Bayes MBA: Fees & Scholarships
The Bayes Business School Full-time MBA costs £49,500 in tuition for the August 2026 intake, plus a £100 application fee. Scholarships and awards can reduce that significantly, with the top award covering up to 75% of tuition. In this guide I break down exactly what the Bayes MBA costs, what the fee does and does not cover, every scholarship currently on offer, and how to give yourself the strongest chance of winning funding.
I have interviewed final-round MBA candidates since 2019 and coached applicants into London's leading business schools, so the questions I hear most about Bayes are rarely about the headline number. They are about the true all-in cost, and whether the scholarship figures schools advertise are realistic. Let me answer both properly.
How much does the Bayes MBA cost?
The Full-time MBA tuition fee for the August 2026 intake is £49,500. On top of tuition, you pay a one-off application fee of £100, and once you accept an offer you secure your place with a £5,000 deposit that is deducted from your total tuition rather than added to it.
Bayes splits the balance into two instalments:
Payment | Amount | When |
Application fee | £100 | On application (non-refundable) |
Deposit | £5,000 | On accepting your offer (counts towards tuition) |
First instalment | £19,750 | At registration in August |
Second instalment | £24,750 | In January |
Total tuition | £49,500 |
One detail worth knowing before you pay: Bayes waives the £100 application fee if you complete a one-to-one consultation with one of its Recruitment Managers first. It is a small saving, but there is no reason to leave it on the table. My strong recommendation is to have the consultation right before you are ready to apply - treat it like an interview more than an initial information gathering exercise.
A note on the figures you may see elsewhere. Several third-party sites still quote £50,400 for the Bayes MBA. That was the fee for an earlier cycle. The current, official figure for 2026 entry is £49,500, confirmed on the Bayes course page. Fees are reviewed annually, so always sense-check against the school's own page before you plan your finances.
What do the Bayes MBA fees include, and what do they exclude?
Your £49,500 covers tuition and the core academic experience, but not the cost of living in London. Here is the split as Bayes sets it out.
Included in your fee: tuition for the full 12 months, access to the key online materials for the core modules, the careers and professional development workshops, and one complimentary elective each year after you graduate as part of the alumni benefits (international electives are excluded from that perk).
Not included: accommodation and living expenses for your year in London, and any additional materials or textbooks for the elective modules you choose. International electives, which involve travel, sit outside the standard fee, so factor those in if an overseas consultancy week or elective appeals to you.
How much should I budget for living costs in London?
Bayes does not publish an official living-cost figure, so treat any number as a planning estimate rather than a fixed quote. As a realistic guide for a student living in central or inner London in 2026, I would budget somewhere in the region of £1,400 to £1,900 per month, or roughly £17,000 to £23,000 across the year, covering rent, food, transport, and the social and networking side of an MBA that genuinely matters for your outcomes.
Rent is the single largest variable. A room in a shared flat runs very differently from a studio, and your choice of area moves the number more than anything else. If you are an international student applying for a Student visa, the Home Office also sets a minimum monthly amount you must show for living in London, which acts as a floor for your budgeting. Verify the current rate on the official UK government visa pages when you plan, as it is uprated periodically.
What scholarships does Bayes offer for the MBA?
Bayes offers two tiers of funding for the Full-time MBA: automatic awards worth up to 30% of tuition, and competitive scholarships worth up to 75%. You are considered for both simply by submitting a strong application, though the larger scholarships also require you to answer scholarship essay questions within the application form.
A crucial point on the word "up to." Every figure below is a maximum, awarded selectively to candidates who stand out. They are not guaranteed, and they are not automatic just because you meet the basic eligibility. The quality of your application and interview determines where you land within each band, which is exactly where preparation pays off.
Here is the full current picture.
Automatic awards (up to 30% of tuition). You are considered for these automatically once you submit a complete application. They are offered on a rolling basis while funds last, which is one more reason to apply early rather than late.
Award | Maximum value | Who it is for |
Bayes High Potential Award | Up to 30% | Clear professional merit and potential to contribute across the programme |
Entrepreneurship Award | Up to 30% | Applicants who have run, or plan to launch, a venture |
International Awards | Up to 30% | Region-specific: UK, North America, Africa and Middle East, Latin America, EU, Asia and Asia Pacific |
Women in Business Award | Up to 30% | Women showing strong academic or professional achievement |
Competitive scholarships (up to 75% of tuition). These require the scholarship essay questions in your application. You do not need to nominate a specific one; Bayes considers every candidate for the most suitable scholarship.
Scholarship | Maximum value | Notes |
Dean's Impact Scholarship | Up to 75% | For demonstrated impact in innovation, sustainability, social value, leadership or entrepreneurship. You must apply before the Round 6 deadline |
Bayes Latin America Scholarship | Up to 60% | Three awards for candidates from specified Latin American nations |
Academic Distinction Scholarship | Up to 50% | High, well-balanced GMAT or GRE and outstanding academic record |
Bayes Women's Scholarship | Up to 50% | Women of exceptional merit |
Military Scholarship | Up to 50% | Candidates who have held a full-time military role |
Professional Excellence Scholarship | Up to 50% | Clear professional merit and programme contribution |
African Innovators Scholarship | Up to 50% | Nationals of, or those domiciled in, African countries |
The Dean's Impact Scholarship is the headline here. At up to 75% of a £49,500 fee, it is one of the more generous awards among London MBAs, and the Round 6 cut-off means the applicants who leave their application until the final rounds simply cannot be considered for it. If your profile has a genuine impact story, that deadline should shape your timeline.
