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We are delighted to be welcoming you to the Royal College of Art. The full process of accepting your offer and other key College information is available on our Information for Offer Holders page.

On this page, you’ll find a short summary of the steps you need to take to accept your offer and everything you need to know about enrolment at the RCA.

Accepting your offer has four key stages: (1) accepting your offer, (2) paying your deposit, (3) applying for a Student Visa, if you are an international student, and (4) enrolling to study.

Step 1: Accepting your offer

If your application is successful, we will send you a formal offer letter of a place to the programme you applied for, or to another programme we believe will help you transition to the programme you applied for.

  • Your offer letter will include an offer pack which contains full details about how to accept your offer and what documentation is required from you.
  • We will send the letter by email and you will need to accept your offer within five weeks from the date of the letter.
  • To accept your place you must also pay a deposit. This amount forms part of the acceptance process and must be made within the same five weeks. Deposits paid count towards payment of your tuition fees for 2024/25.
  • This is not applicable to applicants with a fee status of Home who are applying to study MA Architecture Part 2 and who intend to take out a tuition fee loan from Student Finance.

To find out more about accepting your offer, see our Information for offer holders page.

Step 2: Paying your deposit

New students are required to pay a non-refundable deposit in order to secure their place.*

The deposit is offset against your tuition fees for the first year of study. You will be asked to pay the deposit once you accept your place at the RCA.

* This is not applicable to applicants with a fee status of Home who are applying to study MA Architecture Part 2 and who intend to take out a tuition fee loan from Student Finance.

Please see below for deposit amounts to be paid per degree programme and for Home and Overseas/EU students. Your offer letter will state whether you have been assessed as a Home, Overseas or EU student for fees purposes.

Home and Ireland Students Deposit

  • MA, MRes, MPhil, MDes, MEd, MFA and PhD: £1,000
  • Graduate Diploma: £2,000

Information about how to make your deposit payment will be included in your offer letter.

Overseas and EU Students Deposit

  • MA, MRes, MPhil, MDes, MEd, MFA and PhD: £2,000
  • Graduate Diploma: £2,000

Information about how to make your deposit payment will be included in your offer letter.

Step 3: Applying for a Student Visa

Most international students need a Student Visa to study in the UK. For details on how to apply for a visa, see the Student Visa page.

Step 4: Enrolling to study

Enrolment begins in August and is the final stage to becoming a student at the RCA.

All enrolments will be completed online and you don't need to attend campus to become fully enrolled.

From 1 August 2024, you will receive an email into your RCA email account advising you on how to complete your enrolment.

The key information and documentation you'll need to provide at this stage will be:

  1. Proof of identity
  2. Confirmation of payment of fees, if applicable*
  3. Confirmation of compliance with visa regulations, if applicable)
  4. Emergency contact
  5. Term time address

Once you have met the fee payment conditions of your invoice*, uploaded evidence of your Student Visa (if applicable), and accepted the RCA Terms and Conditions, the Registry Team will check that everything is in order.

If we have everything we need, we will update your enrolment status and confirm to you by email that you have successfully enrolled on your programme.

If we have not received your tuition fee payment, you will not be enrolled or temporarily enrolled until we have received your payment.

* If you are a Home student studying a Master's (Level 7) programme or a PhD and you have an approved UK Postgraduate Loan or Doctoral Loan then you will be able to pay your fees in 3 instalments in line with your Postgraduate/Doctoral Loan payments. This means you can be enrolled (subject to the other enrolment conditions being met) and then pay your first instalment in September.

Home students studying MA Architecture (Part 2) may be eligible to apply for a fee loan to cover their fees. If you have an approved fee loan in place at the point of enrolment which covers your full fees, you will be enrolled and you will not be required to make any fee payments.

Student Status letter

Once you have fully enrolled, we will send a Student Status Letter to your RCA email account.

This is an official document which confirms your enrolment as a student at RCA. It also includes your personal details (full name, date of birth, term time address) as well as your study details (programme of study, level of study, programme start and end date).

Your Student Letter can be used to:

  • Apply for council tax exemption
  • GP (Doctor) registration
  • Open a UK bank account
  • For council tax purposes.

To receive your Student Status Letter to your RCA email account, you must:

  • Be fully enrolled as an RCA student
  • Add your full home address in the Applicant Portal.
  • Add your term-time address to the Applicant Portal (this is the address that you will be living at while studying at RCA).

If you have completed enrolment you can expect to receive your Student Status Letter within 24 hours, as of 3 August 2024. Please note:

  • We are not able to provide proof of your student status before you are fully enrolled with the RCA.
  • It will not be possible to issue Student Status Letters before 3 August 2024.
  • If you have not completed your full enrolment, or are temporary enrolled, you will not receive your Student Status Letter until you become fully enrolled.

Frequently asked questions

For all programmes other than the Graduate Diploma, you will need to pay at least 50 per cent of your tuition fee for the year to complete Registration.

Graduate Diploma students must pay the full fee at registration. There are a number of methods to complete payment, including the Worldpay online payment system.

Further details are given on the back of the invoice which you will receive during August. Your total fee can be found on your invoice, offer letter or via our  Paying your fees page.

