The RCA Fund: FAQs

What are the challenges facing RCA students?

• Over 25 per cent of UK students and 75 per cent of international students are turning down offered places at the RCA for financial reasons.
  
• The average undergraduate debt is £40,000.
  
• Student fees at the RCA are £9,500 per year for Home/EU MA students and £28,400 per year for international MA students, on top of living costs, materials and expenditure.
  
• To fund their studies, the average student has to take on paid work on top of their full-time MAs.
  
• We want to encourage more creative students from less privileged backgrounds to apply. These individuals will be identified as having the talent but not the financial resources to enable them to study at the College.
  

How can the RCA Fund make a difference?

• Bursaries awarded from the RCA Fund have already enabled first-year students to complete their studies at the RCA instead of deferring or leaving their studies.
  
• The RCA Fund contributes to Student Support funding schemes and scholarships and supports a range of projects aimed at improving the overall student experience, providing scholarships and bursaries for students. As the fund grows, awards are allocated to students to support capital development, research projects, material costs, travel bursaries, studio renovations, special and programme-specific projects. 
  
• RCA Fund scholarships and bursaries are the only awards open and available to ALL students at the RCA, no matter what their programme or degree.
  
• The awards are highly valued by recipients. Applicants are means tested, ensuring the College is helping those who need support the most.
  
• By easing financial pressures a student can allow their creativity to flourish. Scholarships reduce the need to work long hours in external jobs to fund studies, allowing students to commit 100 per cent to their chosen programme.

Why is the College asking alumni and friends for support?

• In the context of reduced public funding for higher education, the College has lost over 50 per cent of its Government funding within the last five years. 
  
• Even though the College seeks to find corporate and private sponsors, the global recession has impacted many and made external funding increasingly competitive. 
  
• Despite our 'Royal' name, the College does not receive any additional support from the British monarchy. 
  
• We encourage anyone who cares about the RCA to participate. We are increasingly dependent on the generosity of our alumni, friends and supporters to keep the College providing a world-class education to future generations of artists and designers.
  

Why are tuition fees so high? 

• We firmly believe that a true MA experience allows students the space and time to develop as reflective practitioners, and prepares them to succeed in their chosen discipline. Our particular situation and educational ethos means the actual cost of the educational experience we provide is very high, as it reflects the value of the educational experience.
  
• The College operates with high staffing levels, and technical and academic staff to ratios that are higher than most comparable programmes. We do everything we can to ensure that individual students have access to the academic guidance and pastoral support, equipment, materials and facilities they need to achieve their aims.
  

How can I give? 

• The RCA can accept gifts via many different methods. Online giving and gifts by post are the most common. You can give single gifts, regular gifts, tax effective gifts, named gifts, stock, legacies and many more. For more information, please visit our How to Give page.
  

If I can only make a small contribution, does that really help? 

• Absolutely. There are 20,000 RCA alumni. It is not how much you give that makes the difference, but that you give at all. Alumni participation, especially loyal participation from year to year, not only aids the RCA Fund financially, but also improves the RCA's reputation and spreads a positive message throughout the wider Art and Design networks. 
  

What impact will my donation have? 

• Every pound you give towards the RCA Fund goes towards enhancing the RCA student experience. 
  
• The RCA Fund focus is on providing Scholarships and Bursaries to ensure the most creative and talented artists and designers can study at the RCA without being distracted by financial worries. 
  

Join us today and change the life of an RCA student!