Nursing Careers UK

Route comparison

Degree, pre-registration master’s or apprenticeship?

Of the 14 approved pre-registration courses in this dataset, 12 are on the undergraduate degree route and 2 on the smaller routes below. Two of those routes borrow the tuition and add a £5,000 a year non-repayable grant in England; the third pays you a wage and charges you nothing. Here is what each route costs, how long each takes, and which one fits your situation.

BScMSc pre-regApprenticeship
12 Undergraduate degree courses 4 professions · 9 universities
Not published Pre-registration master’s courses No approved course on this route in the dataset yet
Not published Degree apprenticeship courses No approved course on this route in the dataset yet
£32,073 Band 5 starting salary England, 2026/27 — the same whichever route you took

The choice is about money and time, not about the qualification

All three routes are regulated to the same standard and all three end in the same place: a name on the regulator’s register and a first post on the same band. No employer recruits on how you qualified. What actually separates them is how you pay for the years in between, and how many years there are.

The undergraduate degree is the widest door. It has the most courses by a long way, it needs no previous degree, and it is the only route most people can plan around with any confidence, because a university place is something you can apply for. The trade is time and borrowing: the whole length of the course on a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan, softened in England by a non-repayable grant.

The pre-registration master’s is the same regulated content in less time, and it exists because a lot of people arrive at this decision holding a psychology or sport science degree. It is harder work per week rather than easier overall, and the funding is the part people get wrong — see the section below, because getting it wrong costs thousands.

The apprenticeship is the only route where the money runs the other way. You are an employee, you are paid from the first day, and you contribute nothing towards the training. The reason it is not the obvious answer for everyone is supply: you need an employer to create and fund the post before you can apply, so a place is advertised as a job vacancy rather than as a course, and there are far fewer of them than there are university places. In practice most go to people already working in the service.

The three routes, side by side

Course counts are of approved pre-registration programmes in this dataset. Funding figures are England’s for 2026/27; the other three nations are covered further down.

BSc

Undergraduate degree

A full-time undergraduate degree with supervised practice placements built into every year. You qualify and register at the end of it, with nothing further to complete.

Who it suits
School and college leavers, Access to Higher Education students, and career changers who do not already hold a degree.
You apply to
The university, through UCAS.
Course lengths published
3 years
Approved courses here
12
Universities
9
Professions offering it
4
Nations
England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
MSc pre-reg

Pre-registration master’s

The same regulated curriculum and the same placement requirement as the degree, compressed into a shorter, denser programme for people who already hold a degree.

Who it suits
Graduates, usually in a related subject such as psychology, sport and exercise science, biomedical science or a health science.
You apply to
The university directly, or through UCAS, depending on the provider.
Professions offering it
4
Apprenticeship

Degree apprenticeship

A job with a degree attached. An employer recruits you, pays you from the first day and releases you to study; the training cost is met from the apprenticeship levy.

Who it suits
People already working in health or social care — support workers, assistants, technicians — and anyone who cannot afford to stop earning for three or four years.
You apply to
An employer with a funded vacancy, not the university.
Professions offering it
5

What you pay, and what you get

Cost of each route, from the funding dataset
  Undergraduate degreePre-registration master’sDegree apprenticeship
Tuition Borrowed. Tuition is met by a tuition fee loan paid straight to the university and repaid out of earnings once you are working. The maximum for the coming year is not in this dataset.Borrowed. Tuition is met by a tuition fee loan paid straight to the university and repaid out of earnings once you are working. The maximum for the coming year is not in this dataset.None. The cost of training and assessment is met by the employer and government, not by you.
Living costs A means-tested maintenance loan for living costs, at the same rates as any other undergraduate. The current maxima are not in this dataset.A means-tested maintenance loan for living costs, at the same rates as any other undergraduate. The current maxima are not in this dataset.A wage. You are an employee with a contract, holiday pay and pension from day one, and you take on no student debt for the apprenticeship.
Money you keep In England, the NHS Learning Support Fund training grant of £5,000 a year, which you do not pay back, plus £1,000 a year on shortage subjects.In England, the NHS Learning Support Fund training grant of £5,000 a year, which you do not pay back, plus £1,000 a year on shortage subjects.No NHS Learning Support Fund — its rules exclude anyone drawing a wage or salary from an employer during the course. That is the trade: you earn instead of being granted.
Where it leads Registration with the profession’s regulator and a first post on the same band as every other route. In England that is band 5, from £32,073. Registration with the profession’s regulator and a first post on the same band as every other route. In England that is band 5, from £32,073. Registration with the profession’s regulator and a first post on the same band as every other route. In England that is band 5, from £32,073.

