If you’re thinking of becoming a solicitor, take a look at our specific solicitor finances page here.
The total cost of qualifying as a barrister is not to be underestimated. Prospective practitioners should investigate potential sources of funding at each stage of qualification.

Undergraduate Degree

Firstly, there are your undergraduate degree tuition fees to consider, commonly set at around £3,000 per year. For this stage of your education there are two types of student loan available: 

• Student loan for fees (commonly called the ‘tuition fee loan’). This covers the full amount of your fees. For 2006 the amount available was £3,000 a year. 
• Student loan for maintenance (usually called the ‘living costs loan’). The amount depends on your city of study and whether you live independently or with family. Typically this is £3,000 to £6,000 a year.

Most students have to borrow both, but the loans are repayable only after graduation, and even then you pay only 9% on earnings more than the repayment threshold, which is currently at £15,000 plus interest.

Some grants are also available from your university or indirectly when you’ve gone through the normal loans application process (the money actually comes from your local education authority). Grants, based on your earnings or those of your parents, can be up to £2,700 a year and you don’t have to pay them back.

The body that administers financial support for students is called Student Finance Direct and its website is www.studentsupportdirect.co.uk. For more information, see the Department for Education and Skills website at www.dfes.gov.uk.

Postgraduate Courses

GDL fees
If you did a non-law degree and have to study the graduate diploma in law (GDL), expect to pay between £3,000 and £7,000. Added to these fees are your own living costs.

BVC fees
Course fees for the 2006/2007 intake ranged between approximately £8,000 and £11,000. Courses in London are the most expensive, and of course you still have to pay living expenses.

Bank loans
Neither the GDL nor the BVC are funded under normal grant and student finance arrangements because they are not usually eligible for local education authority funding. However, occasionally there are some funds available, but these depend on your personal circumstances and you’ll have to contact your local education authority for more info.

The standard way of funding the GDL and/or the BVC is with a high street bank loan. Most banks will see you as a good investment because you will be a professional and should be able to earn enough money to repay them. However, unlike the student loans, you will have to repay your bank loan as soon as the course is over, regardless of what you earn. Note that the government-subsidised career development loan offered by some banks does not cover the GDL (because it leads to another course rather than employment).

Inns of Court scholarships
Between them, the fours Inns manage to dish out over £3.5 million in awards every year. They all seem to use the umbrella term award to describe scholarships, bursaries and grants. Curiously, few wannabe barristers know little about all the awards available, and although the Inns’ websites provide some information, it’s actually a complex web of requirements, applications procedures and exactly what is available for what.

Each Inn is a completely separate entity and so the rules governing scholarships differ. Amounts vary from £100 up to £20,000 and, although most are awarded on merit, some Inns have awards for certain achievements. Most awards are given to students on the BVC, but the Inns also have funds available for those on the GDL.

It’s advisable to apply in the final year of your degree or in the year before starting the GDL or BVC. The Inns’ websites have application forms which ask for character details, legal experience, income/funds and references. You can only apply for scholarships at one Inn. If the scholarships committee like your application it will invite you to an interview.

For more info, contact the Inns direct at: www.lincolnsinn.org.uk, www.innertemple.org.uk, www.middletemple.org.uk, www.graysinn.org.uk.

Charities
Some grant-making trusts and charities may offer financial assistance to those seeking to qualify as a barrister. You can find information about grants, loans and other funds from your local education authority awards officer and at www.support4learning.org.uk.

Pupillage

You will be paid a minimum of £10,000 for the year of pupillage, although the prestigious sets pay upwards of £30,000.

Combined with servicing the debt inevitably accumulated in getting this far, the financial outlook for many is grim. In many cases the only way to progress is to take out (more) loans. If you find yourself in this situation, reflect on the fact that around two-thirds of BVC students never even get a pupillage. It cannot be stressed enough that attempting to become a barrister is an expensive, high-risk project.