Placements and Study Abroad 2025/26

The amount of tuition fees for UK students on placement years and study abroad depend on the type of placement/study you are undertaking.

UK students can generally borrow a tuition fee loan to cover the full cost. Tuition fee figures are for the 24/25 year as they are not yet confirmed for 25/26.

• Industrial placement year based in the UK or abroad £1,850
• Year in Enterprise £1,850
• Year of study abroad £1,385 if your year is specified as study abroad including a Turing exchange
• Year made up of 6 months placement and 6 months study abroad £1,385
• Independent work placement during leave of absence - no tuition fee payable (but no formal qualification in recognition of your year of work)

Information on international student tuition fees for placement years can be found on our Undergraduate fees page.

You can apply for a maintenance loan to help you with your living costs via your student finance provider.  You will not be means-tested for this loan.

The amount you can receive depends on where you are living during the placement. For London placements, the London rate is payable only when your placement workplace is within the London Metropolitan area, regardless of where you are living. Note that if you are living at your family home in London you receive the family home rate not the London rate.

2024 - 25 figures (2025 -26 year figures not available at time of writing – Oct 2024)

• If you live at your family home: £2,324
• If you live away from home, including a placement abroad: £3,098
• If your placement is in London: £4,350

The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursary is not available for a placement year. It is important that you work out if you can live on the money available before accepting a placement.

Some types of unpaid placements are treated as if they are a normal year of study for student finance purposes, so you continue to get student loans as if you are on a study year. These include placements based in:

• a hospital, Public Health Service Laboratory or a Primary Care Trust
• a Health Authority, Strategic Health Authority, Local Health Board, Special Health Board or a Health and Social Services Board
• a Local Authority carrying out its duties relating to health, welfare or caring for children and young people, a voluntary organisation providing facilities or carrying out similar activities
• the prison or probation sector or after-care services
• unpaid research in a UK or overseas institution
• unpaid research in the Houses of Parliament

If not listed above, other unpaid work placements receive the reduced rates of tuition fee and maintenance loans as if they were a paid placement (see “Maintenance loan eligibility for paid work placements” above).

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursary

The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursary, Care Leavers’ Bursary and Opportunity Scholarship are not available for placement years.

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursary for Unpaid Placements (LBUP)

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ offers a limited number of bursaries for low-income students on many types of unpaid placements. Details for the 24/25 scheme, see the Careers Network web pages.

Email Careers Network Diversity and Inclusion Team if you think you may be eligible for the scheme.

If you are considering taking an unpaid placement, it is important that you work out if you can live on the money you have available before you accept the placement. SASS has resources on our webpage to help you do this - Managing your money.

• You won’t normally have to pay council tax as you will still be considered a student for council tax purposes.
• You can download a Council Tax certificate to confirm your student status to the local council where you are living whilst on placement. This is available on the University's Self-Service Portal.
• If you’re on a paid placement, your salary will be subject to tax and national insurance as it would for any type of paid employment. Check that you are not on an emergency tax code (it might appear as BR, W1, M1 on your payslip). If you see this code on your payslip talk to your employer. For more information see UK Government page on student taxes. You can claim a refund for overpaid tax at the end of the financial year (April).
• The University’s Hardship Fund may help students in unexpected financial hardship during their placement year. However, it is important to plan your budget carefully and to help you do this, we have resources about managing your money.

When you travel outside the United Kingdom on University approved work placements, you will have access to the University’s travel insurance and medical cover, which is administered by UMAL. It is, however, recommended that you acquire your own personal insurance which supplements the provision. It is important to read and understand the insurance requirements and cover provided by the University’s insurance.

Health care costs - GHIC card - If you are planning to be on placement in an EU country or Switzerland, you can apply for a Student GHIC, before you leave the UK. You can use your card to access medically necessary state-provided healthcare when you're visiting an EU country and Switzerland. See information on the NHS website  scroll down to the student section. Note that Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are not covered by the GHIC.

If you take LOA to gain work experience that does not count as an assessed placement:

• Tuition fees are not payable.
• Student funding is not available as you are not attending your course.
• You won’t normally have to pay council tax as you will still be considered a student for council tax purposes.
• The University’s Hardship Fund may help students in unexpected financial hardship. You need to plan your budget carefully and to help you do this, we have resources about managing your money.
• You will not receive the full range of support from the University available to students on an approved placement year. You will not be covered by the University’s insurance.

