find your perfect postgrad program
Search our Database of 30,000 Courses
Postgraduate Funding At Universities In Scotland
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is the national, strategic body responsible for funding teaching and learning provision in Scotland's colleges and universities. The SFC does not fund individual students as their funding goes directly to colleges and universities. Its funding currently contributes to Scotland's universities and colleges.
Universities funded by the SFC include Abertay University, Edinburgh Napier University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow School of Art, Heriot‑Watt University, The Open University in Scotland, Queen Margaret University, Robert Gordon University, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), University of Aberdeen, University of Dundee, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of St Andrews, University of Stirling, University of Strathclyde, University of the Highlands and Islands and University of the West of Scotland.
The SFC has invested over £1.9 billion per year in recent funding rounds into Scotland’s universities and higher education institutions, and is responsible for helping many postgraduate students achieve their dreams of studying a postgrad program in Scotland. However, the SFC doesn’t actually fund individual students – instead it makes the funding available to the Scottish universities, and these in turn offer SFC‑funded places via the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).
Apply for one of our x5 bursaries worth £2,000
We've launched our new Postgrad Solutions Study Bursaries for 2026. Full-time, part-time, online and blended-learning students eligible. 2026 & 2027 January start dates students welcome. Study postgraduate courses in any subject taught anywhere worldwide.
The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) is an agency of the Scottish Government that gives SFC‑funded financial support to eligible students. For 2025/26, it offers a combined postgraduate loan package of up to £13,900 for eligible taught postgraduate students, made up of a tuition fee loan of up to £7,000 and a living‑cost loan of up to £6,900. The tuition fee loan is paid directly to your university, while the living‑cost loan is paid to you; the living‑cost loan is available only to eligible full‑time students and is not available to part‑time students. In most cases you must be under 60 years old on the first day of the first academic year of your course to qualify for the living‑cost loan. Please note that the living‑cost loan is not available to part‑time postgraduate students. EU nationals coming to Scotland solely to study are no longer generally eligible for SAAS postgraduate loans following Brexit, unless they meet specific residence and immigration conditions such as having settled or pre‑settled status. To be eligible to apply to the SAAS for SAAS/SFC‑funded support, students need to fulfil one of the following criteria.
General residence criteria
Be ordinarily resident (habitually and normally reside) in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years immediately before the relevant date. If you are not a UK or other EU national, you must have ‘settled status’ in the UK (as set out in the Immigration Act 1971) on the relevant date, and
Be ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date. SAAS will not treat you as being ordinarily resident in Scotland if your main purpose in coming here has been to receive full-time education and that you would have otherwise been living elsewhere.
The relevant dates are as follows:
- 1 August for courses that start between 1 August and 31 December
- 1 January for courses that start between 1 January and 31 March
- 1 April for courses that start between 1 April and 30 June
- 1 July for courses that start between 1 July and 31 July
Other criteria for UK nationals
If you are a UK national who does not meet the normal residence conditions, you may be eligible to apply for funding under one of the conditions below.
- UK returners – UK nationals and their family members who lived in Scotland before living elsewhere in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, who have returned to the UK
- UK nationals and their family members who live in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and who have never lived in the UK
- UK national who was born in and has spent the greater part of their life in the UK
- UK national or family member of such who is temporarily absent from the UK and/or Scotland and is living outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland
UK returners – UK nationals and their family members who lived in Scotland before living elsewhere in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, who have returned to the UK:
To be eligible to apply for full support to study a course of higher education in the UK, you must meet the following conditions:
- Prior to living elsewhere in the EU, EEA or Switzerland you were a UK national or person with settled status in the UK or the family member of a UK national, and
- You were settled in the UK and ordinarily resident in Scotland for at least three years immediately before leaving the UK; and
- You have been ordinarily resident in the UK, Islands, Gibraltar or EEA/Switzerland during the three years immediately prior to the relevant date; and
- You are settled in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act and you are ordinarily resident in the UK on the relevant date.
UK nationals or their family members who live in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and who have never lived in the UK:
If you are a UK national who lives in the EEA or Switzerland and you have never lived in the UK, visit the EU Tuition Fee Loan page for help with your eligibility to funding and instructions on how to apply.
To be eligible for funding as a UK national or the family member of a UK national who has never lived in the UK you must be starting your course prior to 31 July 2028.
Criteria for EU nationals and their family members
To be eligible to apply for full support (tuition fees, loan, bursary and living‑cost grants), you must:
- Be, on the relevant date, an EU national or the family member of an EU national and you both have settled or pre‑settled status through the EU Settlement Scheme; and
- Have been ordinarily resident in the UK for the three years immediately prior to the relevant date; and
- Be ordinarily resident in Scotland on the relevant date.
If you are claiming support as the family member of an EU national, both you and your EU family member must meet all the conditions above.
Criteria for Irish nationals
You may be eligible to apply for full support if you meet the EU national full‑support conditions. Please note you would not be required to have settled or pre‑settled status through the EU Settlement Scheme; however, if you are applying for funding as the family member of an Irish national you would need to have a status through the EU Settlement Scheme.
Additionally, further information on funding as well as funding eligibility for EEA and Swiss nationals can be found on the SAAS website.
SFC-funded scholarships at Scottish universities
For those students that meet the eligibility requirements, universities in Scotland offer many SFC‑funded scholarships including full payment of tuition fees to postgraduate students. For example, the University of Glasgow has SFC‑funded scholarships available to students opting to study a wide variety of postgraduate programs from Animal Welfare Science to Playwriting and Dramaturgy. Meanwhile, the University of Edinburgh offers repayable student support via SAAS for a whole range of postgrad subjects from Accounting to Visual Communication.
Each year the number of funded places and the specific eligible courses can change as SFC and the Scottish Government update their priorities for taught postgraduate provision, so it is important to check the latest course lists on each university’s website and on SAAS guidance before applying.
5 steps to SFC-funding success
- Choose your Scottish university.
- Type ‘SAAS’ or ‘SFC funding’ into the university website search box and click search.
- Read the list of postgrad programs that are eligible for SAAS/SFC funding and choose the one that interests you.
- Apply for the postgrad program.
- Download a loan application form or apply online via the SAAS website and submit your application by the stated deadline.
Student testimonial
Wojciech Borowski was a postgraduate student studying City Planning & Real Estate Development at the University of Glasgow. He says, “SFC funding made my dream of attending a postgraduate course in City Planning & Real Estate Development at University of Glasgow become reality so much easier.”
Further funding advice
If you meet the eligibility requirements to apply for an SFC-funded scholarship then you could be lucky enough to get all of your postgraduate tuition fees paid for. However if you don’t succeed with your application, or if you are from England, Northern Ireland, Wales or a country from outside of the European Union, there are thousands of other bursaries and scholarships available to you including the £2,000 Postgrad Solutions Study Bursaries.
Good luck in finding the funding you need, and for those applying for an SFC-funded scholarship we wish you the best of luck!
PLEASE NOTE: Since Brexit, postgraduate students from the European Union studying at a UK university are generally charged the same tuition fees as other international students, unless they hold an alternative qualifying residency status such as settled or pre‑settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or another eligible immigration category. Meanwhile, UK students studying their postgraduate course at a university in an EU member state may face higher tuition fees than local/EU students and may not be eligible for the same national loan and grant schemes as EU nationals, so it is important to check country‑specific rules. It is advisable to check with individual universities in the UK and Europe for up‑to‑date information on tuition fees for all postgraduate programs, and to confirm exactly how you will be classified for fee and funding purposes before you apply.
Find your PERFECT POSTGRAD PROGRAM