Other Sources of Funding (Undergraduate and Above)

Many students will attempt to seek funds from organisations other than the Conservatoire and those charitable trusts, companies and businesses that it deals with directly. Many students will also want to seek support from sources other than the statutory funding bodies and loan providers in their country of origin. If you’d like to explore such external funding sources you’ll find a list of those that we’re aware of below with a short description and contact details.

Please direct any questions relating to funding to studentfinance@rcs.ac.uk

The SAAS Register of Educational Endowments

Please find the information via form REE1. These funds are predominantly for Scottish students or those of Scottish descent.

Dewar Arts Awards

The Dewar Awards fund exceptional young artists in any discipline who do not have the financial means to achieve their full potential. To be eligible you must be:

• Under the age of 30
• Live or work in Scotland (non-UK students can apply using their Scottish postal address)
• Demonstrate outstanding talent in any art form
• Without the financial means to achieve their full potential

Glasgow Educational and Marshall Trust

Grants can be one-off or recurrent and are normally given for courses where no grant assistance is available from the Students Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS), or where such grants do not cover the total costs. No awards are given for courses run by privately owned institutions. It is an absolute requirement that awards can only be made to persons who have lived in the City of Glasgow for a minimum of five years. Awards are made under various categories e.g. mature students, post graduate students, travel and school excursions.

Awards are given towards the cost of the following: books, course fees/living expenses, study/travel abroad for people in further/higher education; and course fees, travel, books, equipment/instruments.

Glasgow Highland Society

The Directors of the Society invite applications from individuals of Highland descent, or associations of such individuals, for financial assistance towards educational or training. Applicants must have been brought up in the Highlands, and must be entering into (or continuing) a course of study in the Glasgow area (defined as a G postcode). Funds are limited and awards are made at the discretion of the Directors. The standard grant is normally around £75, but this level depends on the volume of applications. The deadline is usually in November of each academic year.

The Clan Mackay Society

The Society holds limited funds which it offers for further educational purposes. The funds are available to Mackays who have the name “Mackay” or “MacAoidh” and septs thereof recognised by the Clan. The funds are also open through the maternal line for up to two generations. The deadline for receipt of applications is 30th September annually and an application form can be requested by emailing the Bursary Administrator at clanmackaybursary@gmail.com

The Sleeknote Scholarship

The Sleeknote Scholarship will help two students each year, with the winners each receiving $1,000. The deadline is 30 September 2021.

Dundee Educational Trust

Stirlingshire Educational Trust

The Stirlingshire Educational Trust provide grants to students who have a minimum of 5 years residence in Stirlingshire or belong there.The Governors of the Trust meet every 3 months, usually on the 1st Wednesday of March, June, September and December when applications are considered.

Lead Scotland – Linking Education and Disability – Grants for Individuals

The Cross Trust

For young Scots in financial need.

The Kathleen Trust

The Kathleen Trust is a small charity which concentrates on making grants to outstanding students at the major British music colleges.

John Watson’s Trust

For young students who have a physical or learning disability and who are experiencing financial hardship. Applicants should ideally have a connection to the Edinburgh or Lothian areas.

Anglo-Jewish Association

Offers means-tested grants to assist Jewish students (who are British Citizens) with the costs of further education in the UK as well as grants to assist Israeli students studying at post-graduate level (Masters or PhDs) in the UK. All religions and all subjects welcome.

Highland Children’s Trust

Students who are under 25 from the Highland Council area of Scotland, studying for a first degree and finding it hard to manage financially at University or College. Various awards available between £200 to £500.

South Square Trust

Applicants for music and drama courses can apply between 1st January and 30th April each year. Applicants can be on any programme of study except BA DFTV or PhD. Preference is given to those in the final year of their programme or doing postgraduate study.

The Sidney Perry Foundation

Grants are primarily given to first degree students, including overseas students, who are studying in the UK. Applicants must be aged under 35 when the course starts, save in exceptional circumstances. Grants are intended to be supplementary, maximum payment being £1000 (allocated only in exceptional cases). The majority of funding required should have been obtained from other sources; shortfalls of more than £3000 will not be considered.

The Trades House of Glasgow Education Fund (formerly The Fraser of Allander Fund)

This fund is available to students who are living and studying in the City of Glasgow and the surrounding areas who lack the necessary funds to complete their studies

Ruby and Will George Trust

Applicants must have a connection to commerce.

The Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust

The trust supports postgraduate students in all fields of study. In order to be eligible to apply for a grant, you must be over the age of 24 on 1 October of the proposed year of study and already resident in the UK at the time of application, and resident in the UK during the course of study. If you are applying for a place on a postgraduate degree course, you must hold a first- or second-class honours degree from a UK institution (or its equivalent from a non-UK institution) or hold a Masters degree from a UK institution.

Mab Gwalia

Michael Sheen & Manic Street Preachers collaborate for the Mab Gwalia Welsh Drama Student Scholarship. The applicant must hold a confirmed place at a UK drama school and provide appropriate evidence of that offer or attendance at a UK drama school. The applicant must be normally resident in Wales. However, applications will be considered from applicants who are not normally resident in Wales at the time of the application, but have lived a significant proportion of their life in Wales.

