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EdD students should also refer to Section 8.
MRes students should also refer to Section 9.
A single composite annual fee is payable on 1 October each year. Students registered at other times of the year will be charged proportionally.
There are different fees for non EEA students, and fees are reviewed each year.
For part-time students who commenced study on or after 1 October 2005, there is a single annual composite fee for which payment is due before study begins. The fee covers the period of the academic year, 1 October to 30 September. You must make the first fee payment when you accept your offer of part-time research degree registration. Thereafter, fees will be payable by 28 September for the next academic year.
OUSBA
OUSBA is a convenient way to pay your fees. The Open University Student Budget Accounts Limited (OUSBA) allows you to spread the cost of your studies by paying your annual fee in instalments. Detailed information about OUSBA is provided at www.open.ac.uk/ousba. Alternatively you can phone OUSBA, +44(0)1908 655777 (08.30-17.30 Monday to Thursday, and 08.30-17.00 Friday).
You can apply to open an OUSBA account and charge all or part of your annual fee to that account. OUSBA will make your fee payment direct to The Open University (OU).
You then have a choice, you can either:
If you decide to pay by instalments, OUSBA will pay the OU when you accept your research degree registration offer and you won’t have to start paying your loan until about one month after you start your studies. The payments to cover your fee will be due on or shortly after the fifth of each month and are spread over eleven monthly instalments.
If you want to charge all or part of your fee to OUSBA, you will need to complete the relevant part of the acceptance form and return this to the Research Degrees Office. We will then arrange for a personalised agreement to be sent to you, which you will need to sign and return before your account can be opened.
Please note that, even if you have had an OUSBA account before, a new agreement will need to be completed for each year of study.
If you submit your thesis or withdraw from your studies during an academic year, you may be entitled to have part of your fees refunded.
| Submission or withdrawal by | Fee refund |
| 31 March | 50% |
If your registration is suspended, your fee liability will be £600 per annum, pro-rata for the period of suspension. Suspensions will be granted in periods of one or more months. If the suspension is approved after the payment due date, your reduced fee liability will be in the form of a fee credit to your fee account for the following year.
You must pay your fees by the due date.
Part-time students who are salaried OU staff or OU associate lecturers can apply to have their fees waived while they’re employed by the University, subject to current policy. Details and application forms are available from the Research Degrees Office.
top ^If your employer or another third party is willing to be invoiced by the University for all or part of your fee, please contact the Research Degrees Team, 01908 653806, or email:
research-degrees-office@open.ac.uk
If you’re registered to resubmit a thesis you’ll be required to pay part-time fees at the appropriate rate. This charge is made because students who resubmit may make substantial calls on supervisors’ services for up to two years after their examinations, and the costs of re-examination itself are also incurred. Any students who are examined and required to resubmit their theses for re-examination will automatically be charged further fees, after notification of the result until they resubmit.
| Date of resubmission registration | Fee liability |
| 1 Oct-31 Dec | 100% |
| 1 Jan-31 Mar | 75% |
| 1 Apr-30 June | 50% |
| 1 July-30 Sept | 25% |
If you’re awarded a degree subject to corrections and modifications or substantial amendments but are not required to resubmit for re-examination, you won’t be liable for further fees.
Students who register on or after 1 October 2010 will be charged a continuation fee from Year 4 for full-time students and Year 7 for part-time students. Students who are in the ‘writing-up’ phase as agreed with their supervisors (ie not undertaking any more substantive data collection or research) will be charged a writing-up fee which will be 50% of the continuation fee. The resubmission fee will be subsumed into the continuation/writing-up fee.
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