Eligibility

The Graduation Gown Bursary is open to prospective graduands who find that the cost of hiring a gown is a barrier to attending their graduation ceremony. By 'graduand', we mean a person about to receive an academic degree or award at a graduation ceremony.

To be eligible for this bursary, you must:

• be graduating following the completion of an undergraduate or postgraduate course;
• have been invited to a graduation ceremony in Bristol (students invited to the China Celebration are not eligible to apply); 
• have no outstanding debt to the University.

Eligibility will be confirmed using information held by the University for the 2023/24 academic year. This includes information previously supplied to the University by the Student Loans Company (or its regional funding providers plus the Student Awards agency for Scotland) and the receipt of payment from the following schemes:

• Standalone Bursary
• Sanctuary Scholarship
• Financial Assistance Fund
• Digital Support Fund
• University of Bristol Bursary
• Access to Bristol Bursary
• Bristol Scholars Bursary

Award

Successful applicants will receive a discount code enabling them to order their gown online at no cost, from our official suppliers, Ede and Ravenscroft. 

For the July to August 2024 ceremonies, the code will be sent to successful applicants as soon as possible after application outcomes are confirmed. This will be after the bursary deadline on Thursday 27 June 2024 and by Tuesday 9 July 2024 at the latest.

Successful applicants must order their gowns online from our official supplier before 5 pm on Tuesday 16 July 2024.

The University has a limited annual budget for the bursary. Therefore, not all graduands who apply and who are eligible can be guaranteed a bursary. We accepted 1 in 3 applications for the last four congregations.

How to apply

1. Wait until you receive an invite to your graduation ceremony before applying.
2. Read the terms and conditions.
3. Apply using the online application form. You will need your invitation to answer the questions on the application form.
4. You must submit a bursary application even if you do not yet know your results. However, the bursary will only be granted if you meet the eligibility criteria for graduation.
5. All applications should be submitted by the deadline published on the Graduation Gown Bursary web page.
6. The online application form will be closed once the deadline has passed. There is no appeal process and requests to submit late applications will not be considered.

Assessment process

The Student Money Advice and Funding Team will assess students’ financial support received in the 2023/24 academic year. If the cost of hiring gowns for all eligible applicants is greater than the available budget, applications will be ranked in the following priority order:

1. Graduands who have received the Bristol Standalone Bursary or the Sanctuary Scholarship from the University of Bristol in the 2023/24 academic year.
2. Graduands who have previously received a payment from the Financial Assistance Fund or Digital Support Fund, administered by the Student Money Advice and Funding Team in the 2023/24 academic year.
3. Graduands who were awarded the University of Bristol Bursary, Bristol Scholars Bursary or Access to Bristol Bursary in the 2023/24 academic year. 
4. Students with the lowest household income, based on information previously supplied to the University by the Student Loans Company (or its regional funding providers plus the Student Awards Agency for Scotland). You must consent to the SLC sharing this information with the University of Bristol for this information to be considered in your application. 

Should there be more eligible applicants in a particular priority group than awards remaining, the following information will be used to determine awardees. This list is in priority order:

1. Total support received from the Financial Assistance Fund or Digital Support Fund in the 2023/24 academic year.
2. Receipt of payment from the University of Bristol Bursary, Bristol Scholars Bursary or Access to Bristol Bursary during the 2023/24 academic year.
3. Graduands with the lowest household income.

All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the Graduation Office by 9th July 2024, whether successful or unsuccessful. Please do not hire your gown until you have received the outcome of your application.

If you have not received a decision by this date, contact graduation-office@bristol.ac.uk.

Other criteria

• The bursary can only be used to hire a gown with the University’s provider of ceremonial wear, Ede & Ravenscroft, and cannot be used to pay any other supplier or for any cash equivalent.
• The bursary cannot pay for any additional support such as travel or accommodation for the graduation ceremony.
• Successful applicants, who discover after applying that they cannot attend their ceremony, should inform the Graduation Office at the earliest opportunity.
• Offers of bursaries are not transferable to other graduands.
• Offers of bursaries cannot be deferred to a later ceremony. In cases where graduands wish to defer their graduation to a later ceremony, it would be necessary to reapply to the scheme.
• Graduands who the fund is unable to support, either because they are not eligible or because of budgetary constraints caused by the volume of applications, will be notified of the decision before their graduation ceremony.
• There is no appeal process against decisions for this discretionary bursary.