Fees and Funding
Tuition fees don’t have to be costly. We keep our prices competitive, with a few payment options to help make it more convenient. We’ve also included some ways you could get extra financial support during your studies at CU.
Can I get funding for my degree course at CU?
Many of our UK students get a loan to pay their tuition fees, from Student Finance England. You might also be eligible for a maintenance loan to help with living costs. You don’t have to start paying your loans back until after you’ve completed your degree and are earning above a certain amount.
What am I paying for?
Tuition fees cover all of your classes, online tutorials, some of the learning materials and access to our Library & Learning Services. Full-time or part-time students can pay in four different ways for one academic year:
- Tuition Fee Loan from Student Finance England (SFE)
- Payment in full (online card payment)
- Payment in instalments (online card)
- Payment by your sponsor or employer
Before you pay
Please note: when you start your course and whether you are studying a Foundation Year will make a difference to your financial arrangements, so make sure you understand how this will affect you.
Cohort funding
We offer 6 full-time intakes each academic year. This means students are able to select any one of these 6 intakes as their start date. The date you choose will impact on your student finance application and progression.
The Student Loans Company (Student Finance England, Wales, NI and SAAS) work on a 12-month academic year cycle, dependent on a student’s start date. This means that students are assessed for a 12-month academic year from the point at which they enter and can only have one start date in that period.
This means that students have to return to the next year of their studies at the same time that they originally started the course.
For example, January starters have a 12-month academic year from January 2024 to January 2025 so cannot progress until the end of the 12 months. They are not able to progress in September 2024, even if they have finished year 1 of their course, as this would cause them to have 2 start dates in a 12-month period.
We are legally bound by Student Loans Company regulations and have to follow these to ensure funding for our students. For students to receive full funding for their course, they must follow the rules stated above or self-fund the entire course.
Foundation Year Funding
Foundation courses are 4-year undergraduate courses that consist of 1 Foundation Year and 3 Degree years. Foundation years are not 1-year courses that stand on their own but are an integral part of a 4-year Degree programme.
In order to receive funding for these types of course, you must always make the Student Loans Company aware that you are completing a 4-year Degree course with a Foundation Year attached. This is the same whether you choose to continue within the Coventry University group or progress elsewhere.
Problems can arise if students decide to progress outside of the CU Group as other institutions may not offer four-year courses with a foundation year. This means that this will not be reflected in their student finance course list. In this situation, you may still be able to get funding, but will be required to contact your new institution to request that a 4-year option including a foundation year is added to the course list.
Otherwise, you may be liable for your foundation fees.
Unfortunately, CU London does not have any control over these requests and are unable to support/guarantee this option. If you do change institutions and funding is not available for the foundation year, there are no timeframes for SFE to pull back the foundation year funding and this can happen at any time throughout the 4-year degree programme.
Payment
Tuition Fee Loan from Student Finance England (SFE)
If you are not intending to self-fund your course, it is important that you apply for student finance as soon as possible, as it usually takes up to six weeks to process, or sometimes longer during busy periods. You are able to apply through the government website.
Student Finance England resources are available online to explain every step of the application.
If you have successfully applied for a tuition fee loan, your loan will cover the cost of your course upfront so you do not have to pay these fees directly yourself. Instead, these will be paid directly to us by Student Finance England.
You can also apply for your Maintenance Loan.
Payment in full
If you are not funding your course with a tuition fee loan from the government then you can self-finance your course, either by paying in full or arranging to pay your fees in instalments. As long as you are studying more than one chargeable module, you will be defaulted into the appropriate instalment payment plan as detailed in our Tuition Fee Terms and Conditions.
Payments and instalments can be made through our secure online payment portal. All major credit and debit cards (excluding AMEX, US, Canadian and New Zealand cards) are accepted. You will need your student number and date of birth to complete data validation checks. You can check the fees for individual courses on our course finder.
Please note that any student failing to adhere to the applicable instalment scheme will be at risk of having restrictions applied to their university account.
If you have any problems with your payment, please contact our Finance team.
Sponsored students
If your fees are to be paid in part or fully by a sponsor (such as your employer), you will be required to provide a sponsor letter prior to enrolment every academic year. The evidence must meet the following criteria:
- Must be on company letter head
- Current date
- Quote student’s name and student’s ID
- State the academic year and course/modules
- Amount payable (must be in GBP)
- State that is payable to Coventry University
- Purchase order number (if applicable)
- State invoice address if different to the sponsor’s address
- Email address where to email an invoice
- Contact details
- Signed/stamped
Sponsored Letters are only to be completed by registered organisations and companies, and should not be used if your fees are to be paid by family members, friends etc., unless you are officially listed as an employee of theirs.
The completed sponsor letter needs to be emailed to debtenq.fin@coventry.ac.uk.
Funding
There are plenty of options to help make the cost of going to university more manageable. See our Simple Guide to Finance for more help, from making daily savings to getting larger compensation.
Student Finance - Maintenance Loans
Home-based undergraduate students may be eligible for a Student Maintenance Loan to cover everyday living costs while you study.
To see what funding you may be eligible for, and for more information on repaying student loans, head to the Student Finance website.
Student Finance Extras
You may be eligible for further support that you don’t have to pay back:
- Parents’ Learning Allowance for full-time students with children.
- Childcare Grant for childcare costs with children under 15 (or under 17 for special educational needs).
- Disabled Student Allowance, for the extra costs you may have due to a mental health problem or long-term disability.
Scholarships for CU London
Scholarships, grants and bursaries are financial aid for students that fit specific criteria. Get in touch for help with your applications.
- CU Sports Scholarships, for those competing in a sport which is included within the BUCS Sport, Olympic Sports or Paralympic Sports programmes.
Contact us
We're here to help with any finance and funding questions you might have. Take a look at the relevant team's contact details below.