The Leathersellers’ Company

An Applicant must be a British Passport holder, have an unconditional offer or already be enrolled on a full-time degree course in the UK at the time of application. Priority will be given to exceptional students from the Greater London area.

The Tom Acton Memorial Trust

The Trust requires all candidates to have been born and educated (or received most of their education in Essex.) Bursaries are aimed at providing assistance to musicians and singers under the age of 25 with such things as course fees, instrument purchase, tuition, travel expenses, etc. Applications must be received by 31st May each year.

Helena Kennedy Foundation

The Helena Kennedy Foundation offers a bursary scheme available to students currently studying at a FE college or sixth form college and applying to enter university. If you are already on or have undertaken a higher education course you are not eligible to apply. If you are not at a FE college or sixth form college you will not be eligible to apply. The maximum bursary available is £2,250.

Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust

If your parent or spouse is a grocer, pharmacist or commercial traveller, you could qualify for a bursary of up to £3,000 a year towards the cost of an undergraduate degree.

The Chizel Educational Trust

Small grants to individuals in the UK under the age of 25 to assist in their education. Grants might be given to help with the costs of education or training, such as the cost of uniforms, books, equipment. The Trust also sometimes gives grants to help with the cost of travelling in the UK or abroad to study. Applications to be submitted in May and November only. For details of how to apply, write to the following address with a stamped addressed envelope (SAE): Burgage Manor, Southwell, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG25 0EP

Royal Artillery Charitable Fund

Assistance for dependents of members of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who are unable to work due to illness or death. Grants are made that support the children of its members who have started private education before the family’s breadwinner became unable to earn and therefore unable to help them continue their education. The Charity also supports specialist clothing and fees for mature students. Applications in writing to SSAFA Forces. Artillery House, Royal Artillery Barracks, Larkhill, Salisbury, SP4 8QT

The Essex Young Musicians Trust (EYMT)

The Essex Young Musicians Trust now provides postgraduate bursaries for young people from Essex who qualify for financial help towards the cost of their tuition fees. If you are from Essex and you need help with tuition fee costs you should email grants@essexcf.org.uk or call the grants team on 01245 356018

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

This is a funding directory for visual artists and composers. The website was created to provide a portal for information on funding opportunities for individual artists and composers.

The Carnegie Trust

Carnegie Tuition Fee Grants are aimed at UG students studying a degree course at RCS or one of the other 16 eligible Scottish institutions listed on their website and who are required to pay their tuition fees themselves due to prior study or their residency status. Full details on the scheme’s eligibility criteria can be accessed at https://www.carnegie-trust.org/award-schemes/undergraduate-tuition-fee-grants/

More information on the Trust and the Undergraduate Tuition Fee Grants Scheme can be found on the Carnegie Trust website

Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys: ‘Talent Aid’

TalentAid helps to support children and young people who are exceptionally gifted in music, sport or the performing arts. Applicants must have a parent or grandparent who is a Freemason.

The Churches International Student Fund (CISN) (current final year students only)

The CISN hardship fund was set up in 1990 by the former Churches Commission for International Students (now CISN) to assist full-time international students, irrespective of their race, gender or religion, who are already in Britain and Ireland and who are facing unexpected financial problems during the final stages of their course. It is administered ecumenically on the basis of agreed criteria. Decisions on grants are made three times a year, in February (for studies finishing April-July), June (for August-November), and October (for December-March). To allow for correspondence and processing of applications in preparation for these meetings, requests for forms (including postal address) should be made respectively by mid-December, mid April and mid August at the latest. All grants are made at the discretion of the Hardship Fund Committee. The level of funding is dependent on funds raised for this purpose. Grants are typically £500 but do not exceed £800; the same person is not funded twice.

CISN hardship fund criteria and application process are:

Awards are made to applicants undertaking full-time first degree or postgraduate studies lasting a minimum of one academic year.

Awards are made to students who are within 6 months of finishing and who can show that their financial problems are unexpected and that a small grant will enable them to complete their course.

Applicants normally excluded from consideration within the Hardship Fund are:

• permanent residents of Britain, Ireland, EU or other developed countries;
• students who begin their course without assured funding to meet the full costs involved (tuition, accommodation, living expenses etc.);
• students whose fees and living expenses have been covered by major award(s);
• candidates who have not begun their studies and those who have already finished;
• those studying outside Britain/Ireland or those requiring help for a field trip abroad;
• asylum seekers and refugees;
• students undertaking courses in subjects related to arms manufacture or experimentation on live animals.

Potential candidates who, in the light of the above criteria, believe themselves eligible should email or write to: David Philpot, Grants Secretary, CISN Hardship Fund, 2/27 Pentland Drive, Edinburgh EH10 6PX. Enquirers, whether by letter or email, should give their full postal address in Britain or Ireland.

Family Action Educational Grants