Postgraduate offer-holders: yet to meet conditions
This page is for postgraduate offer-holders who have yet to meet the conditions of their offer. It contains details of important information and actions you need to take.
If you have received a letter (normally by email) from the Senior Postgraduate Tutor advising that you have been allocated membership of Churchill College, you need to carefully read this page.
If you have not already done so, it is very important to fill in this Initial Information Request form, also known as the Membership Form, as this lets us know things such as your accommodation preferences. Please complete this as soon as possible.
You are welcome to contact Rebecca Sawalmeh and Lily Hunter, the Postgraduate Administrators, if you have any questions or concerns: [email protected].
If you have already met your conditions, please read the information on this page first and then proceed to follow the link below for information relevant to those who have met conditions.
Next steps
The next step in the College process is for you email the College or complete the initial information / membership form to confirm key details:
Your College membership will only be fully activated once you have completed all the elements of the application process, met the offer conditions you have been set by the the University, and arrived in Cambridge, but completing this as early as possible enables us to add you to our communications for new students and begin making arrangements for your accommodation and other support.
If you are unsure at this stage, you can submit the membership form with the information you do have, and update it later. If it transpires that you are ultimately unable to commence your degree in Cambridge for any reason, please do let us know – while we hope this won’t happen, and we will help and advise if we can, we understand that it is sometimes necessary to withdraw and we will help make arrangements.
You should continue working to complete all the academic and non-academic conditions of your offer from the University, including completing any processes or assessments they may require and uploading any required documentation.
At Cambridge, the application process progresses on two parallel tracks: the central University process and the College process. Please contact the University’s Postgraduate Admissions Office (PAO) in the first instance for any queries about your application for study, and contact the College if you have any questions about joining the College and coming to Cambridge, or about anything PAO have been unable to help with.
The main point of contact with the University will be through the Applicant Portal, but you can also contact the Postgraduate Admissions Office directly and check their other sources of information.
You can contact the Churchill Postgraduate Admissions team by email: [email protected].
Lily Hunter and Rebecca Sawalmeh
Accommodation
Please let us know whether or not you will require accommodation, and any accommodation preferences. The earlier you can provide this the easier it will be to offer more suitable accommodation – so please fill in the form above!
The College offers accommodation to all first-year students who request it and meet the conditions of their offer by 1 September.
Most postgraduates are allocated accommodation with a room licenced to the end of August each year, and you can apply to a ballot for further accommodation if your course is continuing into further academic years.
Churchill College offers accommodation to meet a range of needs, and is particularly well-known for its family provision.
Finances
One of the conditions which you will have to fulfil before coming to Cambridge is a “financial condition” set by the University. You will need to confirm to the University’s Postgraduate Admissions Office (PAO) that you have financial resources to cover fees, rent for your accommodation, and other maintenance needs (food, heating, clothes, books etc.) including those of any dependants, while you are at Cambridge.
Aside from some limited support for those in financial hardship, there is normally no further financial assistance available once you have started study. If you have funding for three years, you will be expected to complete witin this timeframe, and you should plan to do so, as there is no automatic additional funding beyond the funded period.
Please note that you may be required to make advance payments for the College or the University before arrival. The College’s Accounts Office will contact you about these and other payments once you have been fully confirmed for study. They can be contacted on [email protected].
The estimated costs of undertaking a postgraduate degree at Cambridge University published on the University website www.graduate.study.cam.ac.uk/finance.
Please note that fees may increase from year to year and that you should take into account possible exchange rate movements. You must also make provision for any dependants.
If you have any further questions about arrangements for fees and charges, please contact the College’s Finance Office: [email protected]
Financial considerations
Tuition fees
Self-funded students’ payment for the academic year is required at least 14 days before arriving in Cambridge. Part-funded students’ payment of the student’s fee contribution is required at least 14 days before arrival in Cambridge. For fully-funded students, evidence of funding by the external organisation should be provided to the College as soon as it is confirmed. If confirmation of full fee funding is received before arriving in Cambridge, no advance tuition fee payment will be required.
College charges
A College account is set up for each student to record tuition fee and accommodation charges and payments. Each student receives a University Card which entitles them to a number of access arrangements and benefits, including the facility to charge meals bought in College, to their account. Students in single rooms are billed quarterly in arrears for rent, catering and other accommodation charges. An advanced payment may be required on arrival.
Childcare and dependents
If you are bringing children or dependents, you must make financial provision for them. Childcare in the UK can be very expensive and waiting-lists can be long, so please plan this aspect of your arrangements with care.
The central University’s childcare office oversees the facilities and assistance offered to University staff and students with children, provides an information service helping support families in the University community, and has a wealth of further guidance and information: www.childcare.admin.cam.ac.uk/.
More information:
Healthcare and disability support
When you complete the Initial Information Request form, you are required to share medical and disability support needs, especially if these relate to accommodation provision. You can also email the nurse and the wellbeing coordinator at [email protected] and [email protected] if you have questions.
The College can provide support via the College Nurse, Wellbeing Coordinator and College counsellors. It is, however, essential that all students register with a local GP (family doctor) in Cambridge when they arrive.
If you have travelled to the UK from overseas, you will need to pay a UK government immigration health surcharge as part of your visa arrangements giving you access to NHS (National Health Service) care in the UK.) You may also need to arrange vaccinations.
Students from outside the UK may have access to National Health Service provision under the terms of their visa. Please see the University’s information on Healthcare in the UK, and the guide to the NHS on the College website. If you are travelling from the EU, please make sure you also bring your EHIC card.
Students are not permitted to bring animals into the College, so please make arrangements for your pets to be looked after at home while you are studying. If you need to bring an animal for disability reasons, you should request this as early as possible by contacting the Postgraduate Office.
International students
Arriving in Cambridge and the UK to study for the first time can be daunting. However, Cambridge is one of the most international universities in the world, especially at postgraduate level, and University and College support systems are well-geared to helping students from outside the UK with settling in and getting on in Cambridge.
You can seek guidance and advice from the College’s Postgraduate Office before arrival and once you are here, your individual College tutor (who will be assigned when you arrive at Churchill), the student representative body (MCR) and their welfare officers, and other College provision including the nurse and the wellbeing coordinator are available to you.
The University’s International Students office (ISO) provides a central information and guidance point for international students covering all aspects of their time in Cambridge from applying, visas, and finances, to careers development and immigration matters after graduation.
See, in particular, the ISO’s pre-arrival information and International Student Guide. The UK government website also provides guidance on student visa arrangements: www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/student-visas.
The University makes arrangements to sponsor non-UK students who need a student visa. Please contact the ISO if this may apply to you.
Please note that there is an NHS charge payable on visa application. This also applies to dependants.
The terms of your visa will require you to formally register with the University and the College when you arrive to study. At Churchill this registration takes place in the Postgraduate Office. This requires you to bring your passport and visa information for recording and you are also required to keep your student record updated with a Cambridge term time address and UK mobile phone number.