Funding your BPTC and conversion course
Legal training doesn’t come cheap for aspiring barristers. After you’ve done an undergraduate degree or a conversion course (fees for these range from £1,615 to £8,730) you still have to think about how to fund another obligatory year: the Bar professional training course (BPTC), formerly known as the Bar vocational course (BVC). Fees for the course are in the region of £5,500 to £15,750, on top of which you’ll have to add your living expenses.
The BPTC packs a lot of learning into a short amount of time so to make the whole experience a lot less stressful it pays to sort out your funding in advance. Most students support themselves through a combination of funding sources, which include Inns of Court scholarships, savings, earnings from part-time work, support from family or partners, and commercial loans. Consider the following options in your planning.
Inns of Court awards for barristers
Between them, the Inns of Court award more than £4.2 million to help students with the cost of the conversion course year, the BPTC and pupillage. This may include subsidised housing arrangements, major scholarships and exhibitions, or awards that cover particular costs (for example admission or call fees).
Hardship funds for barristers
When you apply for the conversion course and BPTC, enquire about any available hardship funds or bursaries at your chosen institution(s). These are usually discretionary funds that help students who encounter unforeseen financial difficulties during the course of their studies. However, depending on the institution, there may also be bursaries that you can apply for in advance.
Advances on pupillage awards
A number of chambers will allow successful applicants to draw part of their pupillage award early, in order to help fund the BPTC year. Depending on the size of the pupillage award, the amount you can draw in advance may vary.
Professional and career development loans
You can borrow between £300 and £10,000 with a professional and career development loan, which has been developed to fund vocational courses such as the BPTC (but not your conversion course). These are offered by two high-street banks, Barclays and the Co-operative Bank, through an arrangement with the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA). The YPLA will pay the interest on your loan while you’re studying and for up to a month after you’ve finished training – after that you will repay the loan to the bank over an agreed period at a fixed rate of interest.
Other sources
Regrettably, local authority grants are few and far between these days but you might want to contact your local authority just in case. Other less conventional sources of funding can be investigated in your university or local public library – for example there are publications detailing grant-making trusts and charities.
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