Cumbria Bursaries

About The Cumbria Bursary

The Cumbria Bursary is our targeted financial support package for 1st year ‘home’ undergraduate students studying a qualifying course who are commencing their studies in the 2025/26 academic year.  It is a non-repayable bursary designed to support students with a household income of less than £25,000. 

The Cumbria Bursary is provided through a fixed number of allocated awards and uses a scored prioritisation process to impartially rank all eligible applicants (with household incomes of less than £25,000 per annum). We award bursaries to those with the highest scores.  

These awards are worth £1,000 per year of full-time study or £500 per year of part-time study, for a maximum of 5 years (part-time) for students entering onto full time or substantive part-time* undergraduate programmes. 

A proportion of our Cumbria Bursaries will be allocated specifically to students who are aged 21 and over on the 1st September 2025, who also meet the eligibility criteria outlined below.  

*Part-time students must be studying at least 50% of a full-time equivalent course and registered on a minimum three-year course. 

How does it work?

You do not need to apply separately for the Cumbria Bursary; simply applying for your student funding through your funding body will enable us to assess your eligibility alongside the information you provide on your UCAS application form.  It is important that you apply for income - assessed student finance through your funding body (e.g. Student Finance England) as early as possible.  In your application, both you and your sponsors must give consent to share financial information with your Higher Education Institution.  

All bursaries are subject to specific eligibility criteria (please see below).  Where there are more eligible students than awards available, these will be allocated according to the prioritisation criteria (outlined below). 

Eligibility criteria 

• Student is entering into year 1 or integrated foundation year of a specified undergraduate degree at the University of Cumbria.
• Student has a household income of £25,000 or less as assessed by Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland or Student Awards Agency Scotland. Assessed by funding provider before 3rd October 2025. 

Cumbria Bursaries will not be available to students who are:

• studying less than 50 credits per year 
• already holding a HE qualification e.g. Cert HE, HND or Foundation Degree (Care Leavers will be exempted).
• undertaking a postgraduate qualification, including PGCE courses 

Prioritisation criteria

Usually, there are more students who meet the criteria than there are awards available. Bursaries will be allocated according to the following prioritisation criteria: 

• Your household income 
• You are a Care Leaver or Estranged from your family* 
• You have declared a disability on your UCAS form 
• You are from an area where not many people go into Higher Education 

*You must be identified as a Care Leaver or Estranged from your family by the Student Loans Company.  

How do I know if I’ve received a Cumbria Bursary?

Cumbria Bursaries for 2025/26 will be allocated to eligible students after 3rd October 2025. 

Successful candidates are notified in writing during October and November.  Letters sent via the Student Loans Company are forwarded to the correspondence address given on your Student Finance application and accessible online via your student finance account. 

If I am unsuccessful, can I appeal?

There are a limited number of Cumbria Bursary awards available, allocated at the beginning of the first year of an eligible three or four year degree course.  Often students meet the criteria for the Cumbria Bursary award but do not receive an award as there are usually more eligible students than awards available. 

New students are scored against the prioritisation criteria to determine who receives an award. To maximise the beneficial impact of awards, and to maintain consistency, each student will be scored once only. Bursaries are only awarded to students in Level 3 or Level 4 of their course, though the bursary is paid in each year of study.  The decision on granting Cumbria Bursary Awards made by the panel is final.  

If you believe that the process of scoring you for a Cumbria Bursary may have been adversely effected by errors or omissions – for example if the Student Loans Company or the University did not have complete information about the relevant factors in your case – please contact us using the link below, for a review of the scoring process. We aim to respond to a request for review within 10 working days of receipt.

The Student Support Fund is also available to students who experience financial difficulties or unexpected financial emergencies whilst attending their course.

Contact us

Contact the Money Advice team using the Student Enquiry Point if you require any further information.