Application fee waivers
Contents
Applying from a low-income country
If you are resident in a low-income country, in the list of eligible countries below, and you are not able to pay the application fee, you can request a waiver of this fee.
This must be done within your online application form. You should select ‘Standard’ on the ‘Application type’ tab.
To be eligible for this application fee waiver, you must meet all of the following criteria:
- Your country of ordinary residence is one of the eligible countries below.
- You would be unable to apply to Oxford without an application fee waiver.
- You meet the entry requirements for your chosen course, as published on the course page.
If you indicate on the application form that you are resident in one of the eligible countries below, you will be asked additional questions relating to this waiver scheme. If your answers to these questions indicate that you are eligible for this waiver, you won't be directed to the payment screens when you submit your application.
Countries eligible for this application fee waiver
- Afghanistan
- Angola
- Bangladesh
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gambia (The)
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Kiribati
- Korea (DPR)
- Lao People’s Democratic Republic
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Maldives
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- Niger
- Rwanda
- Samoa
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Vanuatu
- Yemen
- Zambia
Refugees and displaced persons
If you are, or were, a refugee; stateless person; asylum seeker; or have been otherwise forcibly displaced within or outside your country of origin, you are eligible for an application fee waiver as long as you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.
To request this waiver, answer ‘yes’ to the question asking whether you are a refugee, stateless person, or asylum seeker, or have been otherwise forcibly displaced within or outside your country of origin on the ‘About You’ tab of the application form.
You must also confirm that you meet the published minimum entry requirements for the course you are applying to.
UK applicants from low-income backgrounds
Eligibility
Applicants who completed their undergraduate studies after January 2020 and who received at least the following levels of support from their regional funding body, or equivalent bursary, during their degree may request that the graduate application fee be waived.
The minimum qualifying support levels for each year for the different regions are set out below.
If you completed a part-time undergraduate degree during this period, contact Graduate Admissions for information on eligibility thresholds.
In addition, UK-resident asylum seekers and refugees are also eligible for an application fee waiver.
England
Students who began their undergraduate course from 2016-17
| Minimum qualifying support level | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studying outside London, not living with parents | Studying in London, not living with parents | Living at home | |
| Final year maintenance loan in 2019-20 | £7,175 | £9,508 | £5,816 |
| Final year maintenance loan in 2020-21 | £7,384 | £9,787 | £5,985 |
| Final year maintenance loan in 2021-22 | £7,615 | £10,091 | £6,171 |
| Final year maintenance loan in 2022-23 | £7,791 | £10,324 | £6,314 |
| Final year maintenance loan in 2023-24 | £8,010 | £10,614 | £6,492 |
Students who began their undergraduate course before 2016-17
| Minimum qualifying support level | |
|---|---|
| Final year maintenance grant in 2019-20 | £1,633 |
| Final year maintenance grant in 2020-21 | £1,683 |
| Final year maintenance grant in 2021-22 | £1,736 |
| Final year maintenance grant in 2022-23 | £1,777 |
| Final year maintenance grant in 2023-24 | £1,826 |
Northern Ireland
Final year maintenance grant of at least £689.
Scotland
Final year Young Student bursary of at least £500.
Final year Independent Student loan of at least £7,500 in 2023-24, £6,600 in 2022-23 or at least £6,250 in 2021-22 or earlier.
Wales
Students who began their undergraduate course from 2018-19:
| Minimum qualifying support level | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studying outside London, not living with parents | Studying in London, not living with parents | Living at home | |
| Final year maintenance grant | £5,208 | £6,408 | £4,488 |
Students who began their course from 2012-13 to 2017-18 inclusive:
Final year grant of at least £1,142
Applicants are also eligible for an application fee waiver if they are currently in receipt of one of the following benefits from the UK Government, and were not in full-time education in the 2022/23 academic year:
- Income Support
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Employment Support Allowance
- Pension credit guarantee credit
- Universal Credit (UC)
How to request a UK low-income application fee waiver
To request a waiver, please upload a scanned copy or screenshot of your most recent bursary or Student Finance letter that shows the financial support package you receive(d) for the final year of your undergraduate degree (detailing any loan/grant in addition to the standard government loan that all UK-resident students are eligible for). Please ensure that any screenshot/letter includes:
- the name of the Student Finance body, eg Student Finance England;
- your name;
- the year; and
- the amount of maintenance loan/grant/bursary that you received and were entitled to.
