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Royal Holloway, University of London · England · London

Sanctuary Scholarship

What it gives
full tuition waiver · living costs
up to £12,000
Full tuition fee reduction plus £12,000/year towards living costs
Who it is for
asylum seeker (claim pending) · limited or discretionary leave · dependant of a person with status
Level of study: undergraduate
The student finance condition
Only if you cannot access student finance
This scheme is for people without access to government student finance — usually asylum seekers and some limited-leave categories. If you have refugee status and can access student finance, this is normally not for you.

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.

  1. Get an offer to study an undergraduate course at Royal Holloway first
  2. Write a Scholarship Statement (max 1,000 words): country of origin, asylum grounds, current UK status, circumstances, course choice
  3. Arrange a Referee's Supporting Statement covering circumstances, course suitability and community contribution
  4. Upload immigration documents to the applicant portal
  5. Email rhps@rhul.ac.uk with any queries

What to prepare

  • Scholarship Statement (max 1,000 words)
  • Referee's Supporting Statement
  • Immigration documents (uploaded to applicant portal)

How they select

personal statement · references · application form

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: “Applications closed for 2026 entry»
Deadline
Applications closed for 2026 entry
How many places
1 per year

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: rhps@rhul.ac.uk

If this scheme is not for you

About the institution

Royal Holloway, University of London is based in Egham, Surrey (TW20 0EX).

Mostly school leavers. Only 5.8% of students are over 30. If you are over 35, look at other universities on the list — there are more adults there.

In detail about Royal Holloway, University of London: 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 →

Page as fetched only documents the Sanctuary Scholarship itself; no separate 'Friendly Hand Bursary' details were present in the retrieved content despite the URL slug.