Confused about costs of Masters degrees

[Molesworth]

Although I won't graduate for at least another 18 months, I am trying to be organised and looking into taught Masters degrees (in Sociology) and how much it'll cost.

I thought the fees would be roughly the same wherever I chose to apply, but there seem to be fairly big differences from one institution to another (although most of them are about £4000 for a one year full-time course). Slightly surprised to see that the OU is more expensive than some others (eg more than Birkbeck, Goldsmiths and Sussex), and the LSE is more than £9000!

Can universities charge what they like for Masters study?

I'm assuming I'll be self funding btw.

Any advice anyone?

As far as I know universities can charge what they like.

I am currently doing a taught masters course (part time) and the course fees for all the institutions offering the course I was interested in were approx 9K over the three years.

£9K

What are you studying BST?

I guess the LSE charges twice as much as the other universities simply because it's a more prestigious institution?

Id rather not say, if thats OK, because its quite specific, and I dont want to out myself.

I dont think that the cost is that unusual though. There was a while where my DH was looking at doing an MBA, and that would have been a similar (if not higher) cost.

Fair enough, I was just curious to know if you were doing something in the natural sciences or business because I'd assume they'd be more expensive than arts/social sciences.

Thanks for the input

Would also like to hear from anyone who has managed to get financial help with fees via scholarships or the like.

It is a vocationally related thing, so quite a narrow group of people do the course.
I think that because of that it could be more expensive than an arts/social science course.

Just bumping this thread in the hope of info about funding for Masters study

The Uni where I work give a hefty bursary to full time Masters students which makes a big hole in the fees, so the situation may not be as bad as it looks with regards to fees

The one I have applied for is £4,000 for a one year fulltime history MA.

thanks both for the replies

igivein, I've seen scholarships/bursaries mentioned, but wondered if these tend to be given to students who did their first degree at the same university. Anyway thank you for mentioning this and I'll definitely look into how one goes about applying for financial help with the fees.