RCA Sanctuary Scholarship

What it gives

full tuition waiver · living costs

up to £20,000

Full fees + support package up to £20,000/yr depending on individual circumstances

Who it is for

recognised refugee status · asylum seeker (claim pending) · limited or discretionary leave · indefinite leave to remain · humanitarian protection · Ukraine or Afghan scheme · other categories — see terms

Level of study: taught postgraduate

The student finance condition

Open to applicants who do receive student finance

Having no access to student finance is not a condition here: people with recognised refugee status who already receive a student loan can apply.

How to apply

You need a place first: apply to the programme and wait for an offer. Scholarship applications are only considered from people who already hold one.

Hold a Round 1, Round 2, or deferred 2025/26 offer for an RCA programme
From spring 2026, apply via RCA's single scholarship application, which covers all RCA scholarships including the Sanctuary Scholarship
Provide documentation confirming your immigration status

What to prepare

Documentation confirming immigration status

How they select

application form · evidence of circumstances

There is no interview — the decision is made on documents. On most routes there are no subject entrance exams either: the main hurdle on the way into university is proving your level of English. The exceptions are medicine, dentistry and creative courses, where tests and portfolios do appear.

Dates

Can you apply now · as of 6 September 2026

Dates not published — ask the university

The provider's page gives no date. Write to them — it is the first question in the list below.

Where the date comes from: “unified application launching spring 2026»

Deadline

Not yet published for 2026/27; unified application launching spring 2026

When applications open

Unified scholarship application (covering all RCA scholarships) launches spring 2026 for Round 1/Round 2/deferred offer-holders; no fixed 2026/27 deadline published yet

Ask before you apply

We do not fill in the gaps for the institution. Here is what its own page leaves unclear — these are normal questions, everyone asks them.

What happens to the payments if I am granted refugee status mid-year?
Is the scholarship for one year or for the whole course?

Who to write to: scholarship@rca.ac.uk

If this scheme is not for you

See the full list of schemes — it has a filter for your status and for whether student finance is available to you.
Check whether you are entitled to student finance — if it is, a scholarship stops being the only road.
Foundation year and Access to HE — routes for people who only have a school certificate.
Education hub — where to start if you have not chosen a route yet.

About the institution

Royal College of Art, a postgraduate-only art and design university based in London (South Kensington/Battersea campuses); open to both Home and Overseas fee status.

There are adults, but they are a minority. 19.2% of students are over 30 and 45.8% are over 25 — an average picture for a UK university.

In detail about Royal College of Art: all schemes, student ages, study modes →

Source

Every fact on this page we opened and read on the institution's own site, rather than taking it from an aggregator. Checked on: 22 August 2026.

The scheme page on the institution's site →

Contact email is obscured by Cloudflare protection on the page. One-year MA/MArch/MFA/MDes/MRes/MEd programmes only.