Undergraduate prospectus

Tuition fees and funding

Financing your studies: How much will it cost?

Your main costs as a student will be tuition fees and living expenses. If you are an international student you will have to fund yourself, however students from the UK and EU member states may be entitled to some form of financial assistance from their own government and tuition fee loans from the UK Government. Students from the UK may also be entitled to support for maintenance expenses. Full details are available in the booklet A Guide to Financial Support for Higher Education Students published by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). You can obtain copies free of charge by telephoning: 0800 7319133, or from the Directgov website.

Tuition fees for UK and EU students

The tuition fees* for the academic year 2011-12 are not yet confirmed but as a guide fees for 2010-11 are £3,290 per year for all full-time courses. However, no eligible UK or EU full-time undergraduate student entering higher education will have to pay fees before they start university or whilst they are studying. Eligible UK and EU students will be able to take out a tuition fee loan for each year of their course to cover this amount. Students will repay their tuition costs after they have left university and upon earning over the repayment threshold. For UK students this is £15,000. To take into account differences in living costs, the repayment threshold for EU students may not be the same as in the UK.

Students from the EU must satisfy all of the following conditions in order to qualify for the tuition fee loan:

• You must be an EU national, or a child of an EU national, spouse or their child; and
• You must have been ordinarily resident in the EEA and/or Switzerland for three years prior to the start of your course (ie three years prior to 1 September 2011). No part of this stay should have been partly or wholly for educational purposes; and
• You must not have previously enrolled on a higher education programme lasting more than two years.

For those students who are engaged on a four-year course which involves a foundation or preliminary year (see International Academy, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and Biology and Ecology entries), the University intends to offer a fee waiver, charging around £1,310 for the first year of study. Subsequent years will be set at the annual fee of around £3,290*.

Further details of funding arrangements are available on the Student Finance website.

Equivalent Level Qualifications (ELQs)

If you are planning to apply for a course in 2011 but already possess a qualification at the same level, you should be aware that you will be liable to pay an increased tuition fee for your course as a result of some recent changes in the Government’s funding of higher education. This means that if you already have a higher education qualification in a particular subject, but wish to undertake another course in a different discipline, you will be charged a higher fee than the one charged for UK and EU students who are undertaking a course for the first time. In 2010-11 the fees are £6,650 for classroom-based courses and £10,600 for laboratory-based courses.

Please note that this does not apply to students who wish to study a Foundation degree, or for those wanting to undertake the undergraduate nursing courses at the University’s Southend Campus. For further information on ELQs, please see the ELQ information on the website or e-mail: ssofund@essex.ac.uk.

Maintenance support for UK students

UK students who are from families where household income is under £25,000 will be eligible to receive a government grant worth £2,979 a year. Household incomes up to £50,000 will receive a partial grant (based on 2009-10 figures).

The University also provides cash bursaries for students. Eligibility is based on household income and a significant proportion of our UK students will be in receipt of this financial support.

For further information about entitlement and levels of financial support at the University of Essex, please see the student finance information on the website.

In addition to any government grant or University bursary, most UK students will also support themselves with a maintenance loan. All UK students are eligible to borrow 72 per cent of the full maintenance loan amount with the remaining 28 per cent means-tested on household income. Applications for the tuition fee loan, maintenance loan, government grant and the University of Essex bursary are all made through one application. Students from England should apply online. You will then be advised of the amounts for which you are eligible from the tuition fee loan, maintenance loan, any government grant and/or the University of Essex bursary.

Any tuition fee loan is paid directly to the University and any maintenance loan, government grant and/or University bursary is paid to your bank or building society account. Students from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should visit the Student Finance website for information about how to apply for student funding.

Eliahou Dangoor Scholarships

The Eliahou Dangoor Scholarships have been created to provide UK students, who have a strong academic ability, with the opportunity to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics related courses at university. There are 33 scholarships available each year for students undertaking a full-time course at Essex in 2010, 2011 and 2012. To be eligible for the award of a scholarship, students must meet a series of conditions.

Access to Learning Fund

The Access to Learning Fund is allocated to universities by the UK Government to provide support to UK students in exceptional financial difficulty. The fund is limited and you will need to provide evidence in support of your application. Not all applications will be successful. Further information is available from Student Support.

*The tuition fee, University bursaries and household income thresholds are subject to annual inflationary increases

International students

The following information relates to students from countries outside the European Union.

Tuition fees for international students

Tuition fees for the academic year 2011-12 are not yet confirmed but, as a guide, fees for 2010-11 are:

• Bridging Year and Year Zero of four-year degree courses in the International Academy £8,350
• Certificate of Higher Education International Academy courses £11,350
• Classroom-based courses £9,990
• Laboratory-based courses £11,990
• School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering laboratory-based courses £9,990

Living expenses for international students

As an international student you will be asked to produce evidence of your ability to pay tuition fees and to cover living expenses during the course, either by means of a government scholarship or other award, or from private funds. At January 2010 price levels, the minimum sums required for living expenses in 2011-12 are estimated to be between £6,500 and £7,500 for a 39-week course.

Please note that this estimate is for a single student without dependants. Expenses are much higher for families. For students who will require a student visa it should be noted that the UK Border Agency currently requires evidence of funds of £600 per month or £5,400 per year for living expenses in order to make a successful student visa application.

Immigration and applying for a visa

Applicants requiring a visa to study in the UK will need to apply under the UK Government’s recently introduced ‘Points Based Immigration System’ (PBIS). Tier 4 of the PBIS applies to applicants from outside the European Economic Area who wish to study in the UK. Under this system, students must demonstrate that they can achieve a minimum number of points required to obtain a visa and must demonstrate that they possess sufficient funds in order to support themselves throughout their studies.

The University will produce a ‘Confirmation of Studies’ (CAS) reference number for each applicant who firmly accepts their unconditional offer – the CAS will contribute to the overall number of points required to obtain the visa and will be issued instead of a hard-copy visa letter. However, since some arrangements may be subject to amendment between the time of writing (January 2010) and entry to the University in October 2011, please refer to the University’s webpage on immigration advice which will be updated with any new developments: www.essex.ac.uk/immigration/. Please also refer to the UK Border Agency’s website for further information.

The United Kingdom Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) also provides some detailed guidance on immigration matters and visa application on their website at: www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/index.php. International students on Tier 4 general student visas will be permitted to undertake limited part-time work in the UK. Normally, student visa holders are permitted to work for up to twenty hours per week in term-time, and full-time in the vacations.

What other sources of funding and help are there?

UK, EU and international students may be eligible for University scholarships and bursaries as well as additional funding from charities and trusts. Detailed information on scholarships and bursaries, as well as other sources of funding, budgeting and money management, including links to further resources can be found on the student finance web pages.

All University of Essex students have access to the Careers Centre including our international student careers advisers who are able to provide information about part-time and vacation work. Many students supplement their funds in this way.

Note – Study abroad, vacation study and educational visits:
Students enrolled on a course that involves a year abroad or an industrial placement will pay half of the fee for that year, with the exception of UK and EU students participating in the ERASMUS programme for which no fee will be applied. Students spending a term abroad do not receive a fee reduction.

Some courses involve vacation study and/or educational visits during term-time which are a compulsory and integral part of the course. These courses and visits may involve additional expenditure on travel and subsistence. If you are in any doubt about the requirements for the course you plan to follow, or would like further information about the costs of vacation study, please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office prior to admission.