Funds, scholarships, jobs, bursaries and budgets.

London can be expensive even when you try to budget, and especially when you’re like me and don’t want to look at your account balance. But crucially for us, LSE has ways to help. LSE’s bursaries, scholarships and student wages are some of the highest in the country and trust me, they’re worthwhile investigating.

In total LSE and SFE combined gave me just under £20k, not including part-time work. Coming from a poorer background outside London can make university here scary. But for me, it's been affordable and worthwhile, and I hope the info here ensures it is for you too.

The Basics of Bursaries:

Many universities offer bursaries for students from poorer backgrounds but LSE’s are far larger than most and come in two main forms to support general needs and accommodation costs.

As of the 2025/26 academic year the max bursary is £4,250 (which is what I get). Its automatically assessed based on your student finance by LSE and paid automatically. PS, if your situation is more complicated, you can apply for the discretionary bursary up to the same figure.

I also got an accommodation bursary (for 1st years in LSE halls), currently maxed out at £2,500 credited against my rent. Keep in mind that it’s applied backwards from 3rd term, meaning you usually won’t see any discount on the first term of rent, but have a lot of money for summer.

Student Union Funds:

Life’s complicated and sometimes you overspend a little, but most universities understand this and LSE sets aside money to help (mostly via the SU). 

Personally, I’ve used the participation fund. It paid for me to attend our ball at the Natural History Museum – although my outfit ended up costing more than the ticket anyway... oops. You can also use this to fund society or sports fees up to £150. 

When something unexpected crashes your finances (I’ve been painfully close) LSESU and LSE itself have funds to help. The SU’s Hardship Fund normally limits payments to £2,500 and LSE’s Student Support Fund to £4,000 and they can cover almost any costs associated with unexpected events (within reason). I know some people who used this to cover the cost of having their phone stolen.

Jobs at LSE:

So many of my friends have part-time work separately from university but personally, I chose to work for LSE. My two main jobs are being a Student Ambassador (one of the students who run campus tours or open days and events) and an Event Steward for LSE’s endless public lectures or events. Both pay very well (better than any other university I know for similar positions) at £17.23 an hour, meaning with a 3-hour shift I can cover a week of food or new clothes and a night out.

These aren’t the only jobs around at LSE though, I know some people acting as research assistants for professors getting closer to £22.00 an hour or people working around London’s giant job market in retail or even as parliamentary assistants!

Lastly but definitely not least, Scholarships:

Many people at LSE get scholarships, some administered by the university or some through separate charitable bodies. Either way, LSE’s breadth of scholarships fuels the diversity at the university. If you’ve already missed the deadline to apply for a scholarship or haven't won one, some are still available following enrollment such as the Laidlaw scholarship. I receive this and it’s currently paying for me to complete an internship over summer with a £3,000 stipend.

My main advice is just have a look at what's available to you and find a weekly budget. It's what most people do and it makes university so much less daunting.