The UCAT bursary scheme is a programme designed to help aspiring medical students from the UK and EU who may have financial difficulties. Through the submission of an application form including acceptable forms of evidence, successful applicants can receive a voucher to ensure they don’t have to pay any fee to sit the UCAT test or receive a full refund if they already have booked or sat it.
It costs £75 to sit the UCAT in the UK and £120 to take the test outside the UK. However, in previous years the fee has varied depending on if the test is sat early or late and so the provisional £75 cost is subject to potential change.
To be eligible for the UCAT bursary you need to meet just one of the criteria listed below with the relevant evidence for it. You can find the full details here: https://www.ucat.ac.uk/ucat/bursary-scheme/
For the eligibility criteria listed above, you will need the following documents as evidence to support your application.
Ensure that any documents submitted are the most recent (i.e. 2021 dated) and send all pages of the document in the application. Pearson VUE categorically say that they will NOT accept P60, annual accounts, council tax, and housing/child benefit letters as evidence.
The eligibility criteria for the UCAT bursary and the evidence you need is summarised in the table below
Registration for the UCAT will open on the 2nd June 2021 and close on 22nd September 2021 with the 29th September being the last testing date. Unfortunately, they haven’t released the dates for the bursary scheme application as of writing this, but judging by last year it will be open from the first testing date (9am, 26th July) till the day before the last testing date (4pm, 28th September).
It is important to remember that you can apply for the bursary even after you have paid for (and even taken) the test as long as the application is submitted within the timeframe above (more details below).
To apply for the UCAT bursary scheme visit https://www.ucat.ac.uk/ucat/bursary-scheme/and click on the ‘Apply for a bursary’ button at the bottom of the page once the scheme is open. In the application form you must upload/email/post evidence to supplement the form.
Once the form is submitted with the appropriate evidence you will receive the outcome of the application within a couple of working days which will include the voucher code in the email (check junk/spam). When booking your UCAT test, use this voucher code at checkout to remove the payment cost. If you haven’t received the email within 5 days then email the UCAT office using this address: ucat@nottingham.ac.uk
If you believe you meet one of the criteria as listed above but were not given the voucher and would like to appeal the decision, then email the UCAT office (ucat@nottingham.ac.uk) and explain why you think you are eligible.
This is a slightly different process. You need to apply for the bursary in the same way using the link above and click on the ‘Apply for a bursary’ button. However, once you have received your voucher code from PearsonVUE, email customer services through the form here https://www.ucat.ac.uk/contact-us/and send your voucher code so they can sort out the refund process.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that if you book a test using the bursary voucher but decide not to sit the examination that you CANCEL the test. If you do not, they can request you to pay the full
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Author: Dhillon Hirani
Editor: Latifa Haque