If you are instead submitting a needs-based bursary letter, you must provide evidence that the eligibility criteria require a household income below £35,000 per year.
If you are applying on the basis of currently being in receipt of benefits and/or financial support from the UK Government, please upload a scanned copy or screenshot of your entitlement letter showing you are in receipt one of the above benefits and/or financial support from the Government. Please ensure that any screenshot/letter includes:
- your name;
- the title of the benefit/financial support; and
- the entitlement period
Once we have processed your request, we will send you a code that you can enter into the application form to avoid having to go through the payment screens when submitting your application. If you are applying for more than one course, this code will work for multiple applications that you submit, but may not be used by other applicants. This code can be applied after starting a ‘standard’ application, so there is no need to wait for the code before starting your application.
When to request it
You must submit your request two weeks ahead of the deadline you are applying to in order to ensure that you receive the code in good time. Where a late request is submitted, it will not be possible to extend the application submission deadline.
Graduate Access Programme Applicants
Eligibility
Applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes (UNIQ+, UNIQ+ Digital and the Wellcome Biomedical Vacation Scholarships at the University of Oxford) in the past two years (for the 2022 or 2023 programmes) and met the eligibility criteria may request that the graduate application fee be waived.
How to request a graduate access programmes fee waiver
To request a waiver, please contact [email protected] as soon as you have started your application for graduate study, noting which access scheme you applied to. Where possible, please use the email address that you used to apply for our graduate access programmes so that we can verify your request against our records. Where a waiver code is provided, you will still use the ‘standard’ version of the application form, so you can work on your application while you are waiting for the code.
When to request it
You must submit your request two weeks ahead of the deadline you are applying to in order to ensure that you receive the code in good time. Where a late request is submitted, it will not be possible to extend the application submission deadline.
Applying for readmission
If you're currently studying for an Oxford graduate taught course and applying for a research course with no break in your studies, you may be eligible to apply for readmission. You must meet the same deadlines and requirements as other applicants, but you won't be required to pay an application fee.
The following Oxford students are eligible to apply for readmission:
- MSt, MSc, MPhil, MPP, MFA, BCL, MJur, BPhil or MTh students applying to any DPhil course except the DPhil in Management;
- BCL, MJur or MSc in Law and Finance students applying to the MPhil in Law;
- PGCert in Nanotechnology students applying to the MSc in Nanotechnology for Medicine and Health Care.
Please note, MSc by Research students are not eligible.
To apply using this application type, you will need log into your student self-service account to obtain an authorisation code and enter it into the application form using the instructions below. You will not be able to proceed to the next tab of the application form until you have entered a valid code.
Where can I find my readmission code in Student Self-Service?
After you've logged into Student Self-Service, select ‘Academic and Assessment Information’. Under the ‘My student record’ heading, select ‘Check my details’ and locate the ‘Display Authorisation Code’ button at the bottom of the screen.
How to enter the authorisation code in the graduate application form
Once you've found your authorisation code, return to the ‘Application type’ tab of the online application form. Select ‘Application fee pre-paid or Readmissions' from the drop-down menu and enter your authorisation code into the text field that appears.
The authorisation code must be entered manually, without full stops, spaces or other unnecessary characters. Copying and pasting the code may cause an error.
Applying to related research courses
The Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS), Medical Sciences and Social Sciences divisions offer a number of research courses in closely related subject areas. Two schemes are offered for such courses that will enable you to be considered for more than course without paying an additional application fee.