Overview
The University of Sunderland Bursary provides financial support to students who are underrepresented in higher education and who may face additional financial challenges. Eligible students may receive between £500 and £2,000 in cash each academic year to help with essential costs, enabling you to focus on your studies and university experience.
Medicine students in receipt of the bursary will also receive £1,000 cash in their first year to purchase essential equipment and study materials to support their studies and help them settle into university life.
In addition, Medicine students who are awarded the bursary will receive an extra £1,000 in their fifth year to support their final year of study.
Bursary awards will be allocated according to the following criteria:
Tier 1
Bursary award £500 cash per year.
Students with an annual household income of £30,000 or less and live in a low-participation neighbourhood (POLAR4 Quantile 1) (see appendix for details).
Or
Students who do not live on the mainland and have a home address within Northern Island, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands or Islands of Scotland.
Tier 2
Bursary award £750 cash per year.
Students with caring responsibilities, those eligible for free school meals in secondary school (Years 7–11), refugees, Gypsies, Travellers, Roma, Showmen and Boaters (GTRSB).
Tier 3
Bursary award £2,000 cash per year.
Care-experienced students, or students estranged from both parents or carers and aged under 25 at the start of the course.
Who is eligible?
1. You must be a 'Home', or ‘Overseas Island’ student on an eligible course
The Government classes all students as ‘Home’ or ‘International’. This status determines which tuition fees you pay, and which scholarships and bursaries you may be eligible to receive.
Isle of Man and the Channel Islands students are eligible.
EU students with a UK Settled Status at the time of application are eligible.
International students are not eligible.
2. You must apply for and meet the conditions of your offer, then successfully enrol onto and study an eligible course
You must successfully enrol on Level 1 and study Medicine MBChB in the academic year 2026/27.
How to apply
The University of Sunderland Bursary is automatically awarded to students who meet the eligibility criteria following a checking and verification process after enrolment.
When and how will you receive your award?
Bursaries will be awarded based on one of the under-represented groups.
Students will be notified of their provisional award shortly after they receive a course offer from us. Following enrolment onto our Medicine MBChB course and confirmation of suitable evidence, bursary awards will be confirmed.
Please note, if we need to verify your household income as part of your bursary application, you must have undertaken a means-tested Student Loans Company (SLC) assessment. You must also agree to share your data with the University via the SLC. The University will liaise with the SLC to verify household income.
Bursary awards will be made in termly instalments in each year of continuous study based on academic progression.
Additional information
Students receiving a scholarship or bursary will be expected to participate in surveys, feedback requests, and other market research activities to help the University evaluate and improve its scholarship and bursary provision. This may include sharing insights on your student experience and the impact of financial support.
If you have not registered on your course within three weeks of the course start date or provided sufficient evidence of eligibility, the scholarship or bursary will be withdrawn.
If you do not supply us with the required information by Friday 27 November 2026, the scholarship or bursary provisional award will be withdrawn.
If you withdraw from your course before receiving a scholarship or bursary payment, the award will be withdrawn. If you withdraw after a payment is made, the University may seek reimbursement however, you will not receive any further instalments.
The award is conditional on you maintaining satisfactory engagement and making academic progress on your course in the reasonable opinion of the Programme Team.
The University agrees to pay you, the student, all awards and payments that are due to you while you are on your course of study.
If you transfer to another course or you repeat a year of the same course, the award will not be made in the repeated year. Any payments due to you will continue once you progress onto the following level (s) of study on the course.
If you are on a placement year or studying for a year and not paying full fees, the award will not be paid during that year.
If you take a leave of absence (LOAB), your payments will stop until you return and progress academically.
If you are in debt to the University to the value of £50 or more, you will not receive payment until the debt has been cleared. Awards will only be payable if all tuition fee payments are up to date and there are no monies owed to the University.
All payments will be made into your UK bank account. It is your responsibility to enter your bank details via the e:Vision portal and ensure these are kept up to date. If you fail to enter your bank details to enable payments to be made to you before your course end date (or the date of leaving your course if earlier), all scholarships, bursaries and payments will be withdrawn.
As part of the admissions process, the University will verify various aspects of a UCAS or direct application to determine that you should be classed as ‘Home’. The following criteria will be verified:
- Declared nationality
- Country of birth
- Area of permanent residence
- Date of entry into the UK (if applicable)
- Location of previous education provider
Disclaimer
Every effort is made to ensure that all details included in these guidance notes are correct at the time of writing. They are intended to act as an information source only, and in no way should they be considered legally binding or guarantee an award.
The University will not be deemed to be in breach of any legal or contractual obligations due to changes to eligibility criteria beyond the reasonable control of the University. It should therefore be noted that these guidance notes are regularly reviewed and are naturally subject to change, sometimes without notice. The University’s decision is final.
