PGCE Student Finance

The tuition fee for the 2024/5 academic year is £9,250 for Home students.

Paying your fees

Most students choose to take a student loan. If you are taking a student loan, you won't have to do a thing after you have had your loan approved - the Student Loan Company will pay your fees directly to the university. For more information, please see the Student Loans section.

If you decide not to take a student loan, you can pay your tuition fees online, directly to the university. You can pay in full or spread out the cost through a maximum of three instalments. To discuss instalments, email us at accountsreceivableteam@cumbria.ac.uk.

Tuition fee invoices are sent electronically to students’ university and personal email accounts.

Make a payment - without an invoice

Make a payment - with an invoice

The tuition fee for the 2024/25 academic year is £9,250 for Home students.

Paying your fees

Most students choose to take a student loan. If you are taking a student loan, you won't have to do a thing - the Student Loan Company will pay your fees directly to the university. For more information, please see the Student Loans section.

If you decide not to take a student loan, you can pay your tuition fees online, directly to the university. You can pay in full or spread out the cost through a maximum of three instalments. To discuss instalments, email us at accountsreceivableteam@cumbria.ac.uk.

Tuition fee invoices are sent electronically to students' university and personal email accounts.

Make a payment - without an invoice

Make a payment - with an invoice

If you have secured a salaried place on the school direct programme, you won't have to pay any tuition fees. Your host school will pay your fees in full and you will earn a salary in line with the unqualified teacher pay scale.

Unfortunately, salaried school direct students are not eligible for bursaries or any other student funding.

Please note this course is not eligible for Student Finance.

Fees for academic year 25/26 are not currently available and will be announced soon.

Paying your fees

You can pay your tuition fees online, directly to the university. You can pay in full or spread out the cost through a maximum of three instalments. To discuss instalments, email us at accountsreceivableteam@cumbria.ac.uk.

Tuition fee invoices are sent electronically to students' university and personal email accounts.

Make a payment - without an invoice

Make a payment - with an invoice

You may be eligible for support depending on your residency status, including a loan to help with the cost of university fees. There are two types of loans you may be able to apply for - tuition fee and maintenance loans.  

Unfortunately, the following courses are not eligible for Student Finance England funding for tuition fee loan or maintenance loan:

• PGCE Postgraduate Certificate in Education (non-QTS Online)

Tuition fee loans

Tuition Fee Loans are available, up to the full cost of your course (subject to eligibility). This loan is paid direct to the university each year, and is not dependent on your household income.  

When applying for your student loans, you will need to apply online to the relevant student funding authority for the area in which you live. Please see the government website for eligibility criteria and further information on your funding organisation. 

Apply for Tuition Loan

Maintenance loans

Maintenance Loans are available to assist eligible students with living costs such as food, accommodation and travel expenses.  These loans are paid in termly instalments direct to your bank account. 

Maintenance Loans are subject to different financial arrangements and eligibility criteria depending on whether you are domiciled in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.  

If you are a student from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, you should refer to the website of the relevant funding body for loan amounts and eligibility criteria. 

The maximum Maintenance Loan amounts for eligible students from England are as follows: 

NB. Different rates are available for students eligible for benefits.

If your course lasts longer than 30 weeks and 3 days, you could get extra money included as part of your maintenance loan. This is called a Long Course Loan

You can work out how much of a loan you are entitled to apply for using the Student Finance Calculator.

Repaying your loan

When you start repaying your loan and how much you pay depends on which repayment plan you're on.  You can find out more about the different payment plans here.

You only start to repay your student loan when your income is over the threshold. If you don't earn more than the threshold, you won't pay anything.

Here's what plan 5 monthly repayments could look like :

If your income changes, the amount you repay will change too, this happens automatically.

If you stop working, or start to earn below the repayment threshold, your repayments will stop until you earn over the threshold.

You’ll make a repayment if you go over the weekly or monthly threshold at any point during the year, for example, if you get a bonus or work overtime. You can request a refund at the end of the tax year if your total income was below the annual repayment threshold.  Student loans get written off after a after a certain length of time, this depends on which repayment plan you are on.

These loans attract interest, which is charged at different rates depending on your repayment plan. For more details on interest rates, please visit the Gov.uk website.

Teacher Training Bursaries

Tax-free training bursaries and Scholarships are available for PGCE students in some subjects. This is in addition to the tuition fee and maintenance loans. Visit the Get Into Teaching page for more information, including eligibility criteria.

PGCE Alumni Scholarship

Alumni Students and other eligible students enrolling on University based PGCE programmes* in 2024/25 may receive up to £2,000 discount with our PGCE Alumni Scholarship. Visit the Bursaries and Scholarship page to read more information, including the PGCE Alumni Scholarship full terms and conditions.

* This does not apply to University-based PE, School Direct, SCITT or PGCE with Non-QTS.

Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to additional funding from Student Finance England to help support you during your course.

• Parents' Learning Allowance is a means-tested on household income. The maximum available is £1,963.
• Childcare Grant is a means-tested on household income. A maximum of 85% of your weekly childcare costs may be paid on your behalf, up to £193.62 per week for one child and £331.95 per week for two or more children. 
• Adult Dependants' Grant is a means-tested on household income. The maximum available is £3,438. 
• Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) is for students with a disability or specific learning difficulty who may be eligible to receive help towards enabling costs; e.g. non-medical helpers, specialist equipment, etc.

You may also be eligible to apply for additional funding from external subject bodies that provide incentives to recruit into specialisms. These bodies may include 

• Royal Society of Chemistry Scholarships 
• The Chartered Institute for IT Scholarships 
• Mathematics Teacher Training Scholarships   
• Institute of Physics Scholarships