How to fund your nursing degree
If you’re considering becoming a nurse, it’s important you’ve explored the financial impact of studying nursing before you apply. Thankfully, the NHS provides additional funding support for nursing students on top of the typical student loan that you’ll be eligible for.
What are my options for nursing funding?
There are three ways to get support and funding for nursing degrees:
While many other students may get a part-time job to help their financial situation, this isn’t always a viable option for nursing students. That’s because you’ll spend half your time on placement and working shift patterns throughout the day, so you won’t have the same level of free time as students on other courses.
Nursing student loans
Anyone studying for a degree in the UK can apply for a tuition fee loan to cover the costs of their tuition.
Students can also apply for a maintenance loan to help with living costs, but you need to share details of your household income. The maximum amount that students can borrow for a maintenance loan in the 2024/5 academic year is up to £13,348—that’s if you’re living in London and away from your parents. You can find more details on the Student Finance website.
Usually, a student loan is only eligible for anyone who’s studying for their first degree. But if nursing will be your second degree, you’re one of the few types of students who are eligible to apply for another loan.
Nursing scholarships
Depending on which nursing degree you choose, you may also be eligible to apply for a nursing scholarship at your chosen university.
For example, King’s offered a number of Perseverance Trust Scholarships for students on nursing degrees in previous years. For the 2024/25 academic year, the Perseverance Trust Undergraduate Scholarship 2024-25 awarded £9,000 scholarships for UK students on the three-year Nursing BSc.
Grants for nursing students
The NHS offers a Learning Support Fund grant for students undertaking a range of healthcare courses, including nursing and midwifery.
It may also help you with the cost of getting to and from your clinical placements via the Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses scheme (TDAE).
NHS Learning Support Fund
If you started and/or continued your nursing degree from 1 September 2020 onwards, you’ll be eligible for the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF).
The LSF will give you:
- A £5,000 training grant each academic year.
- An additional £2,000 if you have at least one dependent child.
- Money back for excess travel and temporary accommodation costs while you’re on your practice placement via the TDAE.
If your course starts in September or October, you can usually apply for the LSF from the March before you begin.
You’ll receive the funding in three instalments, but your university needs to report your attendance on specific dates. The payment is usually made in mid-November, mid-March, and mid-July, but it will vary each year and depend on when the university confirms your attendance record.
Student nurse bursaries
You may also be eligible for other support if you experience financial hardship.
Each university usually has some kind of hardship fund that will give you a little extra financial support that’s open to students of all courses. King’s also has a specific hardship fund for nurses and midwives called the Perseverance Trust Hardship Bursary.
You may also be eligible for additional help from the NHS’ Exceptional Support Fund. This will give you up to £3,000 per academic year if you run into unforeseen hardship and have exhausted all other means of funding.
How to find nursing funding opportunities
The best way to see what funding could be available to you is to check the NHS careers website and the funding section of your chosen university.
For example, King’s has a full list of opportunities in its funding database. You can filter these by fee status, subject area, and study level to find funding opportunities for which you might be eligible. Click here to see the current funding opportunities for nursing and midwifery students.