You can pay your fees in advance via the Applicant Portal, using the same user account you used for your application. Instructions for payments can be found on your invoice and the accompanying letter as well as in our offer holder pack, which you can download from this page.

Once you have made your payment and it has been cleared, this will show in your portal. Please allow up to 48 hours for your payment to be reflected on your account.

If you have any queries regarding your payment please email [email protected].

Students applying for a Postgraduate or Doctoral Loan from Student Finance England will still need to pay the fees themselves, as they will receive the money directly from Student Finance England.

  • You can pay your fee in three instalments in line with your Postgraduate/Doctoral Loan payments (i.e. September 2024, January 2025 and May 2025).
  • This means you can be enrolled (subject to the other enrolment conditions being met) and then pay your first instalment in September.
  • Please be aware your Postgraduate/Doctoral Loan may not cover the full cost of your fees and so you may need other funds to make up the shortfall.

Home students studying MA Architecture (Part 2) may be eligible to apply for a fee loan to cover their fees.

If you have an approved fee loan in place at the point of enrolment which covers your full fees, you will be enrolled and you will not be required to make any fee payments.

If your fees are being paid by a sponsor, please supply a scan to [email protected], quoting your student ID, confirming that your fees are to be paid from an alternative source. Please note that you remain personally liable for fees paid by a sponsor organisation; if they fail to pay your fees then you will need to pay them yourself.

Enrolment will begin on 5 August 2024 and the latest day to complete your enrolment is 20 September 2024. Once the Registry Operations team have completed your enrolment you will receive an email notification confirming that you are either fully enrolled or temporary enrolled.

You will receive an email to indicate your enrolment status once the Registry have confirmed your enrolment.

Fully enrolled

If you have paid your tuition, agreed to the terms and conditions and provided your a copy of your ID and provided proof of your immigration status (Overseas students only, UK Home students only need to provide copy of the ID) you will be fully enrolled.

Temporary enrolled

If you have paid your tuition fees and agreed to the Terms & Conditions but have not provided proof of your immigration status you will be temporary enrolled and will need to provide the evidence by the 11 October 2024.

Please note that if you are temporary enrolled you will be given a college ID, you can attend your lectures, seminars and college activities but you will not have access to your Student Status Letter to prove your college enrolment.

If the reason for your temporary enrolled status has not been resolved by 11 October 2024, your temporary enrolment could be cancelled and you could lose access to all College facilities.

If you do not have a copy of your Student Status Letter, please check that you are fully enrolled, have arranged fee payment and updated your term time address. You should have received an email from the Registry to confirm that you are fully enrolled.

  • We will be unable to issue a letter until you are fully enrolled.
  • If you are fully enrolled, and have still not received your letter, by the second week of term, please contact [email protected].

If you've changed your term time address, and the details on your Student Status Letter are no longer correct, you will need to get an updated version.

Please be sure to update your address details as soon as possible via the Applicant Portal

Once this has been completed, you can expect to receive a new Student Status Letter as a PDF attachment to your RCA email in 24 hours.

The full list of documents you are required to supply will be provided to you by the RCA Admissions team. At a minimum you will need to supply:

  • Proof of your degree – You should upload a scan of your degree certificate or a letter from the College. If you have supplied the College’s 'Form B' to your previous institution then you may wish to check, via [email protected], that the College has received this form.
  • A scan of the identity page of your passport - If you do not possess a passport then please contact [email protected] to confirm an acceptable alternative.
  • Students who require a visa to study in the UK must supply scans of their Biometric Residency Permit (BRP) card alongside their entry clearance documentation once in the UK, shortly after registration.

Once you have met the tuition fee payment conditions of your invoice and you have uploaded evidence of your Student Visa (if applicable), the Registry Team will check that everything is in order. The enrolment process will begin the week commencing 3 August 2024. 

If we have everything we need, we will update your enrolment status and confirm to you by email that you have successfully enrolled on your programme.

No, you don't need to physically attend the College to be enrolled. For 2024/25 we have received confirmation that government regulations do not require enrolment to take place in person, and so we will register our students online. You will however need to attend your classes in person once your programme has started.

Once you have enrolled, we will prepare your Student ID Card in advance to save you queuing.

You will need to upload your photo in advance then collect your card on campus. Your programme has an allocated photo upload portal which you can access online.

It’s important that you upload a passport-style photograph of yourself which should be:

  • a portrait headshot
  • a current true likeness
  • showing your full face
  • facing forward without a hat or a head covering (unless it’s for religious or medical reasons)
  • against a plain and light-coloured background

We won’t be able to use a photograph that doesn’t meet these requirements so to avoid delays, please make sure it’s a suitable image.

Once you are fully or temporary enrolled, you will be invited to collect your Student ID card. Details on how to collect your card will be sent to you nearer the time.

If you're an international student, the best way to reach us is by contacting [email protected], or calling +44 (0)20 7590 4537. We are also reachable by Whatsapp: +44 07789 562 134.

If you are a UK Home/ EU student, email [email protected].

Contact us

Get in touch if you'd like to find out more about studying at the RCA.

Register your interest with us here
Phonebox on Chelsea Bridge