Living costs and financial support

Besides paying for your tuition fees you need to think about your day to day living costs - below we have given a break down of essential costs that you will incur as well as sources of funding that are available to you

Living Costs at Pembroke

Accommodation and meal charges. Almost all Pembroke undergraduates live in college-owned accommodation for the full three or four years that they are in Cambridge. Students live in single study bedrooms either on the main college site or in college owned houses nearby. Rents are charged termly, for a nine- or ten-week period, and there is no need to pay rent during the vacations if you are not in residence. Rents vary according to the size of room and facilities offered. In 2009/2010 most rents are in the range £59.07 per week - £92.48 per week. There is a flat rate charge for electricity; in 2008/09 this is £16.50 per term. A Kitchen Fixed Charge (KFC) is also required, and in 2009/2010 this is £126 per term. Since Pembroke is within walking or cycling distance of all lecture rooms, libraries etc. there are limited transport costs while you are here.

Essential accommodation and kitchen overhead charges for Pembroke students are, thus, between £2,200 and £3,202 per year in 2009/2010, excluding the cost of meals taken. There are no other compulsory charges.

Total estimated living expenses. Following discussions with present students, we have estimated that you should allow at least £6,000 - £7,500 a year to cover all your living expenses at Pembroke. This includes your rent and KFC, food, entertainment, books, etc. but does not include travel costs to and from home nor the tuition fee, or living costs during the vacations.

Financial Support available

National support

As well as taking out a loan to cover your tuition fees, students classified as 'Home' for tuition fee purposes you can apply for an additional loan from the SLC to help towards your living expenses. How much loan is available to you is dependent on your household income: there is a standard loan figure and an extra means-tested element.

Students from lower income households will also be eligible for the non-repayable maintenance grants. The level of maintenance grant in relation to the household income varies between the different regions so please consult the relevant websites. For example students from England with a household income of less than £25,000 may qualify for a maintenance grant of up to £2,906 a year.

Unfortunately EU Students are not eligible for any maintenance support from Central government funds.

The Cambridge Bursary scheme

Home students

Any student who is in receipt of a Government maintenance grant is eligible to apply for a Cambridge Bursary. These bursaries are funded partly by the University, partly by the Newton Trust, and partly by the College. The value of each bursary will be based on the amount of maintenance grant you are in receipt of and is calculated on a sliding scale up to a maximum of £3,250 per year in 2009-10 (£5,350 per year for some mature students).

• students in receipt of the full £2,906 maintenance grant will receive a Cambridge Bursary of £3,250 (i.e. in total a non-repayable £6,156 per year).
• bursaries of smaller amounts will be awarded on a sliding scale to all those students who qualify for a lower level of maintenance grant, up to an assessed household income of £50,020.
• students will be eligible for a bursary for each year of their undergraduate course as long as they continue to meet these conditions.

Further information about the Cambridge Bursary Scheme (including a bursary calculator) is available here

EU students: The University of Cambridge is introducing a new bursary scheme for European Union (EU) undergraduate starting their studies in October 2010. A brief overview of the new bursary scheme is available here.

Pembroke Rent Bursaries

Pembroke operates a system of means-tested rent rebates to help students classified as 'Home' for tuition fee purposes from lower-income families with accommodation costs. Students in receipt of a maintenance grant of £2,501 (in 2009) or more will receive a rebate of 30% of the average college room rent. Amounts then reduce on a sliding scale, offering rent reductions of between 29% and 5% of the average college room rent. A student receiving a government maintenance grant of £100 or less or an element of the means-tested loan will receive a rent rebate of 5%.

Unfortunately EU Students are not eligible for Pembroke rent bursaries.

Other financial support

Pembroke also has separate funds to help with such things as course-related activities and extra-curricular interests these are available to all students and full details are available here.