Funding the LLM Legal Practice

Jan 26, 2023

Written By Yi Kang Choo

A Master of Laws (LLM) is the perfect qualification for graduates looking to specialise in a specific area of law. Whether you want to study out of academic curiosity, or as a stepping stone to your career aspirations, the flexibility of the course provides something for everyone. But, what is the best way to fund the course? This article will explore the different options.

Costs overview

The University of Law (ULaw) offers the LLM to both home and international students. In London, the programme costs £14,000 for international students, and £10,500 for international students. Outside of London, it costs £12,000 for international students and £9,500 for domestic students. Figuring out how to pay this cost will be a major factor for most applicants. What financial assistance is available?

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Law firms

If you have landed a training contract, your firm may well fund the LLM Legal Practice (SQE1 and SQE2). This provides you with a master’s qualification as well as preparation for the SQE exams. Given that you need to pass the SQE exams to qualify as a solicitor, it’s in your firm’s interest to help future trainees with the costs.

Having said this, some employers may place conditions on providing funding, such as requiring you to complete the master’s in a specific location, with a specific university, or only funding the general LLM. It’s worth checking with the firm to see if the funding they offer is conditional.

Student loan

The LLM constitutes a master’s degree, meaning that you may be eligible for a postgraduate loan from Student Finance, assuming you have not already borrowed from them for this purpose.

Courses starting after 1st August 2022 can qualify for a loan of up to £11,836. A maintenance loan is not included in the way it is for undergraduate qualifications, but the sum you can borrow isn’t means tested (linked to your household income).

Remember that you will pay this back, plus interest, once in employment, and the salary threshold that kick-starts repayments is often lower than that of the loan for your bachelor’s degree.

International students or those with a different residency status (such as being a refugee) should look at Student Finance’s website for updates on entitlement, as they may also meet the criteria to apply for loans.

Scholarships

Another form of monetary assistance is through scholarships and bursaries. This is especially useful for students who can demonstrate circumstances of necessity or merit in their applications, as they’ll take priority.

You can apply to the majority of the University of Law’s grants with just one application and an existing offer of a place on one of the LLM courses, but some require their own process or an online assessment.

The full price of the LLM is waived for the following prizes:

- Aziz Foundation Scholarship (nine recipients)

- Career Changer Scholarships (12 recipients)

- Choose Law Scholarship (two/three recipients)

Partial fee reductions can be gained through the following awards:

- £3,000 to £5,000 from the Business and Law First Scholarship (10-50 recipients depending on the course’s start date)

- £2,000 from the Career Changer Scholarship (350 recipients)

- £5,000 from the Charles Russell Speechlys Scholarship (one winner)

- £2,000 from the Choose Law Scholarship (two-five runners-up)

- £3,000 from the Professional Services Excellence Award (no numbers provided)

- £1,000 from the Lord Blunkett Widening Access Award (20-100 recipients depending on the course’s start date)

There are also campus-specific grants available for those attending Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Chester.

Alumni discounts

Students who have already completed a course at ULaw can be entitled to a £1,000 concession via the Academic Master’s Alumni Discount. The process is easy – apply for your place as normal, and once you accept an offer the £250 deposit is automatically deducted and a further £750 will be reduced throughout your payment schedule.

Should your desired course not be included (LPC LLM, LPC MSc, BPC LLM), you may be able to get a £500 deduction through the General Alumni Discount. As above, the deposit will be waived and the outstanding £250 is taken off the fee payments.

Bank loans

If you still need a helping hand with your finances after researching the above options, you can always consider a postgraduate bank loan. Individual banks will stipulate their own criteria, but they will definitely consider factors like the course’s quality and duration, alongside your future employability and credit score.

While these can help your career move forward, it’s important not to get into financial difficulties in the future, so remember to check out all the details before taking on a loan. Always read the small print about things like interest rates and repayments.

University Funding