The Maintenance Grant for postgraduate course students is calculated using your net unearned income for the current academic year and your spouse / partner / civil partner's (if applicable) gross residual income for the last tax year. We don't take into account any income your parents may have.
Depending on this income the Maintenance Grant may not be awarded or given at a reduced rate.
Your own income
We'll take into account any unearned income you expect to receive during the academic year. If your academic year starts in the Autumn this is between 1 September and 31 August, or between 1 January and 31 December if your's starts in the Winter.
To work out whether the income you receive will result in any reduction, the following can be used as guidance:
- If your own net unearned income is £8,473 or less, the Maintenance Grant won't be reduced because of this income.
- If your own net unearned income is above £8,473, the Maintenance Grant is reduced by £1 for every £1 over the amount of £8,473. This reduction is referred to as an assessed contribution.
Your spouse / partner / civil partner's income
We'll take into account the gross taxable residual income your spouse / partner / civil partner received during the last tax year, between 6 April and 5 April.
To work out whether the income they received will result in any reduction, the following can be used as guidance:
- If their income was £20,868 or less, the Maintenance Grant won't be reduced because of this income.
- If their income was above £20,868, the Maintenance Grant is reduced by £45, plus £1 for every £8 of their gross taxable residual income above £20,868. This reduction is referred to as an assessed contribution.
However, their assessed contribution, if any, will be reduced by £92 for each dependant child that has been declared on your application and approved by us.