NHS Bursary

You may be eligible if you're studying to become a doctor or dentist and:

• you’re on an undergraduate course lasting 5 or 6 years, or
• you’re on a graduate entry course lasting 3 or 4 years, and
• your course is in the Office for Students' medical and dental student intake
• you’ve already received the NHS Bursary in a previous year

If you’re studying a medical or dental course as your second degree, you may also be eligible.

Residency

To be eligible for the NHS Bursary, you need to normally live in England and be an English resident on the first day of your first academic year.

If you moved to England from somewhere else in the UK for your studies, you’re not eligible.

Non-means tested bursary

The 2025 to 2026 rate is £1,052 for all students.

Means tested bursary

The 2025 to 2026 rates are:

• up to £3,356 if your university is in London and you do not live in your parental home
• up to £2,780 if your university is outside of London and you do not live in your parental home
• up to £2,321 regardless of university location if you live in your parental home

What you can get depends on whether you’re a dependent or an independent student. You’ll need to show us evidence of your circumstances to support your claim if you apply as an independent student.

If you’re dependent, we’ll calculate your means tested bursary amount based on your parents’ income if they choose to declare it.

If you’re independent, we’ll calculate it based on your spouse, partner’s, or civil partner’s income if they choose to declare it. .

If you have income, this will also be considered when calculating your means tested bursary entitlement. We’ll need to know about any income you get from:

• pensions
• bank or building society interest
• renting out property or from a lodger
• profit from dividends or shares
• sponsorships
• certain taxable social security benefits

You do not need to tell us about any income from working on a part time or casual basis.

Tuition fees

If your NHS Bursary application is successful, we’ll pay a tuition fee contribution directly to your university.

The 2025 to 2026 academic year tuition fee contribution rates are:

• up to £9,535 for an undergraduate course lasting 5 or 6 years
• up to £3,830 for a graduate entry course lasting 3 or 4 years – this rises to £3,925 for English students attending an eligible course in Northern Ireland

Additional allowances

Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to more support. Additional allowances for the NHS Bursary are:

• Dependants Allowance
• Parent Learning Allowance (PLA)
• Childcare Allowance (CCA)
• Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses (TDAE)
• Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)

• Extra Weeks Allowance

You can find out more about these on our Additional allowances page. If you want to learn more about CCA, TDAE or DSA, you can also visit their own pages.

When to apply

If you’re on an undergraduate course lasting 5 or more years, you can apply for years 5 and 6. You can include a foundation year if it was an integral part of your course.

If you’re on a course for graduates lasting 3 years, you can apply for years 2 and 3.

If you’re on a course for graduates lasting 4 years, you can apply for years 2, 3 and 4.

If you’ve repeated any years of your course that are not eligible for the NHS Bursary, these years do not count as qualifying years. For example, if you repeat the second year of your undergraduate course, you can apply for the NHS Bursary from your course year five which is actually your sixth year of study.

If you need to repeat a year that qualifies for the NHS Bursary, you may be entitled to up to 12 months of additional bursary.

If you took an intercalation year in the first 4 years of your undergraduate degree at bachelor’s or master’s level, this counts as a qualifying year. Intercalation years at PhD level do not.

How to apply

The application window for 2025 to 2026 is now open. You need to register for an NHS Bursary account or sign in to your existing account to apply.

If you've received an NHS Bursary before, we’ll send you an email inviting you to apply for 2025 to 2026.

We’ll send email invites out in groups to make sure we process all applications for the start of the academic year. 

You need to apply within 9 months of the start of the academic year for your application to be accepted.

For more help on applying, read our step-by-step guide to the NHS Bursary application system (PDF: 285KB)​​​

We’ll pay your NHS Bursary in 3 termly instalments once your university has confirmed you’re attending your course. You should sign in to your NHS Bursary account for details of any payments you’re due to receive.

The payment dates for Term 2 and 3 payments depend on the start month of your academic year.

If you started in June, your payment dates are:

• Term 2 - October 2025
• Term 3 - January 2026

If you started in July, your payment dates are:

• Term 2 - November 2025
• Term 3 - February 2026

If you started in August, your payment dates are:

• Term 2 - December 2025
• Term 3 - March 2026

If you started in September, your payment dates are:

• Term 2 - January 2026
• Term 3 - April 2026

If you started in October, your payment dates are:

• Term 2 - February 2026
• Term 3 - May 2026​​​​​

You can read more about the NHS Bursary in our guidance booklet.

NHS Bursary Funding for Medical and Dental Students 2024-2025 (PDF: 2.35 MB)

2025 to 2026 guidance will be available soon.