NHS Learning Support Fund

The NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF) is the main NHS-funded grant scheme for eligible pre-registration nursing students in England, paid on top of the standard Student Finance England tuition fee and maintenance loans. All four fields of nursing (adult, mental health, learning disability and children's) qualify for the non-repayable £5,000-a-year Training Grant, while mental health and learning disability nursing students also qualify for an additional £1,000-a-year Specialist Subject Payment restricted to a fixed list of courses. Students who continue to receive a wage or salary while training — including nursing associate apprentices and Registered Nurse Degree Apprentices — are not eligible, since LSF is designed to supplement, not duplicate, employer-paid training.

Training Grant
£5,000 per year
Specialist Subject Payment
£1,000 per year
Parental Support
No fixed amount published
Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses
No fixed amount published
Administered by
NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA)
Academic year
2026/27

Not eligible

  • Nursing associate students — nursing associate programmes do not appear on NHSBSA's list of LSF-eligible courses
  • Registered Nurse Degree Apprentices and other students who continue to be paid a wage or salary by their employer while training

Full detail on the Learning Support Fund

One smaller route you will also see

Diploma

Diploma

A smaller and largely historic route. Where one still runs it can lead to the same registration, but check the approval status and the funding position before you apply — diploma and foundation-degree courses fall outside several of the schemes that cover degrees.

2 courses Nursing Associate

Which routes each profession offers

“Not offered” means neither the profession’s own record nor any approved course in this dataset lists that route. Follow a profession through for the funding, the durations and the decision worked out for that profession specifically.

Approved courses on each route, by profession
Profession Undergraduate Pre-reg master’s Apprenticeship All courses Compare
Adult Nurse 3 Route offered, no course listed Route offered, no course listed 3 Compare routes
Children's Nurse 3 Route offered, no course listed Route offered, no course listed 3 Compare routes
Learning Disability Nurse 3 Route offered, no course listed Route offered, no course listed 3 Compare routes
Mental Health Nurse 3 Route offered, no course listed Route offered, no course listed 3 Compare routes
Nursing Associate Not offered Not offered Route offered, no course listed 2 Compare routes

What the route table does not tell you

Every profession in this dataset currently records an undergraduate or diploma route alongside its postgraduate options.

Every profession here has at least one approved apprenticeship standard behind it — 2 standards in total. A standard existing is not the same as a vacancy existing, though: the standard is the specification an employer trains against, and it is the employer who has to fund the post.

Typical durations in the approved standards run from 2 years to 4 years — longer than the equivalent degree in most cases, because you are working while you study.

The funding is not the same across the UK

England borrows the tuition and adds a grant. The other three nations do something different, and it changes which route makes sense.

Scotland

Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (PNMSB)

The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (PNMSB) is Scotland's dedicated financial support scheme for students on NHS-commissioned pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes, administered by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). It pays a non-means-tested bursary of £10,000 a year for years 1 to 3 of the course, reducing to £7,500 in a fourth (honours) year, plus a one-off £60 Initial Expenses Allowance.

Scotland2025/26BSc
Wales

NHS Wales Bursary Scheme

The NHS Wales Bursary Scheme supports students on NHS-commissioned healthcare courses in Wales, including pre-registration nursing, and is jointly administered by NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) Student Awards Services and Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW). It combines a flat £1,000 non-means-tested NHS grant with a means-tested bursary of up to £4,491 a year (2025/26 rates), and recipients commit to working in Wales for two years after qualifying

Wales2025/26BSc
Northern Ireland

Department of Health (NI) Nursing Bursary

Northern Ireland's Department of Health (DoH) fully funds nursing and midwifery degree places at Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, covering adult, children's/young people's, mental health and learning disability nursing. DoH pays tuition fees in full and provides a non-means-tested bursary, paid monthly, to help with living costs

Northern Ireland2024/25BSc

England’s schemes: NHS Learning Support Fund. See all funding schemes.

Which route fits you

You do not have a degree yet

The undergraduate degree is the route with by far the most places. Apply through UCAS, start with no previous degree, and register at the end of it.

12 undergraduate courses

You already have a relevant degree

The pre-registration master’s covers the same regulated curriculum in less time — and in England it is funded like an undergraduate course, not by the postgraduate Master’s Loan.

You need to keep earning while you train

The degree apprenticeship pays you a wage from day one and charges you nothing for the training. You apply to an employer, which is why the places are scarce.

2 approved standards

You are working out what it will cost

Tuition, maintenance, the non-repayable grants and the nation-by-nation differences — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland fund these courses in genuinely different ways.

4 schemes

Carry on from here

Where this page’s data comes from

Funding amounts on this page are taken from the published scheme documents for the academic year each scheme states. Rules change every year — check the scheme before you apply.