What's the difference in meaning between being self-funded or sponsored?
King's College London will consider you to be a ‘sponsored’ student where your tuition fees are being paid to King’s College London directly from an external organisation.
You will be considered to be a ‘self-funded’ student where;
your tuition fees are being paid directly to King’s College London by either you, a member of your family or a friend
where you are receiving funding towards your tuition fees and the funding is being paid to you directly, rather than to King’s College London, (i.e. postgraduate or doctoral loan) then you are considered to be self-funded.
There is a slightly different process you’ll need to follow if you are sponsored or self-funded. For more details, please refer to our article Paying your tuition fees at King’s.
If you have any other questions about your fees please check out these FAQs as they are a great source of information.
Important to know: Please be aware that funding from a friend or family member is not classified as sponsorship.
Key things to know about the sponsorship process
At the first stage of your enrolment, which is an online ‘enrolment task’, you will be asked to provide the details of your sponsor.
Most students will need to supply the Financial Support Letter confirming the funding from their sponsor, including the amount.
Sponsorship documents should be uploaded when you complete the online enrolment task, which you need to do as part of the overall enrolment process for new students or re-enrolment process for returning students.
If you've already completed the task this year, they can also be submitted using the links below:
‘Update your Sponsorship Information’ under ‘My Fees’ section in your Student Records.
Undergraduate students in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) please send your documents by email here.
Postgraduate students in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) please send your documents by email here.
You will need to re-enrol and supply this sponsorship information each year of your course.
There are a wide variety of organisations which provide sponsorship, so the exact requirements needed will vary.
The Credit Control Sponsor Collections team can support you with all queries related to your sponsor letter, invoicing and payment.
For more details on the sponsorship process and what you need to know, including:
What evidence to supply
When and how to supply evidence
When and how sponsors should make payments
Please visit Are your tuition fees funded by a sponsor?
Sponsorship requirements
For many sponsors, you can follow the general guidance which is outlined in the above. However, there are some sponsors with specific requirements, so it’s important you know how things work for your particular sponsor if they fall within this list of sponsorship requirements.
If you have any other questions about your fees please check out these FAQs as they are a great source of information.
My sponsor is paying my tuition fees, what do I need to do?
It is important that you can provide us with proof that a third party is sponsoring you, otherwise you will be liable for all tuition fees.
Important to know: If you are in receipt of a loan from Student Finance then you will not need to provide documentation because we will confirm this directly with Student Finance.
If you are receiving support from other sponsors then you should upload any sponsorship documents during your initial application to King’s. This information will be added to your record to ensure your sponsor is sent the invoices.
Sponsorship documents should be uploaded when you complete the online enrolment task, which you need to do as part of the overall enrolment process for new students or re-enrolment process for returning students. If you've already completed the task this year, they can also be submitted using the links below:
‘Update your Sponsorship Information’ under ‘My Fees’ section in your Student Records.
Undergraduate students in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) please send your documents by email to nmpc-prereg-progs@kcl.ac.uk.
Postgraduate taught students in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC) please send your documents by email to NMPC-Contracts@kcl.ac.uk.
Postgraduate Research (PGR) students in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care (NMPC), use the ‘Update your Sponsorship Information’ under ‘My Fees’ section in your Student Records. Please contact nmpc_pgr_enquiries@kcl.ac.uk, if you have any issues.
