EU undergraduate and PGCE students

In 2010 the University of Cambridge introduced a new bursary scheme for European Union (EU) undergraduate and PGCE students.

What does this mean for you?

As an EU student studying at the University of Cambridge, you could qualify for a bursary for maintenance (not fees) of up to £3,400 each year to help you finance your time as a student in Cambridge. Students will receive this shortly after they begin their course at Cambridge. Bursaries will automatically be renewed at the same rate for three years. If you are taking a four-year course you will need to reapply for a Bursary in the final year of your course.

Are you eligible?

To be eligible for a Cambridge European Bursary, you must meet a number of eligibility criteria. If you can answer yes to the following questions, it is likely that you will be eligible for a Cambridge European Bursary.

Have you met the conditions of your offer to study at the University of Cambridge starting in October 2011 or later (including any financial guarantees)?
Will this be your first full-time undergraduate degree, or PGCE course, or are you starting your study of clinical medicine?
Is the income of the family with which you live less than the equivalent of £50,020 per year?
Have you applied for financial assistance to help with the cost of your tuition fees?

How much?

The bursary amount that you are awarded will vary depending on several factors:

1) Your level of household income.

The Cambridge European Bursary Scheme is designed to support students from households with an income of less than £50,000.

The maximum bursary of £3,400 is available only to students who can show that their household income is less than the equivalent of £25,000 per year. If your household income is between £25,001 and £50,020 you will qualify for a lower level of bursary, based on a sliding scale. We define 'household income' as the joint pre-tax income of students' parents (or those adults who have taken responsibility for providing financial support) during the last calendar year. You will need to get these figures independently verified for the purposes of the bursary application.

You should not apply for a European Bursary if your family income exceeds £50,020 per year.

2) Whether or not you receive additional funding from any of the following sources

a) Government maintenance grant
Receiving maintenance grants from another EU government doesn’t prevent you from applying for a Cambridge European Bursary but you must detail such income on your application form. Your Bursary amount will be reduced by half the sum by which this income exceeds £2,900.

b) Other personal income
Receiving income from any of the following sources doesn’t prevent you from applying for a Cambridge European Bursary but you must detail such income on your application form. Your Bursary amount will be reduced by half the sum by which this income exceeds £1,000.

scholarships
grants
industrial sponsorship
charities
the renting out of your permanent home while you live in Cambridge

3) Whether or not you have applied for financial assistance to cover your tuition fees.

When applying for a Cambridge European Bursary, you will be asked to demonstrate that you have applied to the Student Finance Services European Team to cover your tuition fees.

You are not eligible to apply if your tuition fees are being met from another source.

How and when?

If you receive an offer of a place to study at Cambridge, you will be sent an application form by your College together with the details of your offer. If you do not receive one by the middle of February 2011, you should contact your College. You will need to complete and return the application form to your College by the deadline of March 2011. Your College may contact you to discuss some of the details that you have entered.

You will be informed in the following June whether or not your application has been successful. This letter will detail the Bursary that you will receive for three years, and can be used to demonstrate that you can meet any financial guarantee set by your College.

You will then receive your Bursary from your College when you arrive for the start of term.

Important information for EU students studying a PGCE course

If you are an EU student taking a PGCE course at the University of Cambridge, you will not be sent an application form in early 2011. You will still be eligible, but you should only apply when you have arrived in Cambridge in October 2011. You will then apply online using the application form which will be available here from October 2011. When you make an application, you will be required to enter the grant amount that you are receiving from the Government Teacher Training Bursary Scheme, which will affect the value of your Cambridge European Bursary.

As part of the application process your College will also provide you with a paper form on which you must detail your household income for 2010. This must be countersigned by your College and returned to the Isaac Newton Trust. Therefore, you should bring with you to Cambridge documentary evidence of your household income from 2010, in your local currency, and converted into sterling. These figures must have been independently verified by an employer, banker, lawyer or other authorised person, on their headed notepaper. You may be asked for further details once you have submitted your application.

Any bursary award will be confirmed by January 2012.

Need to know…
EU students starting an undergraduate course at Cambridge in October 2010 or earlier may have qualified for an annual bursary from the Cambridge European Trust. The Cambridge European Trust will continue to award bursaries to such students through to graduation. The Cambridge European Bursary Scheme will replace the awards made by the Cambridge European Trust to new students from October 2010. Please note the scheme is not a hardship fund for current undergraduate students who are not presently receiving a bursary. College Tutors will be able to advise of the existence of appropriate hardship funds upon request. The Trust will, in exceptional circumstances, consider an application when there has been a significant change in financial circumstances that could not have been foreseen at the time of admission but which will remain in force for the duration of the student’s course at Cambridge. Please contact your College about making an application in this case. The Cambridge European Bursary Scheme will be administered by the Isaac Newton Trust. Applications for the scheme will, however, need to be made through your College.

Need to know…

EU students starting an undergraduate course at Cambridge in October 2010 or earlier may have qualified for an annual bursary from the Cambridge European Trust. The Cambridge European Trust will continue to award bursaries to such students through to graduation.

The Cambridge European Bursary Scheme will replace the awards made by the Cambridge European Trust to new students from October 2010.

Please note the scheme is not a hardship fund for current undergraduate students who are not presently receiving a bursary. College Tutors will be able to advise of the existence of appropriate hardship funds upon request. The Trust will, in exceptional circumstances, consider an application when there has been a significant change in financial circumstances that could not have been foreseen at the time of admission but which will remain in force for the duration of the student’s course at Cambridge. Please contact your College about making an application in this case.

The Cambridge European Bursary Scheme will be administered by the Isaac Newton Trust. Applications for the scheme will, however, need to be made through your College.