Equal Access Scholarship (Undergraduate)

The scholarship provides:

a full fee waiver (you will not need to pay any tuition fees for three years of an undergraduate degree)

a maintenance award of up to £12,300 per annum for three years of an undergraduate degree, to help with living costs.

Our Equal Access Scholarships support asylum-seeking students to access higher education. We also provide bursaries for refugee students and dedicated advice and support for all sanctuary-seeking students and applicants.

Eligibility

Open to International (including EU) students only.

Open to international sanctuary-seeking students already residing in the UK.

To be considered for the scholarship, you must:

have a conditional or unconditional offer from the University of York for 2026

have applied for asylum before you have applied for a place at university

not have access to mainstream funding eg student finance or a local authority grant.

Your current immigration status can be described as one of the following:

Discretionary/Limited Leave to Remain (DLR/LLR)

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)

Humanitarian Protection (HP) and do not have access to mainstream funding

awaiting a decision on an application for refugee status

leave as an Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child (UASC leave)

Refused Asylum Seeker - your application for refugee status has been refused and you have submitted an appeal or a fresh claim

a dependent or partner of any of the above status groups.

If you have already been granted Refugee Status or Humanitarian Protection Status, you may be eligible for financial support from Student Finance England (gov.uk).

You will not be eligible if you:

have already completed an undergraduate degree

are applying to study at the Hull York Medical School

are applying for the two-year LLB (Hons) Law (Senior Status)

are applying for a course which includes work placements and you do not currently have a right to work in the UK.

Before applying to study at the University of York you should carefully consider the documentation you have received from the Home Office in relation to your asylum. Please be aware that some programmes require you to undertake work placements that may not be permitted under the terms of your documentation.

Asylum seekers without permission to work are advised to seek legal advice if they are considering undertaking a course which includes a work placement. It is very unlikely that the asylum seeker will be able to undertake a placement as part of a course, whether that placement is unpaid, paid, or has an attached training allowance, without first obtaining permission to work. In any case, they should not start the course without obtaining the advice of their immigration lawyer or Home Office case owner, as they might need to have the conditions changed and/or any allowances might have an impact on their entitlement to financial support.