Guidelines for applicants required to pay a deposit to a specific Business School programme, including payment dates, waivers and refund policy.

1. Who is required to pay a deposit and how much?

A non-refundable deposit is required by all offer-holders for the programmes listed below, unless they are eligible for a deposit waiver (please refer to point 5). The deposit will be offset against the tuition fee payable at the time of matriculation. Current deposit amounts are shown on the Fees page for each programme.

2. When must the deposit be paid?

The deposit must be received by the Business School within 28 days of the offer issue date. However, please note that an earlier deposit deadline may apply to candidates applying beyond the final round of admissions. All deposit deadlines are confirmed in the offer letter.

3. How can the deposit be paid?

You can pay your deposit directly through your application hub.

Payments can be made by card or bank transfer using the University's online payment system.

3. Implications of non-payment by due date

If the deposit is not received within 28 days of the offer issue date, the offer will be rejected without further notice. It is therefore essential that applicants have funding in place for their deposit prior to applying.

Applicants who cannot pay the deposit within 28 days of the offer issue date should contact the Admissions Team to discuss their circumstances.

4. Deposit waivers

We may be able to waive the deposit for offer-holders in receipt of full funding. To consider this, they must provide official confirmation of their scholarship award. Holders of partial scholarships must pay the required deposit.

5. Refund policy

Offer-holders requesting a refund for any reason within 14 calendar days after the payment date will be refunded in full.

Refund requests received more than 14 days from the payment date will only be considered in the following cases:

  • The offer-holder’s visa application has been rejected. Rejections due to fraudulent documentation, or foreseeable circumstances, are not grounds for a deposit refund.
  • The offer-holder has attempted, but failed, to meet their offer condition(s). If no attempt has been made to meet the required condition(s) after receiving the offer, the deposit will not be refundable. Offer-holders must attempt to meet their condition(s) whilst their offers are active. Any attempts made after an offer has already been declined or rejected will be considered invalid and refund requests will be denied.
  • Exceptional circumstances, such as serious illness or bereavement.

Proof must be provided and should consist of a copy of the official documentation received, for instance from the UKVI for visas, or the relevant language testing centre for English qualifications.

6. Deferrals

Applicants deferring their acceptance of an offer will have their deposit retained by the School and automatically allocated to the following year. Applicants may only defer their offer once, and in the event that they decline their deferred offer, the deposit will not be refundable. If an applicant wishes to apply again in a future year and receives an offer, a new deposit will be payable.

View more information about deferrals

In the unlikely event that the programme is cancelled, a full refund of the deposit will be made.

All requests for a refund must be made in writing to futurestudents@ed.ac.uk no later than two weeks following the start date of the degree applied for, provided you still hold an active offer at that stage.

Contact Information

Emailing is the best way of contacting the Admissions Office. Please ensure that all details relevant to your query are included, including your student number.

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