Application fee waiver

Overview

If you are applying for a postgraduate course at Imperial, you may need to pay an application fee. Check our application fee page to see which courses the fee applies to.

• If you are experiencing financial difficulties, you can request an application fee waiver. If the waiver is approved, you do not need to pay the application fee.
• Current Imperial students can always get an application fee waiver, no matter their situation. They just need to request it before paying the application fee

See our step-by-step guide on requesting a fee waiver below.

1. Check if you’re eligible for an application fee waiver

If you request and receive an application fee waiver, you can apply for an Imperial postgraduate course without paying the fee.

• Current Imperial students are always eligible for a fee waiver, no matter their situation. They just need to request it before paying the application fee.
• Applicants who are not Imperial students may also be eligible if they meet one of the criteria listed below.

Application fee waiver criteria

You will be eligible for an application fee waiver if one of the following applies to you and you have the relevant evidence to support your request:

• You were receiving full state support for maintenance (living expenses) or financial support for reasons of hardship as an undergraduate at university within the last four years.
• You are currently receiving state benefits for reasons of financial hardship.
• You received another type of scholarship or bursary support for the reason of financial hardship within the last four years.
• You are aged 21–25, have recently completed undergraduate study and are estranged from or have no living parents or legal guardians.
• You have a particular UK immigration status such as: humanitarian protection, asylum seeker or refugee status, or those granted Indefinite Leave to Remain as a victim of domestic violence or abuse; or
• You are facing temporary financial hardship due to the recent loss of employment – this will be considered in the context of the previous duration of that employment, prior salary and the individual’s habitation circumstances (single, married, dependents etc.).
• You are facing temporary financial hardship due to other personal circumstances that have caused significant disruption to their current circumstances, e.g. divorce, home repossession; or
• are a resident of a country listed as ‘low-income’ by the World Bank or the DAC least-developed countries and are reliant on established scholarship schemes to fund your UK study.
• You live in an area of social deprivation in the UK, with low family income. To demonstrate this, you must show that you live in an index of multiple deprivation (IMD) quintile 1 in the UK. Find out which quintile your postcode is in using the relevant look-up tool below:
• English IMD Check
• Scotland IDM Check
• Welsh IMD Check
• Northern Ireland IMD Check.

If the reason you are facing financial hardship is not listed above, you can still apply for an application fee waiver by:

• completing the request form (see below) and describing the reason you're applying in the request form.
• sending us the relevant evidence with your form.

2. Request an application fee waiver before applying

• Complete our Application Fee Waiver Form (Word document, 35.7KB).
• Gather evidence to support your application.
• Send the completed form and supporting documents to appfees@imperial.ac.uk‌‌.

Remember, you must apply for an application fee waiver before submitting your application.

We cannot consider application fee waiver requests submitted after we have already started processing your course application.