Graduation gown discount

A discount to the cost of gown hire for your graduation ceremony.

Up to 425 discounts a year are available to help with the cost of gown hire. Gown hire costs range from £45 to £58. 

This discount is funded by the generosity of our graduation gown supplier, Ede & Ravenscroft. 

The discount is for prospective graduands. By ‘graduand’, we mean a person about to receive an applicable academic degree or award at a graduation ceremony. 

We cannot guarantee all eligible graduands a discount. This is due to the limited number of discounts available. One in four eligible students received a discount for the last four congregations. 

Eligibility

To be eligible for a discount, you must:

  • be graduating with an undergraduate or postgraduate award
  • have been invited to a graduation ceremony in Bristol (students invited to the China Celebration are not eligible)
  • have received your invitation email on or before 11 June 2026
  • have no outstanding debt to the University
  • have received payment from an eligible scheme

Discount awards

You may be eligible to get a full discount on gown hire and a basic photography package. This is if you received payment between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026 from:

You may be eligible to get a 50% discount on gown hire if you received payment between 1 April 2025 and 31 Mar 2026 from:

Assessment process

There is no application for this discount. Discounts are automatically awarded to students in the priority order of:

  1. Graduands who have received payment from:
  2. Graduands who have received payment from:
  3. Graduands who have received payment from:

There may be more eligible graduands in a priority group than awards remaining. If so we will use this information in priority order of:

  1. Total payment received from the Financial Assistance fund and/or Digital Support fund.
  2. Most recent payment from the Financial Assistance fund and/or Digital Support fund.
  3. Graduands with the lowest household income.
    • This is based on information previously supplied to us by the Student Loans Company or its regional funding providers plus the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Award process

The Graduation Office will contact students who we have awarded a discount when graduation invitation emails are sent on 14 April 2026. This will be in the form of a graduation invitation email. If we contacted you, you must register to attend graduation by 28 April 2026 to receive a discount code.

You will not receive the discount code if:

  • You do not register by the registration deadline
  • You are registered to graduate in absentia or you defer your graduation at the registration deadline.

Discount codes will be sent by 5 May 2026. 

A small number of discounts will be available for students invited to register for graduation after 14 April 2026. We will award remaining discounts in line with the assessment process by 24 June 2026.

Other criteria

  • You can only be used the discount to hire a gown from the University’s provider of ceremonial wear, Ede & Ravenscroft. You cannot use the discount to pay any other supplier or for any cash equivalent.
  • The discount cannot pay for extra support such as travel or accommodation.
  • If we award you a discount and you discover that you cannot attend your ceremony, you should inform the Graduation Office as soon as possible.
  • You cannot transfer offers of discounts to other graduands.
  • You cannot defer offers of discounts cannot to a later ceremony.
  • There is no appeals process against decisions for this discretionary award.