ESE Undergraduate Financial Bursary

Applicants who meet the Imperial criteria for Widening Participation (WP) are automatically eligible:

• You are a care leaver or have spent time in care under a local authority; or

• Your home address* postcode falls into England's index of multiple deprivation quintile one; or

• You currently receive UK government funded free school meals (FSM), or have received them during the last six years up until the end of your final year at school or college; or

• Your home address* postcode falls into POLAR4 quintile 1 or 2 and you also meet one of the following criteria:

  • You are the first in your immediate family to attend a university or higher education institution

  • You attend an English school where the key-stage 5 performance is below Imperial's percentile threshold of 20%

  • You attend a school in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland where the Free School Meals percentile is above Imperial's percentile threshold of 80%

*Your home address is your place of permanent residence and not your school or boarding school.

Assessment is based on information provided in your UCAS application. As such, any changes to your situation after the application deadline will not be considered when assessing your eligibility for the scheme.

In addition to those automatically eligible, the department may have capacity to offer to additional students, this will be confirmed after August 2026.

Course specific information