York Opportunity Scholarship

York Opportunity Scholarship

You get about EUR 3,850 in total (GBP 3,300). It is paid in three yearly instalments of roughly EUR 1,280 (GBP 1,100) over the first three years of your degree. You do not repay the money, and it helps with study and living costs. The University of York runs the scholarship to support UK students who can do the academic work but have faced serious obstacles on their way to university.

Who can apply

• University: You hold an offer to start an undergraduate degree at the University of York. Four-year integrated master's programmes and foundation year programmes count too.
• Residence: You are a permanent UK resident classified as a Home (UK) student.
• School: You went to a state school or college in the UK.
• Household income: Your household income is below GBP 70,004 (about EUR 82,000).
• Barriers: You can show real personal, social or home-life obstacles that affected your education, such as breaks in your schooling.
• One extra circumstance: You also meet at least one further condition. Examples: first in your family to go to university, care-experienced, estranged from your family, eligible for free school meals, a young carer, an adult learner aged 25 or over, disabled or with a long-term health condition, a refugee, from a military family, LGBTQ+, or from an ethnic group under-represented at university.
• Access programme (guaranteed route): If you finished one of York's widening-access programmes (Next Step York, YorWay to York, Black Access, or the York Experience Summer School including the YorJourney module), you get the scholarship automatically, as long as you meet the basic criteria and submit a full application.

How realistic are your chances?

This award is competitive: in past years about one in four applicants received funding, so a clear match to the criteria matters. If you can show a low household income, a state-school background, a genuine barrier to your education, plus one of the extra circumstances, you are in a strong position. Applicants who finished one of York's widening-access programmes have the best odds, because their award is guaranteed.