend that the payer makes the payment remotely via the Online Store. They should follow the relevant Online Store link for either taught courses or research courses. Make sure to inform the payer as to whether your course is a taught or research course. Before they make the payment, you should provide them with the following details so that their payment is associated with the correct application:
- your surname
- your first name
- your date of birth
- the course to which you are applying.
The payer should click 'Add to Basket', then enter the above details and proceed to make payment. They should make a note of the application fee order reference number ('OXF' followed by seven digits). The automated confirmation email they will receive after submitting the payment will contain information on how to submit the application. They should forward this email to you so that you may submit your application.
In the unlikely event they do not receive this email, they should provide the order reference to you, the applicant, and you should contact Graduate Admissions quoting this 'OXF' reference as the subject of your message. We will then provide instructions on how to submit your application without needing to go through the payment screens.
topTroubleshooting
I don't have a credit or debit card
If you do not have access to a credit or debit card, some banks offer a disposable credit card voucher that can be used to make online payments.
If you're not able to make a payment using one of these methods, contact Graduate Admissions for guidance.
I have a credit/debit card, but I'm unable to make a payment
If you are not able to sign the declaration and access the payment screens, check that you have completed all sections of the online application form correctly. If you see a red 'X' icon above any of the tabbed sections, return to the corresponding tab and make sure you have answered all mandatory questions in the required format before attempting to make your payment.
In addition, if the course has closed to applications, you will no longer be able to submit an application.
If you have signed the declaration but are still unable to make a payment, we recommend taking the following steps:
- Use a Windows-based PC and the most up-to-date version of a browser such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox. Please note that it is not possible to make the payment using any version of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- Disable any pop-up blockers, as these may interfere with the payment process.
- Make sure the payment details you are entering exactly match the details held by your card issuer, including personal details, billing address, card number, etc.
- Try to make the payment using an alternative PC at a different IP address. Occasionally, if there are multiple failed purchase attempts from the same IP address, this may cause subsequent attempts to be declined by the card issuer. This will also rule out any local IT issues that might be causing the payment issue.
- Ask the permission of a friend or relative to use their card details for the payment (see the instructions above).
If you have followed the above steps and continue to experience difficulties, please contact Graduate Admissions with further details and if possible screenshots of the issues you are experiencing, and we will try to assist you.
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