College of Social Sciences Graduate School

The value of Postgraduate Tuition Fees generated depends on your Fee Status (generally ‘Home’ or ‘International’).  Your tuition fees will be stated in your PGR offer letter. Past, present and predicted future PGR tuition fees can be found on the Postgraduate Research Tuition Fees website.

Home Students

Home Student PGR Fees are set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and these fees increase in October of each year.

International Students

International Student PGR Fees are set by the University and your fees remain static at the same yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme.

Doctorate of Education (EdD)

The Doctorate of Education (EdD) has a different fee structure to other PGR degrees in the College. Current EdD fees can be found on the EdD Research Entry with the tuition fees applicable to you found in your EdD offer letter. The EdD programme is set up to be undertaken on a Part-Time basis only and both Home and International tuition fees remain static at the same yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your EdD.

Each PGR programme has a set ‘minimum’ period (e.g. for a PhD the minimum period is 3 years Full-Time or 5 years Part-Time). The minimum period of your programme will be stated in your PGR Programme offer letter.

Tuition fees will be generated in each academic year of your PGR programme.

As noted above, Home PGR tuition fees increase from October each year, while International yearly PGR tuition fee values are fixed at the yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme.

Part-Time PGR tuition fees are generated at 50% of the Full-Time fee.

For Home Students you should expect to pay a minimum of 3 years of tuition fees set at UKRI Home fees level (including yearly increases) for Full-Time, or a minimum of 5 years of Part-Time Home fees (including yearly increases) 

International students should expect to pay a minimum of 3 years of tuition fees at the yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme, or a minimum of 5 years of Part-time International fees, at the yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme (Part-Time is only available if your visa status allows you to undertake part-time doctoral study).

Master of Laws (Research) (LLM(Research)

• LLM(Research) Home students should expect to pay a minimum of 1 year of tuition fees set at UKRI Home fees level (including yearly increases if the programme is taken over 2 academic years – i.e. if you commenced in January) for Full-Time, or a minimum of 2 years of Part-Time Home fees (including yearly increases)
• LLM(Research) International students should expect to pay a minimum of 1 year of tuition fees at the yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme, or a minimum of 2 years Part-Time International fees, at the rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme (Part-Time is only available if your visa status allows you to undertake part-time doctoral study).

Doctorate of Education (EdD) students (both Home and International) should expect to pay a minimum of 5 years of tuition fees at the yearly rate applicable for the commencement year of your programme.

Each PGR academic year runs from October to September. There are no ‘semesters’ or ‘terms’ as there are with an Undergraduate or Postgraduate Taught degree.

Postgraduate Research students do not have designated vacation periods and you are expected to be engaged in your research and research training year round, except for periods of approved annual leave and the University’s period of closure over Christmas and the New Year.

Tuition fees are generated based on these PGR academic year dates.

If you commenced your PGR programme in January, your year of programme and the PGR academic year will not match up (you will be registered on your 3 year PhD programme over 4 academic years, or 1 year Master of Laws (Research) programme over 2 academic years), however you must still align to the PGR academic year dates (above) in relation to programme administration and payment of fees. In this case, your first academic year tuition fees generated will be pro-rated from January until the end of the academic year (September).   

Subsequent years will be charged at the standard yearly tuition fee rate, with your final amount of tuition fee generated to account for the short period in your last academic year up to your programme end date (i.e. end of minimum period). The number of months tuition fees generated will match the minimum period of your programme (as above).

For example (for PhD):

• First academic year of registration: January to September (pro-rated) 
• Second academic year of registration: October to September 
• Third academic year of registration: October to September 
• Fourth academic year of registration: October to your programme end date (pro-rated) 

Master of Laws (Research) (LLM(Research)) students who commence in January will be in a similar position:

• First academic year of registration: January to September (pro-rated)
• Second academic year of registration: October to your programme end date (pro-rated)

You must pay your tuition fees in full or advise the University on how you plan to pay your fees (e.g. by payment plan or sponsorship) as part of your registration process and before the start of your Programme (for commencing students) or before the start of the next PGR academic year (for continuing students).

Registration, which includes the process of paying tuition fees, opens in early August each year and students must have completed full registration prior to the start of the upcoming academic year.

In practice, this means that all PGR tuition fees are due (either in full, or by agreeing a payment plan or by providing a Sponsorship Financial Guarantee Letter):

• by end of September for all students commencing their programmes in October of the upcoming academic year;
• by end of December for all students commencing their programmes in January of the upcoming academic year; OR
• by end of September for all continuing students (including those that commenced in January of the current academic year)

Details of what information the University needs, including how to provide this information, is detailed on the Payment Methods for Externally-Funded Students website.

