Financial considerations for MA courses
The cost of studying for an MA at the school will include your tuition fees, your maintenance and your travel.
There are usually no additional costs required by the school although you will be expected to provide your own
laptop for most courses. When registered on a full time course you will have access to health care via the
National Health Service. No additional medical insurance is required by international students.
Your Tuition Fees are required annually in advance of the commencement of the course.
The average annual maintenance and travel costs for a student living in Beaconsfield are £9,000 depending
upon the style of accommodation. Monthly rent can vary between £300 and £700. Living at home with
parents can considerably reduce that maintenance cost. Living in London has its attractions but may be more
expensive and will include increased travel costs even though the school has a discounted arrangement for
train tickets.
Overseas students requiring a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK will be required by the Home Office to
demonstrate that they have the resources to afford their first year tuition fees and the first nine months of
maintenance whilst on the course. This must be demonstrated in advance of applying for the visa. Overseas
students will also need to arrange and pay for an IELTS certificate confirming their competence in English
prior to their visa application.
It is important that you are able to afford your tuition fees and also your living costs whilst on the course. Your
registration and continuation on the course will depend upon your fees being secured. Places offered that do
not have tuition fees arranged and confirmed by the November prior to your course may be offered to another
candidate. Therefore you should make very early financial preparation and begin making enquiries even
before you are offered a place.
Funding
The National Film and Television School is proud of the fact that it provides more assistance to home (UK)
students than any other comparable institution. It is able to do this by virtue of its particularly well established
scholarship scheme.
This scheme is not presently available to International (non UK) students. Therefore International students
should make early enquiries into overseas student support offered by their own government and
education/training and cultural ministries and charitable institutions and private foundations in their own
country.
All long term resident UK students who are offered a place on the MA programme are invited to apply to the
funding award programme The applications are means tested and applicants are requested to describe their
financial preparedness for the course and demonstrate their need. The NFTS will endeavour to assist UK
students by responding as appropriately as it can. See below.
However all students will also need additional resources to support themselves during the course. It is most
important that you make your own private enquiries and do not rely entirely upon suggestions and
recommendations from others. The opportunities that you discover yourself will be the most fruitful since the
business of securing funding is unavoidably competitive.
It is recommended that all applicants investigate potential sources of independent funding available on the
World Wide Web via search engines such as Google. You should make the search engines work for you by
searching imaginatively for links to possible sources of assistance. Use as many variations of search words
and phrases that you can such as “postgraduate scholarships”, “grants”, “funding”, “bursaries”, “educational
trust”, “art trust”, “film funding”, “film training” and seek out any educational organisation or institution that has
resources or opportunities that may be accessible to you for postgraduate study. Be imaginative in your
search and ask as many questions online as you can. Check out all eligibility criteria.
Some limited and specific funding opportunities for UK students are detailed on the Adult Learning page of the
Government information website
https://www.gov.uk/funding-for-postgraduate-study
Applicants should
check all these sources for any possible financial assistance.
NFTS Scholarships
All long term resident UK students, once they are offered a place on the MA programme, are invited to apply
for an NFTS funding award. Awards may consist of either a bursary or a scholarship or a combination of both.
NFTS Scholarships are donated by individuals or organisations with a direct involvement in the film, games
and television industries. They often include a mentorship and an individual donor may take in interest in your
work. Therefore they have an added prestige.
The NFTS funding awards contribute directly to tuition fees and may be between £1,000 and £10,000. They
are not re-payable by the student. They are only available to UK permanent residents although there is also
currently one small scholarship available annually to a French-speaking student. Students are invited to apply
in both of the two years of the course. Some scholarships are intended to be for a particular specialisation, for
female students, or awarded on ethnicity or according to the UK region of an applicant.
The Toledo Scholarship is an NFTS scholarship specifically intended to enable talented newcomers from the
UK’s ethnic minorities to fast-track their ambitions and join the British film industry. Application is made in the
same way as all other NFTS scholarships but candidates will need to identify themselves as an UK ethnic
minority candidate in order to be considered automatically.
Applications are treated confidentially and are means tested. The school reserves the right to ask an applicant
to provide proof of his/her financial circumstances and of possible family support. The Assistant Registrar
must be notified immediately of any change in an applicant’s financial circumstances. Careful consideration is
given by the Scholarship Panel with a view to responding to demonstrated financial need. Funds are limited
and students are asked to estimate responsibly how much assistance they think they will need as this affects
the School’s ability to accommodate students in serious need.
Unfortunately, we are unable to open this scheme to EU or International students, or to students on the
Diploma programmes. There are some course specific scholarship opportunities available to Diploma
students. Please check the latest situation on the NFTS website course pages.
There may not be enough scholarships available to allow the school to give one to all applicants. Therefore it
may be necessary for you to make alternative arrangements for your tuition fees and maintenance.
All students offered a place are provided with guidelines for applying for independent funding. This information
is distributed during the summer. NFTS funding applications are received in September and the Scholarship
Panel meets in October to decide the awards for the following year. Decisions are announced shortly
afterwards.
The BAFTA Scholarship
The BAFTA Scholarship Programme is independent of the NFTS. You can apply to BAFTA before you are
offered an NFTS place. It assists talented individuals in need of financial support. Recipients will receive:
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Up to £10,000 to cover their course fees
An industry mentor
Free access to BAFTA events around the UK
The deadline for applications is Friday 12 June 2015.
Check the eligible NFTS courses :
https://www.bafta.org/sites/default/files/uploads/scholarships2015appendixi.pdf
A Creative Skillset Film Academy
Find out more from : scholarships@bafta.org
Frequently Asked Questions https://www.bafta.org/sites/default/files/uploads/scholarshipfaqs2015.pdf
Apply now http://www.bafta.org/initiatives/supporting-talent/scholarships/uk-programme
International student funding
There are currently no NFTS funding awards available to non-UK students other than one small scholarship
available annually to a French-speaking student.
Funding opportunities and other financial advice are listed on the UCKISA website: www.ukcisa.org.uk
Many countries have scholarship programmes for students wanting to study abroad and it’s worth
investigating these in your home country. Additionally there are British Government-funded scholarship
schemes available through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Overseas Development Administration or
United Nations. You can find out more from the British Council, Embassy or High Commission in your own
country or from: www.britishcouncil.org and www.educationuk.org
The application deadline for some scholarships may fall before our selection process is complete.
Unfortunately criteria and eligibility regulations for these awards can be inflexible but you should enquire of
each funding provider whether you can make an application in principle even though you may not yet have
been offered a place at the School. It is important that you enter into communication with an organisation as
early as possible and receive clear details about the criteria and deadlines involved.
If you are a candidate from the USA preparing to study on an NFTS course you may qualify for US Federal
Student Aid. You would need to create a FAFSA in the fall in preparation for an application for a Direct Loan:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/fafsa
Enquiries
General Funding enquiries can be sent to info@nfts.co.uk
A Creative Skillset Film Academy