St Andrews Sanctuary Scholarship

Value of award (per year)

Minimum of 10 scholarships.

• Tuition Fees - Applicants are advised to apply for government (public) funding from SAAS/SFE unless they are not eligible to do so. The Sanctuary scholarship will fund any remaining fee liability.
• Accommodation - Catered accommodation as advertised by Accommodation Services*, or the equivalent paid towards private accommodation (as monthly maintenance)
• Maintenance - Additional living allowance (Paid monthly) of £110 per week.

  (Undergraduate payments are for 39 weeks, postgraduate payments are for 52 weeks)

Applicants are encouraged to apply for government funding (e.g. SAAS/SFE) where eligible, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

• Undergraduate Government funding (opens in new tab)
• Postgraduate Government funding (opens in new tab)
• Scottish Government (SAAS) funding (opens in a new tab)

The University offers flexible funding to Sanctuary students depending on your situation, immigration restrictions, government or other funding provided.

Awardees are asked to contact the Sanctuary team to discuss funding arrangements: sanctuary@st-andrews.ac.uk

Duration of award

This award is paid annually for the duration of the student's programme.

At what stage of my course application can I apply for this scholarship?

You can apply for the scholarship after you have submitted your course application for a place at the University of St Andrews. You do not need to wait until you have received an offer of a place before applying for the scholarship.

Additional criteria

As part of the application you will be asked to upload the following documents:

• A personal statement, which should be no longer than two pages. Please include the following when writing your statement:
  • A description of your personal financial need, your current financial circumstances and any anticipated changes to income (personal or family).
  • The impact of your forced migration status on your access to higher education.
  • You may also use this statement to provide further context in support of your answers to the application questions.
• Evidence of your household income.
• If you are an asylum seeker and are unable to provide household evidence please upload evidence confirming your official Home Office Status.

You will be asked to provide accommodation requirements in the application form. This is to assist with temporarily holding a room for awardees until they can apply directly to accommodation services.

How to apply

After you have applied to a new course beginning in the academic year 2025-2026, you will be provided with login details for the My application portal. You must allow up to three working days for processing and issue of your log in details before you can apply for this scholarship.

This scholarship is available through the relevant (undergraduate or postgraduate) St Andrews Sanctuary Scholarship application in the Scholarships and Funding Catalogue in the Scholarships and Funding section of My application or MySaint if you are a current student at the University of St Andrews applying to start a new degree.

You must complete, submit and provide all references before the deadline date.

Scholarship application form guidance

Application fee exemption

If you are applying for a postgraduate taught course and intend to apply (and are eligible for) the Sanctuary Scholarship, you do not need to pay the £50 application fee. At the point of submitting your application to St Andrews, please contact pgscholarships@st-andrews.ac.uk for further advice.

Terms and conditions

Please read the University of St Andrews scholarships terms and conditions (opens in new tab)

Sanctuary awardees will be required to apply directly to Accommodation Services to secure University Accommodation. This process is separate to the scholarship application. Where University accommodation is indicated on the scholarship application, the Sanctuary team will attempt to hold a standard room for the awardee. However, the room can only be held for a brief period of time. The room may be lost if the awardee does not apply directly to Accommodation Services, does not meet the course conditions or does not respond to communications in a timely manner.

*When applying for University accommodation, undergraduate awardees should select catered standard accommodation (single room), and postgraduate awardees should select a catered single room in David Russell Apartments as their preference.

The Scholarship is unable to provide funding until you are a fully registered student at the University of St Andrews. Please ensure you have considered the cost required to make your way to the University to complete matriculation and become a registered student.

After the scholarships have been awarded, the Sanctuary team will arrange an online or phone meeting with each awardee and key colleagues to better understand individual situations and discuss any additional information or support required.

Undergraduate students should note the Sanctuary scholarship cannot be held in conjunction with the St Andrews Access scholarship. Applicants awarded the higher valued Sanctuary scholarship will automatically rescind the St Andrews Access scholarship.

When will I know the outcome?

The outcome of your scholarship application will be available in My Application, Scholarships and Funding, View my funding applications by mid-May 2025.