Uni bursary info

It depends a lot on the uni. I assume based on your subject choice you are considering Cambridge - which has a particularly good financial support package for undergraduates, although generally most things are still aimed at lower-income students.

If your parents earn less than ~40k (i.e. you will receive some quantity of government grant as well as your loan) you would qualify for most of these bursaries/ grants/ scholarships. There's the Cambridge bursary, which basically doubles your maintenance grant (not the loan though) - up to a maximum of 3.5k. There's also quite a few scholarships for STEM students - for example I receive a BP scholarship of 5k a year (very competitive to get though - 10 scholarships available for any STEM student at Cambridge to apply for, also 8 other (generally Russel Group) universities have 10 scholarships available each). There is also the Sagentia STEM bursary worth 1k/year you can apply for (you have to apply well in advance of your first term though, I remember being really irritated at just missing the deadline because my college hadn't bothered forwarding the info on to me). If you play a lot of sport, you can apply for an award from the Hawks Trust - worth up to 750 pounds/ year, although it is rare to get the full amount, and many colleges also offer funding for top sports people - e.g. I get 75 pounds to support my sailing training, and if I receive a 'blue' (an award for being a top sports person in the uni) I can apply to have this increased to 200 pounds. Colleges vary a lot on their funding though - some are much more generous! There are similar funds for outstanding musicians - particularly if you sing or play the organ...
There are also scholarships for doing well in your exams (college dependant again though) - for example getting a first at my college (in any exam in any year) would earn you 400 pounds. Some colleges run competitions such as essay/ play writing/ music/ art competitions (which generally anyone can enter) so you could win a bit more cash through these.
Colleges also have 'hardship funds' if you find yourself suddenly lacking money - although they can sometimes be a bit reluctant to hand you the cash...

I am an offer holder from Cambridge and hope to start this autumn, any advice on what bursaries I can apply for right now? I plan to sort out student finance during easter!

My parents earn over the threshold which is why I am struggling to find anything!

By the way thanks for taking your time to give a very detailed reply

Search for the Sagentia STEM bursary online - applications may have already opened/ will definitely be open by the summer, and I know in my year they closed in September although I believe they were planning to make it even earlier this year... I'm not sure if there was an income threshold for that one - it should say somewhere on their website.
I don't think there were a lot of other bursaries you could apply for now - most were during Michaelmas term I seem to remember. Apply for the BP Scholarship in ~November. Your college should give you more information about the Cambridge bursary closer to the time (although it sounds like your parents earn over the threshold so you probably don't qualify), although I think I did it in ~September/ October. If you play a musical instrument, you're probably too late now to apply to be a music scholar - I think you had to do that at the same time as applying to uni. Smaller music scholarships, sports scholarships/ bursaries, travel grants, etc. you should apply for after getting to Cambridge - your college should let you know about the deadlines for these, they tend to be once a term. They don't tend to depend at all on your parents income.
Check the finance page of your college's website to see what other scholarships they offer - they may have some I didn't think of...
Search online for Engineering Scholarships - I think there are many more of these than Science ones, although mostly targeting girls/ people from particularly disadvantaged backgrounds, although some may be relevant to you.

No problem, always happy to help

One final question, do these scholarships e.g. the BP one require you to commit to working there after your degree?

Not at all - for BP you just have to attend one of their events each year (not particularly difficult to do) and maintain at least a 2:1 standard. I think we get to skip the initial application steps for internships and graduate jobs (because we did the whole online test, write rubbish about how wonderful you are, and interview stuff for the scholarship application) and the events tend to attempt to persuade you to join them, but there is absolutely no requirement to.

Okay thanks so much!

A bursary of some sorts would be nice but I didn't want to limit my options after uni!

No problem

It certainly doesn't limit your options - if anything, it opens more doors. I get to skip the first stages of an application to BP (internship/ job) and being able to attend BP experience days/ Shadow an Intern opportunities (both available to scholars as well as other students to apply for) has given me a small amount of work experience to put on my CV which would be great for any jobs in the oil and gas industry (although I'm starting to think it's not an industry I am likely to go into, but nevermind...).

At least you get the money to help you through uni as well!

That too, haha! Never going to say no to free money

Is that 5000 a year to spend on what you like or is it for books/trips etc.?

Whatever you like - they just give you a cheque to bank
They also pay expenses for all the trips/ BP visits they organise

Very nice!

So you applied for that in your first term right? Did you have to go to an interview or anything and say why you thought you needed the grant?

Yes - I applied at the end of Michaelmas Term.
I had to fill out an application form (the usual stuff about how much of a team player you are, based around the BP 'core values'), then did two online tests (one was a maths one, the other I think some kind of general critical thinking/ reasoning one), then an interview (where they asked questions based around the BP core values again, as well as stuff like why you want the scholarship, etc.)

I just said I needed the money for my living costs at uni, and that I wanted to do some travelling over the summer - load of waffle about transferable skills, independence, organisation skills, etc.

Ok thanks!

I'll make sure to have a look at that if I get the grades I need to satisfy my offer (touch wood)!

no problem I'm sure you'll be fine! Even if you end up at another uni, they might also do BP scholarships and of course they will have their own list of other scholarships too

It depends a lot on the uni. I assume based on your subject choice you are considering Cambridge - which has a particularly good financial support package for undergraduates, although generally most things are still aimed at lower-income students.
If your parents earn less than ~40k (i.e. you will receive some quantity of government grant as well as your loan) you would qualify for most of these bursaries/ grants/ scholarships. There's the Cambridge bursary, which basically doubles your maintenance grant (not the loan though) - up to a maximum of 3.5k. There's also quite a few scholarships for STEM students - for example I receive a BP scholarship of 5k a year (very competitive to get though - 10 scholarships available for any STEM student at Cambridge to apply for, also 8 other (generally Russel Group) universities have 10 scholarships available each). There is also the Sagentia STEM bursary worth 1k/year you can apply for (you have to apply well in advance of your first term though, I remember being really irritated at just missing the deadline because my college hadn't bothered forwarding the info on to me). If you play a lot of sport, you can apply for an award from the Hawks Trust - worth up to 750 pounds/ year, although it is rare to get the full amount, and many colleges also offer funding for top sports people - e.g. I get 75 pounds to support my sailing training, and if I receive a 'blue' (an award for being a top sports person in the uni) I can apply to have this increased to 200 pounds. Colleges vary a lot on their funding though - some are much more generous! There are similar funds for outstanding musicians - particularly if you sing or play the organ...
There are also scholarships for doing well in your exams (college dependant again though) - for example getting a first at my college (in any exam in any year) would earn you 400 pounds. Some colleges run competitions such as essay/ play writing/ music/ art competitions (which generally anyone can enter) so you could win a bit more cash through these.
Colleges also have 'hardship funds' if you find yourself suddenly lacking money - although they can sometimes be a bit reluctant to hand you the cash...