Financial support for graduates

Financial Assistance Application Form - 2023Information on sources of financial support available to graduate students can be found on the University Fees and Funding page.

Grants, prizes and scholarships for current graduate students

North Senior & Beeston Scholarships

The College proposes to elect four North Senior Scholars from among its current graduate students. The intention is to award one scholarship per division, subject to suitable applications being received.

Applicants must be currently registered for a research degree at St John's College. The Scholarships are open to candidates in all subjects. A successful candidate in the field of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies would be awarded the title Beeston Scholar.

The basis for the award will be excellence in research.

Scholars will have the right to dine at High Table once a week (subject to availability) in Full Term, and will receive an emolument of £1,000 per year.

The Scholarships are tenable during the period of full fee-paying study up to a maximum of two years.

Application details will be posted in Trinity Term/Long Vacation.   

Applications for 2023 will close at Noon on Monday 24th July - please complete an application form.

Academic Grants

Graduate students may apply for help towards the purchase of approved books and materials of an academic nature as below:

• Books and academic materials
• Computer and equipment as below
  • portable or hand-held computing devices
  • monitors
  • desktop computers
  • computer software and peripherals
  • memory or hard-disk upgrades
  • computer repairs
  • personal printers
  • USB ethernet adapters
• Tickets for performances/exhibitions

Travel, phone or data services, printer ink or paper, maintenance or insurance contracts for items purchased are not eligible for reimbursement.

Graduates may claim a maximum of £522.

Purchase of a single item which costs in excess of the annual limit may be permitted, with prior approval from your Tutor/Supervisor/College Advisor. The cost will then be amortised annually over the remaining years for which you are eligible for the academic grant. A copy of the receipt for this item must be retained and submitted with your first claim.

Applications can be made from Week 0 of Michaelmas Term to Week 8 of Trinity Term and are limited to three in any one year, so please collate purchases and receipts rather than sending them in individually. Apply on the form via this link.

Oxford Assistance Fund
These grants are for students who experience financial hardship as a result of unforeseen circumstances. Click here for further information about the Oxford Assistance Fund.

Hardship Grants (College)
These grants are for financial hardship as a result of unforeseen circumstances. Download the Financial Assistance Application Form, to be submitted to the Senior Dean at any time. Students who are concerned about financial hardship may wish to discuss their circumstances with the Senior Dean before submitting a form.

Peter Fan Hardship Grant for Clinical Medical students in Years 5 and 6

These grants are pre-emptive hardship awards for on-course clinical medical students in their 5th and 6th years of study. Click here for further information and download the application form here. Please send all applications to finance.manager@sjc.ox.ac.uk

Graduate Special Grants
For help towards travel and subsistence for purposes of an academic nature of direct relevance to the student's course. Notes of guidance can be seen here.
Applications should be made online at https://forms.office.com/e/fK0rcB5RV0 by noon on Thursday of 4th Week in Michaelmas Term and noon on Thursdays of -1st and 4th Weeks in Hilary and Trinity Terms.

Expanding Horizons Programme Grants

In Hilary and Trinity Terms, thanks to the generosity of an alumnus, we offer the Expanding Horizons Programme (EHP). Notes of guidance can be seen here. The purpose of the EHP is to enable the College’s students to enlarge their intellectual and/or imaginative horizons through engaging with ideas and/or disciplines beyond their subject. It is envisaged that the majority of activities for which applications are supported will take place in the Easter and/or Long Vacations. Where we receive more applications than can be funded, we will support those which seem best to demonstrate real value to the recipient of the proposed work.

Successful applicants are required to submit all receipts for expenses covered by the grant and a report (approximately 1,000 words) on what they have learnt through their activities and the extent to which they consider how much their own intellectual horizons to have been expanded by their trip, referring back to their original application.

Applications for the Expanding Horizons Programme must be made via the online form (https://forms.office.com/e/EAXt3GpuSR) by noon on Thursdays of -1st Week and 4th Week in Hilary and Trinity Terms.

Blues Squad Grants
The College pays grants of up to £250 per year to cover the costs incurred by students through membership of university representative team squads. Claims are made on a Blues Grant application form which after completion should be accompanied by receipts, countersigned by an official of the relevant university sports club, and submitted to the Sports Officer.

D.Phil Thesis Binding Grants
The College will pay towards the costs of binding a copy of a D.Phil Thesis. Post Graduate Research students are no longer required to submit a physical copy of their thesis to the Bodleian Libraries.

A maximum of £80 may be claimed back from the College. All claims must be made within 6 months of being granted leave to supplicate your D.Phil. The Thesis Binding application form must be submitted online.

Mapleton-Bree Prize for work in the Creative Arts
The College will offer a prize of up to £300, which may be shared if deemed appropriate by the judges, for original work in any branch of creative art (drawing, painting, sculpture, poetry, music, photography, etc.).  If there is no entry of adequate standard there will be no award.
All junior members, whether graduates or undergraduates, may compete and the entries will be judged by a Committee consisting of both junior members and senior members of the College. Competitors should send in one example of work done during the previous twelve months. Entries are considered in Trinity Term each year and should be sent to the President's PA not later than the end of the third week of Trinity Term.

Alister Sutherland Award
This award is for a journey in the high mountains. Applications are invited for this award which has been instituted as a result of a generous gift from Dr Gillian Sutherland in memory of Alister Sutherland, distinguished economist, who read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St John's. The award, up to £350, will be made annually to an undergraduate or graduate member of St John's who presents the most imaginative and best planned proposal for a journey in the high mountains, preferably (but not necessarily) in mountainous regions where the summits exceed 3000 metres in height. The purpose is to encourage the discovery and the enjoyment of the high mountains.
Applications are considered in Hilary Term each year and should be sent to the President's PA not later than the end of the third week of Hilary Term.

Hans Michael Caspari UN Travel Grant
This grant is for studies in the field of International Relations. It was established through the generous gift of the late Professor Sir Fritz Caspari and his wife, in memory of their eldest son Hans Michael, who like his father and brother, attended St John's. The award, of up to £700, will be made annually to an undergraduate or graduate member of St John's to assist them to travel to Bonn, New York, Geneva, Vienna or one of the other seats of the UN or more generally to the seats of other international organizations, in order to further their study of International Relations.
Applications, in the form of a letter of no more than two pages with a separate CV and marks if available, should be sent to the Academic Office by Friday of 1st Week of Hilary Term and will be awarded in time for travel during the Easter or Long Vacations.

Burke Knapp Travel Scholarship 
This scholarship is for students in pursuit of development issues in the Third World/Emerging Economies. Applications are invited for this travel fund, which has been established through the generous gift of the late Mr Joseph Burke Knapp, Honorary Fellow of St John's College. The award, of up to £500, will be made annually to an undergraduate or graduate member of St John's to cover travel and related expenses in pursuit of development issues in the Third World/Emerging Economies. Applications should be made to the Academic Office by Friday of 1st Week of Hilary Term and will be awarded in time for travel during the Easter or Long Vacations.

Sir Royston Goode Prize for BCL or MJur
The Sir Royston Goode Prize for the BCL or MJur is awarded owing to the generosity of Sir Royston Goode C.B.E., Q.C., M.A., (L.L.B., L.L.D., Lond.), F.B.A., formerly Norton Rose Professor of English Law, and Emeritus Fellow of the College. A sum of £1000 is awarded annually to the St John’s graduate student who, in the opinion of the College Law Tutors, has achieved the best marks at the level of distinction for the BCL or MJur degrees.