Student Membership

How to join

Simply complete our online application form and make the correct payment. Please note that if you pay for your admission by credit card your application will be fully completed immediately.

If you pay by bank transfer, your admission will be completed within 7 days from the date that your payment is received by the IFoA.

Benefits of becoming an IFoA student member

Globally recognised qualifications

• Gain a qualification that’s in demand from businesses, organisations, and governments worldwide, and demonstrate that your knowledge and skills meet the highest global standards.

Visibility and protected status

• Give your skills and hard-earned qualifications maximum visibility by claiming chartered status and assure clients, employers and wider audiences that you adhere to globally recognised professional standards.

Support while you qualify

• Access educational resources, examination support and counselling to support your learning.
• Guidance on ethical and technical issues that may arise in your day-to-day actuarial work.

Build your knowledge and skills

• Access a range of high-quality focused events, research outputs, career-long learning and webinar recordings, library services, journals, and publications, including The Actuary Magazine.
• Develop your skills with volunteering opportunities ranging from becoming a Career Ambassador to joining an IFoA working group: learn more about volunteering for the IFoA.

Demonstrate professionalism and integrity

• Demonstrate your professional integrity under The Actuaries’ Code, our global ethical framework.
• Show your commitment to professionalism through our rigorous qualification syllabus.

A global community

• Build your professional network through online and in-person events.
• Engage and collaborate with your peers on our member's digital communities platform. 

A strong voice for our profession

• Join a profession that brings the actuarial perspective to issues of global importance, from climate change to social care, and makes sure your voice is heard on the issues that are important to you.

Becoming a student member of the IFoA will enable you to enter the IFoA exams and apply for exemptions.

Who can become an IFoA student member?

If you have excellent mathematical skills and a love of numbers, you can join the IFoA as a student member. 

While there are no academic admissions criteria for student membership, the IFoA qualification syllabus is rigorous and our examinations are highly demanding, so we recommend applicants for student membership have a maths-based degree, for example:

• Actuarial Science
• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Economics
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Physics

If you do not have a maths-based degree and want to join as a student member, we recommend you take one of our non-member exams before applying to join. Our non-member exams will prepare you for the rigorous and demanding IFoA qualification process and give you an insight into the skills and techniques required to progress in an actuarial career.

Find out more about our non-member exams

The IFoA has career ambassadors worldwide who can answer your questions with regards to local job opportunities, careers in actuarial science, and anything else you wish to know about joining the IFoA.  

If you would like to speak to a careers ambassador, please contact careers@actuaries.org.uk.

Fees

You can find our membership subscription fees for student members on our subscriptions page. We offer a reduced membership subscription rate to students on a low income. Find out if you qualify for reduced rate subscription fees.

How much is it going to cost me to join?

There is a one off admission fee of £50 payable when you join, along with the membership subscription for the year of joining. Regardless of when you join, the applicable subscription fee will become due again on 1 October.

See the full list of our membership fees on our membership subscriptions table (PDF).

Admission fees and member subscription fees are only refundable if you decide to cancel your membership within the first 14 days after your membership has been confirmed. Thereafter, no refund of an admission fee or subscription fee will be given.