All applicants for MRes or taught postgraduate programmes who are offered a place to study at Imperial and are liable to pay all or some of their fees personally will be required to pay a deposit towards the cost of their tuition fees before their place can be confirmed.
This page provides information on deposits only. A copy of the full policy can be found at the following link Postgraduate Deposit Policy.
Application deposits
Application deposits are normally calculated at 10% of the sessional fee for the first year of the course, from 1st January 2024 our MBA programmes will be 10% of the full programme fees. You can find the fee for all of our Master's courses on the relevant course page within the Study website.
Where fees are shown as provisional, deposits will be 10% of the forecast fee and may not therefore be exactly 10% of the final sessional fee charged.
Payment of the application deposit forms part of the conditions of a place and must be paid before your place on the course can be confirmed. Failure to pay the application deposit on time may result in the withdrawal of the offer.
Apart from certain circumstances detailed below, deposits are not refundable if you fail to take up your place at the College.
Deposits are the personal liability of the applicants and should not be passed to sponsors to pay (this is covered in further detail in the FAQs).
Application deposits received will be credited against the full fee balance for applicants successful in gaining a place at the College.
Deposits will be refundable for applicants that fail to meet the conditions of their offer provided their failure to gain admission is a direct result of the failure to meet the condition and the applicant can show that they have made all reasonable attempts to meet the condition.
Deposits will also be refundable in the event that applicants are unable to take up their place on the programme owing to a refusal to grant entry clearance by UK Visas and Immigration provided that refusal was not the result of a fraudulent application or pre-existing bar on entry clearance. Deposits will not be refundable in other circumstances unless the College believes that there are exceptional or extreme mitigating circumstances that merit a refund on a discretional basis.
Application deposit process
If you accept an offer of a place to study at Imperial College London, you will automatically be invoiced for the application deposit, usually within ten working days of accepting your offer. Deposit invoices will be sent to you by email, and the deposit must be paid within 30 days of invoicing; failure to pay the deposit on time may result in your offer being withdrawn.
If you feel that you may need to delay payment beyond 30 days from the date of your invoice, please contact Student Fees by email to tuition.fees@imperial.ac.uk as soon as possible; further details on this may be found in the full policy and the FAQ section below.
Please note that the deposit process is automated; you do not need to contact us to request an invoice. However, if you have not received a deposit invoice within at least ten working days of accepting your offer, or you have any other queries relating to deposits, please contact a member of the Tuition Fees team by email at tuition.fees@imperial.ac.uk.
Once you have paid your deposit, your admissions record will automatically be updated and this will be reflected on your Imperial Gateway account. Any payments received from students requiring a Tier 4 visa will be shown on their CAS once a full fee invoice has been raised.
Application deposit FAQs
Please see below for frequently asked questions on application deposits. If you have a question that is not answered below, please contact a member of the Tuition Fees team by emailing tuition.fees@imperial.ac.uk
Application deposit FAQs
- Do I have to pay a deposit?
- I have applied for sponsorship but it hasn't been confirmed, do I still have to pay a deposit?
- How much will my deposit be?
- When do I have to pay the deposit?
- What happens if I don't pay the deposit on time?
- Can I get an extension to the deadline for my deposit?
- What happens if I defer my application to next year?
- I've paid my deposit, what happens if I miss my grades?
- I've paid my deposit and met my other conditions but didn't get my visa, what happens now?
- I've changed my mind and now no longer wish to come to Imperial, can I get a refund?
- What are exceptional or extreme mitigating circumstances?
- I've been told I am not eligible for a refund, can I appeal?
- What happens if I find the course isn't for me?
- Will my deposit be returned to me after I pay my fees?
- I paid my full fee after paying my deposit, what do I do now?
- Will my deposit payment be shown on my Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS)?
- Can I pay my fees in full when I pay my deposit?
- I've paid my deposit, why does my Imperial Gateway still show that I need to make a deposit payment?
- Miscellaneous
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.
Yes, until your sponsorship has been confirmed and a formal letter of sponsorship accepted by the College, you will be required to pay a deposit. If this scenario applies to you, you may wish to contact your department for further advice on your individual circumstances.
If you receive confirmation of full fees sponsorship after paying your deposit, a full refund of any deposit payment received will be made on acceptance of a formal letter of sponsorship by the College. If your sponsorship does not cover your tuition fees in full, a refund will be made of any element of your deposit in excess of your final fee liability once all other conditions have been satisfied and your final fee liability assessed.
Please note, we can only refund your deposit on receipt of a specific refund request, please use this link to request a refund of your deposit.
If you fail to secure sponsorship or other funding and as a result of this are required to withdraw your application to the College, your deposit will, unfortunately, not be refundable.
Your deposit will be 10% of the total fee for the year to which you are applying.
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. In such circumstances, applicants will need to contact us to request a refund on any monies paid and provide documentary evidence to verify their request.
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. You will need to send a copy of your Refusal of Entry Clearance letter to the Student Fees Office 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. If you believe that your circumstances make you eligible for a refund, please use this link to submit a request for refund under extreme mitigating circumstances. 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.
Please use this link to contact the Student Finance Office quoting your CID, any overpayment will then be refunded according to tuition fees refund policies.
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
