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As a postgraduate student, you will have two costs to cover annually: the University Composition Fee and your Maintenance (living expenses).

The University Composition Fee

The University Composition Fee (tuition fee) covers the cost of your teaching and supervision, and access to University and College facilities supporting your studies. This will vary depending on the course you are taking, and whether you are a home or overseas student. 

The  allows you to search for your proposed course and provides both the home and overseas rates. The University Composition Fee for home students is typically between £12,000 and £15,000 per annum for Masters level courses and £9,500 and £12,000 for Doctoral study. Overseas fees can be considerably more than this, with most courses costing between £31,000 and £40,000 for Masters courses and £29,000 and £38,000 for Doctoral study. 

Maintenance costs

Your maintenance costs may vary depending on lifestyle and your choice of course. As the circumstances of Postgraduates differ widely, the University has provided a  which can give you an idea of what your living costs per year will be.

Factors that affect your maintenance costs will include rent, food, entertainment, and any additional resources you will require for your course. The  for 2024-25 is £19,237.

Costs at Caius

 at Caius is provided to all Postgraduates, including a guaranteed three years of accommodation for PhD students. Our accommodation is reasonably-priced and high-quality.

The Establishment Charge is a contribution to the College’s costs of non-academic facilities including function rooms, sports and welfare facilities and the service and overheads needed to support them. These are available and free to use for all current Caians.

The Minimum Dining Requirement is a fixed charge which pays for a minimum of 16 dinner tickets each term. Each dinner ticket entitles you to a standard 3-course dinner at Caius. We aim to promote community and the exchange of ideas, as we strongly believe in the value of College members eating together regularly. You can find more information about the MDR and Postgraduate dining at Caius 

Funding options

There are multiple sources of funding available to postgraduates. The most common sources are College Studentships, Department Awards (such as Doctoral Training Partnership awards), UKRI Studentships and Cambridge Trust or Gates Awards. 

91¿ì²¥ and Caius College is committed to providing opportunities for a wide range of applicants who wish to pursue fully-funded Postgraduate research, and Caius has a number of Postgraduate studentships available to candidates applying to the College.

Shubham (Law PhD 2022) talks about the importance of funding

College Choice

The University’s  page details all collegiate, departmental and university studentships. It also includes studentships offered by affiliated funding bodies such as the ,  and .

It is important to bear in mind that there are many College studentships which give preference to those who have applied to that College as their first-choice College. All Caius studentships prioritise applicants who have entered Caius as their first-choice college. Think carefully about the studentships provided by each college and which may be best suited to your course of study. The Postgraduate Funding Search should help you find the studentships offered by colleges which you are eligible for to help aid your choice. 

How to apply

With the exception of the W.M. Tapp Studentship and Caius Engineering Trust Studentship, all remaining Caius Studentships are awarded in partnership with the Cambridge Trust and the UK Research Councils. As such no separate application is required. Applicants will be considered for all departmental, collegiate and University awards for which they are eligible automatically if they have selected that they wish to be considered for funding on their University postgraduate admissions application form.

Please  and apply by the funding deadline specific to your course. There are two general course deadlines of 5 December 2023 and 5 January 2024. In some cases, such as for the Research Council Doctoral Training Programmes, a separate application is required and therefore please go to the relevant website. For further information on how to apply for funding Postgraduate research in Cambridge, see .

Priority will be given to those candidates who choose Caius as their first-choice college. The availability of Postgraduate Studentships changes from year to year and not all studentships are awarded every year. Full details of the studentships available each year is available on the University’s Funding Management Portal.

In a video first made to thank donors, Alice (Geography 2022) talks about the importance of financial support at Caius and Cambridge.

Academic & Travel Grant

All Postgraduate students at Caius can apply for support for travel and expenses related to their research on a case-by-case basis over their time at Caius. There are also language learning grants, co-curricular grants, including for music tuition, and small academic grants to which Postgraduate students can also apply.

Bell-Wade Bursary

Through the generosity of two alumni of the College, the Bell-Wade Bursary Fund has been established to assist students with the costs of pursuing excellence in sport as well as academic study.

Instrumental Awards

The College offers two types of Instrumental Award: a  and a College Instrumental Award. Thus instrumentalists may either apply for the University scheme, which brings the benefit of first-rate coaching for chamber music, or for a College award, which involves a greater commitment to music-making within the College. Not all instruments are included in the University scheme, but the College awards are open to all kinds of instruments. Details of the College awards are posted at the beginning of each academic year, and auditions are held at the beginning of November. The College also awards sums of money to individuals to help with specific tuition needs. Further details may be obtained from the Precentor.

Music Awards

The Holland Fund exists to provide grants to students reading Music who are in financial need. The Grabowski Bursary provides money for instrumental and other musical tuition, with preference to those reading Music.

Choral Awards

The Choir of 91¿ì²¥ & Caius is one of the UK’s leading collegiate choirs, with a world-wide reputation based on its extensive touring, its exciting programme of concerts and broadcasts, and highly acclaimed CD recordings.

Postgraduate members of the choir are entitled to three free meals in College a week and singing lessons worth up to £800. All choir members get free tours as well as CD recording and BBC Radio broadcast opportunities.

The Director of Music, Matthew Martin, encourages anyone interested joining the choir to apply by emailing Claire Wheeler (choir@cam.ac.uk) or him directly (precentor@cai.cam.ac.uk). Please detail any relevant choral or singing experience (though this is not essential) and your reasons for wanting to join the choir.