The following sponsor types are excluded and are not required to show proof of sponsorship:
Self Funded by Student/Family (full)
SLC Loan or Student Finance (England/Wales) (full)
SAAS or SLC Loan (Scotland) (full)
SLC Loan or Student Finance (N. Ireland) (full)
Channel Islands or Isle of Man
British Academy
Part-time graduate apprentice study programme
Research Council - BBSRC
Research Council - MRC
Research Council - NERC
Research Council - EPSRC
Research Council - ESRC
Research Council - AHRC
Research Council - STFC
Research Council - Not Specified
International Agency
Wellcome Trust
Association of Medical Research Charities - AMRC
Francis Crick Institute
Scottish/Highlands & Islands/Local Enterprise
Dept of Agriculture & Rural Develop for N. Ireland
Scottish Local Authority - discretionary award
Overseas Funding - Other Non-repayable
Overseas Funding - Re-payable Loan
Overseas Research Student Award Scheme
SLC Loan or Student Finance (England/Wales) (part)
SAAS or SLC Loan (Scotland) (part)
SLC Loan or Student Finance (N. Ireland) (part)
Absent for year
Funded by Department
Funded by Faculty
Funded by King’s Doctoral College
FE student - New Deal
No Fees
Not Known
Biomedical Research Centre
My sponsor is asking for confirmation of enrolment and fees
Confirming enrolment
If you are a new student, your enrolment is a two-stage process; first you have an online enrolment task, and second you attend an appointment in person and receive your student ID card. Once your enrolment is complete, you will be able to access and download your Confirmation of Study letter which confirms your enrolment status and the details of your course.
If you are a returning student, you need to re-enrol through your online enrolment task at the start of each academic year. Once you have done that you be able to access and download your Confirmation of Study letter for the new academic year.
Confirming fees
Your sponsor will be invoiced directly with all the details of fees due, payment deadlines and methods of payment.
If your sponsor is asking for confirmation of your fees before the invoice will be issued, you can provide them with your Offer letter which states your fees.
If your sponsor is asking for more than the Confirmation of Study letter and Offer letter, you or your sponsor can contact the Credit Control Sponsor Collections team directly for support: sponsor-creditcontrol@kcl.ac.uk.
Important to know: Credit Control are not able to provide academic reports or confirmation of attendance. You will need to contact Student Records regarding these requests.
My sponsor is asking for confirmation of enrolment and fees before they will provide their financial support letter
If your sponsor is asking for confirmation of enrolment and fees before they'll provide you with their financial support letter confirming the sponsorship, your options are:
Explain to your sponsor you ideally need evidence of their support to complete your enrolment
Show your sponsor this article as guidance
Contact Student Admin Services as they're best placed to support you and your sponsor
Select ‘sponsor’ as your funding option on the enrolment task and complete the enrolment task. You'll be able to complete the task at that stage without having to upload a letter.
Once you've got your letter confirming your financial support from your sponsor, you can send this directly to Student Admin Services.
Important to know:
Evidence of your sponsorship should be provided as soon as possible following your enrolment if you've been unable to provide prior to enrolment.
If no evidence has been supplied by the time invoices are created, you'll be invoiced directly. Invoices are usually issued each year in late October/early November.
If you have any other questions about your fees please check out these FAQs as they are a great source of information.
Proof of sponsorship
If a sponsor is paying your fees and you've been unable to upload your proof of sponsorship document and you've already collected your student ID card, you can upload the document via your Student Records account:
Student Homepage > My Fees > Update Sponsorship Information
You must do this before Friday 25 September 2026.
Important to know: Some sponsor types are excluded, so you don't need to provide proof of sponsorship in any of the cases below:
Self Funded by student/family (full)
SLC Loan or Student Finance (England/Wales) (full)
SAAS or SLC Loan (Scotland) (full)
SLC Loan or Student Finance (Northern Ireland) (full)
Channel Islands or Isle of Man
British Academy
Part-time graduate apprentice study programme
Research Council: BBSRC, MRC, NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, AHRC, STFC or Not Specified
International Agency
Wellcome Trust
Association of Medical Research Charities: AMRC
Francis Crick Institute
Scottish/Highlands & Islands/Local Enterprise
Department of Agriculture & Rural Develop for Northern Ireland
Scottish Local Authority - discretionary award
Overseas Funding - Other Non-repayable
Overseas Funding - Re-payable Loan
Overseas Research Student Award Scheme
SLC Loan or Student Finance (England/Wales) (part)
SAAS or SLC Loan (Scotland) (part)
SLC Loan or Student Finance (Northern Ireland) (part)
Absent for year
Funded by Department
Funded by Faculty
Funded by King’s Doctoral College
FE student - New Deal
No Fees
Not Known
Biomedical Research Centre
If you're a distance learning student doing a course through King's Online, through process for payments is slightly different; please refer to King's Online Distance Learning Fees.