• Turing replaced ERASMUS + following the UK’s departure from the EU. The Turing scheme is a global scheme. The Turing funding scheme is confirmed until 2025. Updates will be provided when they become available.
• For your student finance assessment, if you are abroad under the Turing scheme you are treated as if you are in a year of study, regardless of whether your exchange is for work or study.
• Student Loans are paid as if you are on a year of ordinary study but at a higher, overseas rate - see table under the ‘Study Abroad’ heading.
• º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursaries and Scholarships and º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursary for Unpaid Placements are not normally paid for Turing or study exchange.
• You can apply for a Turing mobility grant towards travel and accommodation/living costs. The most up to date figures are contained in information from the International Exchange Office. Check with your department or School for application deadlines or specific criteria for applications.
• Turing mobility grants are limited in number and applicants are not all guaranteed to receive the grant.
• Students from certain under-represented groups may be eligible for higher cost of living grants.
• The amount of funding students will receive depends on the destination country and the duration of the mobility period.
• In addition, travel grants may be available to students from low-income households.
• The University’s Hardship Fund may help students in unexpected financial hardship. You need to be able to show that you had planned your budget carefully. We have resources online to help you budget.
• Health care costs - GHIC card - If you are planning to study in an EU-country or Switzerland, you can apply for a Student GHIC, before you leave the UK. You can use your card to access medically necessary state-provided healthcare when you're visiting an EU country. See the student section of this NHS page. Note that Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are not generally covered by the GHIC. Using a GHIC in Switzerland is restricted based on immigration status.
• When you travel outside the United Kingdom on University approved international study exchanges you will have access to the University’s travel insurance and medical cover, which is administered by UMAL. It is, however, recommended that you acquire your own personal insurance which supplements the provision. See the University’s insurance information for students going on a year abroad.

If you are spending a year of your course at a university outside the UK you will normally be entitled to a higher rate of student maintenance loan, between £700 and £1,330 extra for the year depending on your income assessment.

The below table shows the 2023/24 student maintenance loan rates for indicative levels of household income. (2025 -26 year figures not available at time of writing – October 2024):

*Please note that the loan rate is fixed at £5,662 for all income levels above £66,026.

The tuition fee is £1,385 for a full year of study abroad in the 2024/25 year.

• You may be able to apply for a travel grant from Student Finance subject to household income assessment.
• SLC automatically pays your maintenance loan 25 days prior to º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ’s Term 1 start date for any student who is abroad in Term 1. Check that your student loan application indicates that you are studying abroad for this to happen.
• If your study abroad placement starts more than 25 days before the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Term 1 start date, you can ask for your first instalment to be paid earlier. Email the exchanges team with details of your study abroad. The Exchanges team can pass your request to Student Finance.
• If you are travelling outside of Europe you can request payment in two instalments instead of three. If you are travelling to China, Japan, Russia or South Korea you can request payment in one instalment.
• The University’s Hardship Fund may help students in unexpected financial hardship. You need to plan your budget carefully. We have resources to help you plan your budget.
• When you travel outside the United Kingdom on University approved international study exchanges you will have access to the University’s travel insurance and medical cover, which is administered by UMAL. It is, however, recommended that you acquire your own personal insurance which supplements the provision. See the University’s insurance information for students going on a year abroad.
• Health care costs - GHIC card - If you are planning to study in an EU-country or Switzerland, you can apply for a Student GHIC, before you leave the UK. You can use your card to access medically necessary state-provided healthcare when you're visiting an EU country. See the student section of this NHS page. Note that Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are not generally covered by the GHIC. Using a GHIC in Switzerland is restricted based on immigration status.
• Outgoing exchange students – more information about the University’s exchange and study abroad can be found here can be found on our overseas exchange page.

If you choose to complete a 6-month work placement and 6 months study abroad then the level of maintenance loan you are entitled to in each part of your placement year will be pro-rated accordingly.

Student Finance makes assessments based on 3 terms (which is why you receive your student loan in 3 instalments) and your entitlement will be based on the activity you are undertaking for the majority of each term.

If a term is split equally between both activities, then you will be paid at the higher loan rate for that term. Your maintenance for the year will therefore usually be calculated as 2 terms at the higher overseas rate and 1 term at the standard home rate or vice-versa.

You can apply for a maintenance loan to help you with your living costs via your student finance provider. You will not have to be means-tested for this loan but the amount you can receive depends on where you are living while working on your Year in Enterprise.

2024/25 figures: (2025 -26  year figures not available at time of writing – October 2024)

• If you live at your family home: £2,324
• If you live away from home, including a placement abroad: £3,098
• If your placement is in London: £4,350

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Bursaries are not available for a Year in Enterprise. It is important that you work out if you can live on the money available before embarking on a Year in Enterprise.

• You won’t normally have to pay council tax as you will still be considered a student for council tax purposes.
• You can download a Council Tax certificate to confirm your student status to the local council where you are living whilst on placement via the Self-Service Portal.
• The University’s Hardship Fund may help students in unexpected financial hardship. You need to plan your budget carefully. We have resources online to help you plan your budget.