How do the Bayes MBA scholarships actually work?
Scholarship money is deducted from your second tuition instalment in January, not paid to you as cash. Three mechanics are worth understanding before you apply.
First, you can hold only one scholarship or award. They do not stack, and a scholarship supersedes any other discount, including the City St George's or University of London graduate discount, so you receive the single most valuable award you qualify for rather than a combination.
Second, most awards are decided from your standard application and interview, which means there is no separate scholarship form to chase for the main awards; your application is your scholarship application so make sure you invest in it and take the time to not leave any stone unturned. The exception is the scholarship essay questions, which you should treat as seriously as the rest of your application.
Third, timing is decisive. Awards are rolling and subject to availability, and the most generous scholarship has a Round 6 deadline. Applying in the earlier rounds widens the funding open to you and improves your odds while budgets are intact.
What external funding and loans are available for the Bayes MBA?
Beyond its own awards, Bayes recognises several external scholarships and lists additional loan and funding routes on its funding pages. The named external schemes currently include:
The Chevening Scholarship, the UK government's flagship global scholarship, which you apply for directly through Chevening rather than through Bayes. COLFUTURO, under which up to three Colombian candidates with an unconditional Bayes offer can receive a 20% fee scholarship. The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation Entrepreneurship Scholarship, a £10,000 award for a self-funded entrepreneurial candidate, with a 12 May application cut-off and a rule that candidates already awarded more than £10,000 in the same intake are not eligible. There is also a Global Women's Leadership Scholarship worth 50%, which runs on a separate application process and timeline.
Bayes also points applicants towards loan providers and, for eligible UK students, the UK government's postgraduate loan may help with part of the cost. I would confirm the specific loan options directly on the Bayes funding-opportunities page, as providers and terms change.
Is the Bayes MBA worth the investment?
For the right candidate, yes, and the return sits in the career outcomes rather than the sticker price. Bayes reports that 89% of its 2025 cohort received a job offer within six months of graduating, that 92% made at least one career change, and that 72% accepted offers in the UK. It also reports that 48% changed function and 60% changed industry after the MBA, which matters if you are using the year to pivot rather than simply progress.
On positioning, Bayes is triple accredited by AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB, was placed 6th in the UK and 2nd in London in the Financial Times Business School Rankings 2025, and ranked 1st in London for value for money in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2026. That value-for-money placing is the relevant one for this article: at £49,500, Bayes sits below the very top of the UK market on price while offering a central London, one-year, triple-accredited MBA.
Whether it is worth it for you depends on your goals, your funding, and how well you position your application. If you are weighing Bayes against the UK's other leading options, my full comparison of the best UK MBA programmes for 2026 ranks London Business School, Cambridge Judge, Oxford Saïd and Imperial by career outcome and will help you place Bayes in context.
How does Bayes compare with other London MBAs on cost?
Bayes is one of the more affordable of London's well-ranked full-time MBAs. Programmes such as London Business School, Oxford Saïd and Cambridge Judge typically carry higher tuition, so Bayes offers a genuinely competitive route into a triple-accredited, City of London MBA. Its generous scholarship ceiling, up to 75%, can widen that gap further for a strong candidate. If cost and central-London recruiting access are both high on your list, Bayes deserves a serious look alongside the more expensive names.
A quick clarification, because it causes confusion: Bayes Business School is part of City St George's, University of London (the school was known as Cass until 2021). It is a separate institution from UCL and from other University of London colleges, so do check you are reading Bayes's own pages when you research fees.
Winning funding starts with a stronger application
Here is the honest truth after years of reading applications: the difference between a 30% award and a 50% or 75% scholarship is rarely the raw profile. It is how clearly a candidate articulates their impact, their trajectory and their fit, in the application and the scholarship essays that Bayes uses to decide. That is precisely what I help applicants get right. If you are targeting Bayes and want to maximise both your chance of admission and your scholarship, book a consultation with me and let's build an application that earns its funding.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Bayes MBA in 2026? The Full-time MBA tuition fee is £49,500 for the August 2026 intake, plus a £100 application fee. A £5,000 deposit secures your place and is deducted from your total tuition.
Does Bayes offer MBA scholarships? Yes. Bayes offers competitive scholarships worth up to 75% of tuition, including the Dean's Impact Scholarship, alongside automatic awards worth up to 30%. Every applicant is considered.
How do I apply for a Bayes MBA scholarship? For most awards, you are considered automatically when you submit a complete application, and you should answer the scholarship essay questions within the application form. A few schemes, including Chevening, COLFUTURO, the Stelios scholarship and the Global Women's Leadership Scholarship, have separate processes and deadlines.
When do I pay the Bayes MBA fees? You pay a £5,000 deposit on accepting your offer, a first instalment of £19,750 at registration in August, and a second instalment of £24,750 in January.
What do the Bayes MBA fees include? Tuition for the year, access to key online materials for the core modules, careers and professional development workshops, and one free elective each year after graduation. Living costs and elective textbooks are not included.
Can the Bayes MBA application fee be waived? Yes. Bayes waives the £100 application fee if you first complete a one-to-one consultation with one of its Recruitment Managers.
What is the highest Bayes MBA scholarship? The Dean's Impact Scholarship, worth up to 75% of tuition. You must apply before the Round 6 deadline to be considered.
