The Paid Master's Plan

This is the pack behind the PAID video, from the Rekoja desk in Lagos. KAUST is a graduate science and technology university on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, and its admissions page, read on 4 October 2026, states that over 90% of admitted students receive full tuition support, a monthly stipend, housing, medical coverage and relocation assistance. Applications for Fall 2027 entry opened on 28 September 2026 and close on 3 January 2027. Nobody can promise admission, including us. Below is the route in the order it happens, with the dates, the calendar and the message to send your lecturers this week.

Which of these is you

• I want to know what the funding actually covers
• I want the dates for Fall 2027 entry
• I am ready to apply and I need the steps
• I have until January and I want it planned
• I need the statement structure
• I am not a science or engineering graduate

The prize, a funded master's with housing

KAUST's admissions page states that over 90% of admitted students receive full tuition support, a monthly stipend, housing, medical coverage and relocation assistance. Admission is the competitive part, and for most students the funding follows the admission rather than being applied for separately. Source: KAUST admissions.

That is the shape of this route, and it is why it is worth ten weeks of your evenings: you compete for the place, not for the money.

Who it fits

Science, engineering and computing graduates with a strong result. The competition is for admission, so your result and your research direction are what you are judged on.

It is not the route for a graduate outside those fields. The funded doors written for other subjects, with what each one pays and what it judges, are in the funded calendar pack.

The dates for Fall 2027 entry

For entry in Fall 2027, for the master's, the master's plus PhD and the PhD:

The university marks these dates as tentative, so open the timeline page and check them before you submit. Source: KAUST admission timelines.

The five steps

1. Open the admissions page and choose your programme.
2. Start the online application.
3. Line up your referees early and tell them an email is coming.
4. Write your statement: what you studied, what you want to research, why this programme.
5. Request your transcript now.

How to apply, step by step

1. Choose the programme on the admissions site, and read its own page. The programme page sets the entry requirement, the research areas and whether an English test result is asked for. That page wins over any general advice, including ours.
2. Start the online application in your own account, with your own email address and your own password. Never let anybody create it with their email. The application is on the university's own site and there is nobody to pay for access to it.
3. Enter your details exactly as they appear on your passport and your transcript, so the form and the documents agree.
4. Name your referees and warn them the same day. The university emails them for a recommendation, so a referee who has not been warned is the commonest reason a finished application sits incomplete.
5. Request your transcript now, because this is the document that moves at your university's speed rather than yours.
6. Upload the statement, the CV and the English test result if your programme page asks for one, then submit. Submit by 15 December rather than in the first days of January, because the close is 3 January 2027 and nothing good happens to a file submitted on a deadline day.

Your calendar to 3 January 2027

The statement, in four parts

1. What you studied and the one project you are proud of.
2. The question you want to research, in two sentences a friend would understand.
3. Why this university's programme fits that question. Name a research area from the programme page.
4. What you will build or solve after.

The message to copy and send your lecturers

"Good morning Sir/Ma. I am applying for a funded master's in [field]. The university will email you for a recommendation. May I send you my CV and transcript to make it easier? My target date is [date]."

Your checklist

• Passport
• Transcript
• CV on one or two pages
• Statement
• Names and emails of your referees
• English test result, if your programme page asks for one

Three mistakes to avoid

1. A statement that praises the university. Write about your work.
2. Referees who have not been warned.
3. Paying anybody to apply for you. The application is on the university's own site.

If the answer is no

Decisions are due on 14 February 2027, and if the answer is no, the file you built is still a file: the statement, the transcript and the referees you briefed carry you into the other funded windows we track. This month's open doors are in this week's openings, and the longer windows, with what each one pays and how it is won, are in the funded calendar pack.

What is covered, and what is yours

Check your programme page for anything your own course adds, and budget separately for the documents in the last row, which are yours either way.

Questions people ask

When does KAUST close for Fall 2027 entry? Applications opened on 28 September 2026 and close on 3 January 2027, with decisions due on 14 February 2027. The university marks these dates as tentative, so check the timeline page before you submit.

What does the funding cover? For over 90% of admitted students, the admissions page states full tuition support, a monthly stipend, housing, medical coverage and relocation assistance.

Do I apply for the funding separately? For most students the funding follows the admission. The competitive part is getting admitted.

Do I pay an agent to apply? No. The application is on the university's own site, in an account you create with your own email address.

Is admission guaranteed if my result is strong? No. Admission is the competitive part of this route and nobody can promise it, including us. What you control is a complete application with a statement about your own work, submitted well before 3 January 2027.

Want us to do it for you?

You already know this is your route, and you do not need another test.

Rekoja prepares the file with you, starting from your documents rather than from zero. We turn the research question in your statement into two sentences that a selection committee can act on, match it to a research area on your programme page, and brief your referees before the university emails them. Then we tell you plainly where the file is weak while there is still time to fix it. When an offer lands, we prepare the student visa that follows it. Tell us on the form that you came from this pack.

Advice and preparation are delivered by Rekoja Nigeria Limited from Lagos. Nobody can promise admission or funding, including us. What you control is a complete application, in before the date.

Only immigration authorities decide applications.