Appendix
Use the information below to determine what evidence will be required as proof of priority group.
You are a refugee
Your refugee status can be verified using Home Office documents.
You were eligible for free school meals in secondary school (Years 7–11)
Your student record will evidence this following your application and enrolment. For mature applicants that a letter from your school could also be used.
You have caring responsibilities
This can be verified by one of the following:
- By a teacher, adviser or GP that you are a carer who has caring responsibilities for an average of 15 hours per week
- You can provide proof of your average of 15 hours per week caring responsibilities
- You are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance
You reside in a low-participation neighbourhood (POLAR4: Quantiles 1)
This refers to geographic areas where the number of 18 and 19-year-olds participating in higher education is less than two-thirds of the UK average rate. Check your eligibility on the OfS website.
During the enrolment process, the University will verify this based on your postcode. This will be based on your address at the time of applying to the University.
You have an annual household income of less than £30,000
If you are a ‘Home’ student who has applied for means-tested loans and grants from the Student Loans Company (SLC), the University will liaise with the SLC to verify your household income.
You are care-experienced
We use the broader definition of ‘care-experienced’ as this term is inclusive of the range of care settings someone may have experienced.
Our definition of care-experienced is someone who, at any stage of their life, and for any length of time, has been in care e.g. looked after by the local authority.
This includes the following:
- Spent time in the care of the local authority (e.g. foster care or children’s home)
- Privately fostered
- ‘Looked after at home’ under a supervision order
- In kinship care (where a friend or family member becomes the foster carer). Kinship care can be through a formal agreement, recognised by the local authority, and could be prior to a Special Guardianship Order.
For further information, please contact the We Care Team on 0191 515 2216 or email care.contact@sunderland.ac.uk.
You are an estranged student
You have had no contact at all with your parents/carers for at least 12 months and this is unlikely to change.
You can demonstrate on other grounds that you are irreconcilably estranged from both of your parents/carers (e.g. exceptional circumstances)
Or
You are assessed as independent by Student Finance England because you are estranged from both parents/carers.
For estrangement cases that cannot be confirmed by Student Finance England (SFE), proof of evidence of ‘genuine estrangement’ would need to be supplied to the University. All applications of estrangement are assessed on an individual basis.
You will not be considered estranged on the basis that you:
(i) live separately from your parents/carers, or
(ii) have recently fallen out with your parents/carers, or
(iii) your parents/carers are unwilling to complete income assessment forms or contribute towards your student finance.
You do not live on the mainland and have a home address within Northern Island, Isle of Wight, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands or Islands of Scotland.
Eligible postcodes
Northern Ireland
BT1, BT2, BT3, BT4, BT5, BT6, BT7, BT8, BT9, BT10, BT11, BT12, BT13, BT14, BT15, BT16, BT17, BT18, BT19, BT20, BT21, BT22, BT23, BT24, BT25, BT26, BT27, BT28, BT29, BT30, BT31, BT32, BT33, BT34, BT35, BT36, BT37, BT38, BT39, BT40, BT41, BT42, BT43, BT44, BT45, BT46, BT47, BT48, BT49, BT51, BT52, BT53, BT54, BT55, BT56, BT57, BT58, BT60, BT61, BT62, BT63, BT64, BT65, BT66, BT67, BT68, BT69, BT70, BT71, BT74, BT75, BT76, BT77, BT78, BT79, BT80, BT81, BT82, BT92, BT93, BT94.
Channel Islands
GY1, GY2, GY3, GY4, GY5, GY6, GY7, GY8, GY9, GY10
JE1, JE2, JE3, JE4, JE5
Isle of Man
IM1, IM2, IM3, IM4, IM5, IM6, IM7, IM8, IM9, IM86, IM87, IM99
Isle of Wight
PO30, PO41, PO31, PO32, PO33, PO34, PO35, PO36, PO38, PO39, PO40, PO41
Isle of Scilly
TR21, TR22, TR23, TR24, TR25
Scottish Islands (Outer Hebrides)
HS1, HS2, HS3, HS4, HS5, HS6, HS7, HS8, HS9
Scottish Islands (Inner Hebrides)
IV41, IV42, IV43, IV44, IV45, IV46, IV47, IV48, IV49, IV55, IV56, PA41, PA42, PA43, PA44, PA45, PA46, PA47, PA48, PA49, PA60, PA61, PA62, PA63, PA64, PA65, PA66, PA67, PA68, PA69, PA70, PA71, PA72, PA73, PA74, PA75, PA76, PA77, PA78, PH42, PH43, PH44
Scottish Islands (Islands of the Clyde)
KA27, KA28, PA20
Scottish Islands (Orkney Islands)
KW15, KW16, KW17
Scottish Islands (Shetland Islands)
ZE1, ZE2, ZE3
Published: 2 July 2025