As per Section 6.4 of the Student Terms and Conditions, even if you have made arrangements with an external sponsor to pay your tuition fees, you remain personally responsible for payment if they do not pay your tuition fees. It is your responsibility to ensure that Sponsorship Financial Guarantee Letters are obtained and provided to the University by the due dates (above) and to resolve any dispute(s) you may have with your sponsor.

If you have been awarded a PGR Scholarship, which includes tuition fee coverage, administered by the CoSS Graduate School, your tuition fees will be covered directly by the Graduate School. You do not need to upload your Scholarship offer letter as part of the Registration process. If your fee balance is not showing correctly, please contact the CoSS Graduate School.

If you are encountering difficulty paying your tuition fees, you must contact the Student Credit Control team immediately. The University will seek to consult with you and endeavour, acting reasonably and considering your reasonable representations, to make an arrangement with you to repay the outstanding sums due within an agreed period.

The earlier you engage with the Student Credit Control Team the more likely an arrangement can be agreed to avoid jeopardising your future registration or status as a student.

If you do not pay your tuition fees or other charges before the deadline for payment and the University has not been able to make a repayment arrangement with you or you have missed two payments under such repayment arrangement, the University may:

• apply interest at a rate of 3% per annum (calculated on a daily basis) to the unpaid amount;
• cancel any direct debit or payment plan you have made, in which case the fees or charges will then become due, in full, immediately;
• hand-over your debt to an external debt collection agency for collection;
• claim any costs actually incurred by the University recovering the debt from you (these costs vary by country but guidance can be found in                                     the University’s Student Debt Policy); and
• end the Student Contract, which means that you will be withdrawn as a student of the University.

If you have unpaid tuition fee debt, you will not be allowed to register for any subsequent academic year and would therefore not be a registered student of the University.

Any student who fails to complete the registration process at the start of each academic year will not be a registered student of the University. 

Unregistered students may have restrictions imposed on them, which may include: 

• Eligibility to vote in the election of a Rector;
• Use of the Library;
• Eligibility for Council Tax Exemption;
• Eligibility to apply to some Financial Aid Funds;
• Eligibility to apply to CoSS Internships;
• Ability to enrol on some Training and Development and Research Training Programme courses and opportunities;
• Eligibility to receive Stipend (maintenance grant) payments

Students who remain unregistered for more than 2 months into a new academic year risk being withdrawn from their programme.

The following may impact the amount of tuition fees you need to pay:

• Suspension of Studies. Suspension of Studies pauses your PGR candidature and tuition fees are re-calculated when Suspensions are processed. Periods of Suspension of Studies do not generate tuition fees, however payment plans will still continue and should automatically amend to take account of the reduced tuition fees.
• While suspensions ‘stop the clock’, they also add the period of suspension to your Programme end date, so you are still required to pay the minimum number of months of tuition fees overall, but a suspension essentially defers some tuition fee
• g. if you are Full-Time and continue Full-Time beyond the 3-year minimum period, then additional tuition fees will be payable. The same is true for Part-Time periods beyond the 5-year minimum.
• Change of Study Mode. If you change your study mode from Full-Time to Part-Time (or vice versa), your tuition fees will be re-calculated pro-rated to reflect the updated study mode from the date the change is effective
• Continuing Full or Part-time beyond the minimum period. If you move to periods of Full or Part-time beyond your minimum period, this will generate additional tuition fees.
  • E.g. if you are Full-Time and continue Full-Time beyond the 3-year minimum period, then additional tuition fees will be payable. The same is true for Part-Time periods beyond the 5-year minimum.

If you have a credit balance on your Student Account (i.e. you have paid too much, or a recent Suspension of Studies or Change of Study Mode has reduced your fee balance below what you have paid to date), you should contact Accounts Receivable to arrange either a refund, or application of the credit to your next academic year tuition fees.

Registration & Enrolment Support Team: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/students/sset/rest/

Registry: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/registry/contact/

Finance Student Collections (for payment plans or debt issues): finance-student@glasgow.ac.uk

Finance Sponsor Collections (for external sponsor issues): finance-sponsor@glasgow.ac.uk

CoSS Graduate School: https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/graduateschool/contact/

Student Terms and Conditions (also known as ‘The Student Contract’)

Every student must accept the Terms and Conditions when registering in each academic year throughout your programme

University Regulations

Regulations on Fees and General Information as well as programme regulations per College 

PGR Code of Practice

Guidelines to students and staff about the most effective practice for each stage in a PGR students journey 

Registration

Details and guidance on the Registration process and policies

CoSS PGR Handbook

College-level guidance and practical advice for PGR student and supervisors, which is used alongside the PGR Code of Practice

CoSS PGR Funding Terms and Conditions

The Terms and Conditions that apply to PGR funding administered through the CoSS Graduate School