Fees, funding & expenses

Fees

Fees are set by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and differ for home and overseas students.

Postgraduate research tuition fee rates

Funding 

The School of Economics PhD candidates can benefit from a range of funding opportunities, from within and outwith the University of Edinburgh. We encourage all applicants to consider the various opportunities available.  

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Scholarships and Studentships

The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Award (CRA) is designed to attract high quality students applying for PhD research. In Economics, the award provides full tuition fees with an annual stipend. The stipend will be set to UKRI levels for 2026/27. For reference, the UKRI minimum stipend in 2025/26 is £20,780 for full-time students, or the pro rata equivalent for part-time students.

These awards are competitive and you will be considered purely on the basis of academic merit. Factors such as nationality and financial status will not be taken into account.

Applications for 2025/26 funding are now closed. Information about 2026/27 awards will be posted here in the coming months

Further information on the CRA award is available on the University’s Scholarship and Student Funding webpage:

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Awards

The University reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or withdraw any of the advertised scholarships, without notice.

Edinburgh Doctoral College Scholarships

The Edinburgh Doctoral College Scholarship (EDCS) is designed to attract high quality students applying for PhD research. In Economics, the award provides full tuition fees with an annual stipend. The stipend will be set to the UKRI level for 2024/25. The UKRI level for 2023/24 is currently £18,622 for full-time students, or the pro rata equivalent for part-time students.

These awards are competitive and you will be considered purely on the basis of academic merit. Factors such as nationality and financial status will not be taken into account.

Applications for 2025/26 funding are now closed. Information about 2026/27 awards will be posted here in the coming months.

Further information on the EDCS is available on the University's Scholarships and Student Funding webpage:

Edinburgh Doctoral College Scholarships

The University reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to amend or withdraw any of the advertised scholarships, without notice.

Economics Graduate Research Scholarship

Information for 2026/27 will be confirmed in the coming months. Queries regarding the scholarship should be directed to econpgr@ed.ac.uk.

Minto Scholarship

This scholarship has been established with a bequest from the estate of Mr Brian Dickinson for the purpose of promoting postgraduate research in economics.It consists of a full fee waiver, and annual stipend paid at UKRI rates. It is open for application for residents of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and Finland.We welcome applications from potential students with research interests matching those of our academic staff.

Applications will open later in 2025, with a deadline of June 2026 (to be confirmed).

Economic and Social Research Council

The University of Edinburgh is part of a consortium of 16 Universities in Scotland awarded funding from the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) to support postgraduate studentships and training in the Social Sciences in Scotland.

Under this Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) Scheme, which is run by the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science (SGSSS), the consortium will consider applications for doctoral studentship awards. Here are details of the application process for doctoral studentships available for 2024 entry.

For our School, the SGSSS funding would only be available to current PhD students. As the School already funds current PhD students to UKRI stipend levels, this makes them ineligible to apply for the SGSSS funding stream. Please contact the Unit of Assessment Lead – Dr Diego Battiston for any queries.

Related Links

Find funding using the Scholarships searcher

Living expenses

The University has calculated the average living costs while studying at Edinburgh including accommodation, food and bills. Monthly costs for couples and families are detailed at the foot of the page. 

Estimated living costs