Postgraduate application deposit information

All applicants to research masters (MRes) and taught postgraduate courses will be required to pay a deposit. The only exemptions from this are students with confirmed sponsorship for the full value of their tuition fees for the first year of the course at the time of application and students eligible for US Federal Aid for tuition fees.

Your deposit will be 10% of the total fee for the year to which you are applying.

See Course Listing here.

You will be sent an invoice by email within ten working days of accepting your conditional offer.  The deposit is payable within 30 days of the date of your invoice – details of the amount to pay and the payment due date will be clearly shown on the invoice and accompanying email.

The deposit is a condition of your offer, therefore if you fail to pay the deposit you will have failed to meet the conditions of your offer and will not be able to join the College. If your deposit is not paid by the due date, your offer may be withdrawn by the department.

If you think you may need an extension to pay your deposit you must contact Student Fees by email with details of why and for how long you need an extension. Any extensions are at the discretion of the admitting department and will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

If you defer your application, we will hold any deposit payment received against next year's deposit. Please note that the deposit you will need to pay next year will be based on the current year's fees rather than last year's fees; as such, there may be a balance to pay to complete the deposit requirement for the deferred application, you will be informed of this when the applications cycle for next year opens.

Deposits are refundable if you fail to meet any of the academic conditions of your offer of admission. To request a refund, please use this internal form to submit a case via ASK Imperial. If you do not currently have an Imperial College Account, please register as an external user first, and then use this external form to submit your case.

Deposits are refundable if your visa application is refused by the Home Office except where the refusal was under the grounds of a fraudulent application, the cancellation of a previous visa or any pre-existing ban on entering the United Kingdom. To request a refund, please use this internal form to submit a case via ASK Imperial. If you do not currently have an Imperial College Account, please register as an external user first, and then use this external form to submit your case. You will need to attach a copy of your Refusal of Entry Clearance letter to your request for your refund to be considered. If your admitting department grants you leave to defer your application to the following year, we will hold your deposit against the next year's application.

Deposits are non-refundable in these circumstances unless there are exceptional or extreme mitigating circumstances. If you have made a payment against the full course fee, this will be refunded minus the deposit value for the course.

For a refund to be granted under extreme mitigating circumstances, evidence must be provided of an unpredictable and unexpected event that has caused you to no longer be able to attend the College.

All requests for refund under extreme mitigating circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis. To request a refund, please use this internal form to submit a case via ASK Imperial. If you do not currently have an Imperial College Account, please register as an external user first, and then use this external form to submit your case. Exceptional circumstances may only be judged on a case-by-case basis where the circumstances may not constitute extreme mitigation but nevertheless clearly indicate an exception is warranted in the particular case.

Yes, there is a set appeals process; appeals information will have been provided in the notification that your request for a refund was not successful.

The College has a set refund policy for students who find their course is not right for them. A refund of any fees paid will be made under this policy, although the deposit amount will not be refundable except under exceptional or extreme mitigating circumstances.

The deposit amount paid (less any bank charges or exchange losses) will automatically be deducted from your full fee invoice, please check your invoice email for the amount that you need to pay.

To request a refund, please use this internal form to submit a case via ASK Imperial. If you do not currently have an Imperial College Account, please register as an external user first, and then use this external form to submit your case."

Yes, deposit payments as well as payments received by the College against your full tuition fee invoice once available will be uploaded to your CAS.

We are unable to issue a full fees invoice until you have completed all conditions of your offer. You should not attempt to make full payment for your fees until you have completed all conditions of your offer and your place is fully confirmed.

Depending on how you make a payment, it may take a few days to reach the College and be applied to your account. Imperial Gateway will only show that you have made your deposit payment after the payment has cleared the banking system and been applied to your account. You will receive an email confirming when your payment has been applied, the deposit requirement should close the first working day after you receive this notification. If you have received this email and the deposit requirement is still showing, please use this link to contact the Student Finance Office who will be able to investigate this for you.

• Paying deposits. We appreciate that you may not be able to arrange for your deposit to be paid in time. If you have received a deposit invoice but are unable to pay by the deadline, either because you are applying for funding or uncertain as to whether you can take up your place, you can write to tuition.fees@imperial.ac.uk to request an extension to the deadline. These requests will be subject to your department's approval.

• Postgraduate course deposits. Our approach is set out in the Postgraduate Tuition Fee Deposit Policy. For some situations as set out in the policy, there may be exemptions. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

• Deposit refunds. We remain committed to delivering the highest quality education to you in the next academic year to deliver your course outcomes and help you achieve your goals, regardless of the format of delivery. However, there are some circumstances where the refund of a deposit would be considered. They include, but are not limited to:

• International or national circumstances that prevent attendance of a course in person, if this is critical to course completion, or remotely when this is offered

• Where Imperial College is no longer able to run a certain course either on campus or remotely

• Where significant changes to the content or delivery of the programme have been made after you accepted your offer

• Exceptional or extreme mitigating circumstances