Durham Grant Scheme

3 students talking

The Durham Grant is a non-repayable bursary for UK undergraduate students, who do not already have an undergraduate degree, and whose family income is below a specific threshold as assessed by Student Finance England (or equivalent). You get your Durham Grant as well as your government funding and you don't have to pay it back. Payments are automatic, and for academic year 2024/25 will be made on a sliding scale of between £700 and £2,670.

You can get a Durham Grant in every year of your studies, provided that your household income remains below the threshold (your household income is reassessed by Student Finance England or equivalent every year). This includes years abroad and placement years.

In response to the rising cost of living, the University has invested significantly in the Durham Grant Scheme.

For academic year 2024/25 we will be increasing the scheme by 6.7%, representing an additional investment of over £500,000 into the Scheme. This follows on from an increase to the scheme of up to 13% during this current academic year.

We will also be investing a further £500,000 to increase the eligibility for the Durham Grant Scheme from academic year 2024/25:

From next academic year the Durham Grant Scheme will include students whose household income is between £47,201 and £62,342, as assessed by Student Finance England or equivalent.
Students whose household income is within this bracket will receive a payment of £700 per annum.
This will mean that everyone who is eligible for a means-tested maintenance loan from the Student Loans Company will also receive a Durham Grant

Durham Grant by Household Income

Household Income	Durham Grant
Less than £30,000	£2,670
Between £30,000 and £47,200	Between £2,669 and £835
Between £47,201 and £62,342	£700

Durham Grant Scheme in 2023/24

The information below relates to the Durham Grant Scheme in academic year 2023/24.

The table shows how much Durham Grant you will get, based on your household income.

Household Income	Durham Grant
Less than £30,000	£2,500
£30,000	£2,499
£35,000	£1,999
£40,000	£1,499
£45,000	£999
£47,200	£779

Payment

Your Durham Grant will be paid into your bank account in termly instalments.

Term	Payment Date	% of Full Durham Grant
Michaelmas	27th October 2023	33%
Easter	19th January 2024	33%
Epiphany	3rd May 2024	34%

Application

You do not have to apply for your Durham Grant. Provided that you have applied to Student Finance England (or equivalent) for your 2023/24 student finance, provided that they have means-tested your application, and provided that you have consented to your household income being passed to the University, you should automatically be awarded a Durham Grant.

We will e-mail eligible students starting from 21st August 2023. If you have not been means-tested by then, don't worry. We check for eligible students every week, usually on a Monday, so you should hear from us within a week of being means-tested.

Further Information

Current students can find further information about the Durham Grant Scheme here.

Incoming Freshers will be able to access this link once they have a Durham University e-mail address.

If you have any queries about the Durham Grant Scheme please contact us on grants.bursaries@durham.ac.uk.