Student finance

The main student finance package includes a:

Tuition Fee Loan
Maintenance Loan - full-time students only
Maintenance Grant - full-time students only

The rules are different if you became a student before 1 September 2012.

Tuition Fee Loans pay for your course. Maintenance Loans and Grants help with living costs (eg accommodation, books, bills). You have to pay back loans but not grants.

You might get extra help on top of this.

You apply for student finance every year. You don't need a confirmed place at university or college to apply.

How to apply or support an application

Find out how to apply for student finance.

If you’re the parent or partner of a student you’ll normally need to support a student finance application.

There’s a different process if you’re a student from:

Use the student finance calculator to see what finance and extra help you can get.

Tuition Fee Loan

English or EU full-time or part-time students can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan.

The loan is paid directly to your university or college. You have to pay it back.

Full-time student	Tuition Fee Loan
Full-time	Up to Â£9,000
Full-time at a private university or college	Up to Â£6,000

Part-time student	Tuition Fee Loan
Part-time	Up to Â£6,750
Part-time at a private university or college	Up to Â£4,500

Maintenance Loan for living costs

You must be a full-time English student. Part-time and EU students and students aged 60 and over can’t apply.

You may have to give details of your household income.

The loan is paid directly into your bank account at the start of term. You have to pay the loan back.

Full-time student	Loan for courses from September 2013	Loan for courses from September 2014
Living at home	Up to Â£4,375	Up to Â£4,418
Living away from home, outside London	Up to Â£5,500	Up to Â£5,555
Living away from home, in London	Up to Â£7,675	Up to Â£7,751
You spend a year of a UK course studying abroad	Up to Â£6,535	Up to Â£6,600

Use the student finance calculator to estimate your Maintenance Loan.

Maintenance Grant for living costs

You must be a full-time English student. Part-time and EU students can’t apply.

You have to give details about your household income and your course start date.

The grant is paid into your bank account at the start of term. You don’t have to pay the grant back, but any grant you get will reduce ?the Maintenance Loan you can get.

Full-time student Â household income	Grant for courses from September 2013	Grant for courses from September 2014
Â£25,000 or less	Â£3,354	Â£3,387
Â£30,000	Â£2,416	Â£2,441
Â£35,000	Â£1,478	Â£1494
Â£40,000	Â£540	Â£547
Â£42,611 (2013) or Â£42,620 (2014)	Â£50	Â£50
Over Â£42,611 (2013) or Â£42,620 (2014)	No grant	No grant

Use the student finance calculator to estimate your Maintenance Grant.

Special Support Grant

You must be a full-time student. Part-time and EU students can’t apply.

You may get a Special Support Grant instead of a Maintenance Grant if you get or qualify for Income Support or Housing Benefit. The amount you get is the same as the Maintenance Grant, but it won’t reduce the Maintenance Loan you can get.

You may get the Special Support Grant if, for example, you’re a lone parent or have certain disabilities.

Apply for student finance or find out how to apply.

You might qualify for extra help on top of your main student finance package.

Use the student finance calculator to see what extra help you can get.

Students on a low income

You can apply for:

Students with children or dependent adults

You can apply for:

Childcare Grant - full-time students only
Parents’ Learning Allowance - full-time students only
Adult Dependants’ Grant - full-time students only
Access to Learning Fund
Child Tax Credit

Disabled students

If you have a disability, long-term health condition, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty (eg dyslexia) you can apply for:

You may also qualify for disability related benefits.

Medical, social work and teacher training students

You can apply for:

NHS bursaries - medical, dentistry or healthcare students
Social Work Bursaries - social work students
extra help for teacher training students

Help from your university or college

Many universities and colleges offer extra money directly to students.

Funding from charitable trusts

Use the Family Action grant search to check if you can get extra help from a charitable trust.

Whether you qualify for student finance depends on:

your university or college
your course
if you’ve studied a higher education course before
your age
your nationality or residency status

Your university or college

This should be a university, college or other institution that offers a qualifying course.

Your course

This must be in the UK and one of the following:

a first degree, eg BA, BSc or BEd
a Foundation Degree
a Certificate of Higher Education
a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
a Higher National Certificate (HNC)
a Higher National Diploma (HND)
a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)
Initial Teacher Training

Check with your university or college that your course is recognised.

Part-time students

Part-time students need to study their courses at a rate of at least 25% of an equivalent full-time course in each academic year.

This is known as ‘course intensity’. You can check course intensity with your university or college.

You studied before

Generally, you'll only get student finance if you're doing your first higher education qualification. This is true even if your previous course was self-funded.

However, you may still get it if, for example:

you change course
you leave your course but decide to start again
you're 'topping up' a higher education qualification, eg you've finished an HNC, HND or foundation degree and now want to do an honours degree

Age

There’s no upper age limit for Tuition Fee Loans or grants. To apply for a Maintenance Loan you have to be under 60 at the start of the course.

Nationality or residency status

You can only apply if:

you're a UK national or have 'settled status' (no restrictions on how long you can stay)
you normally live in England
you've been living in the UK for 3 years before starting your course

You may also be eligible if your residency status is one of the following:

EU national, or family member of one
refugee
humanitarian protection (as a result of a failed application for asylum)
migrant worker
child of a Swiss national
child of a Turkish worker

Apply for student finance or find out how to apply.

You must pay back Tuition Fee Loans and Maintenance Loans. You pay interest on these. You don’t have to pay back other student finance, eg grants and bursaries.

How much you pay back

If your course finishes before 2016, or you choose to leave before then, repayments won't start until April 2016.

Your repayments are linked to your income. You only make repayments when your income is over Â£21,000 a year. If your income drops below this amount repayments stop.

Part-time students sometimes start repayments while they’re still studying.

Each month you pay back 9% of any income over Â£21,000.

Your income per year	Monthly repayments
Â£21,000 and under	No repayments
Â£25,000	Â£30
Â£30,000	Â£67
Â£40,000	Â£142
Â£50,000	Â£217
Â£60,000	Â£292

Use the repayments calculator to check how much you pay back.

Once you’re registered with Student Finance England you can check your balance online

If you leave the UK, repayments are based on the earnings threshold for the country where you live.

Interest on your student loans

If your course started before 1 September 2012 different rules apply.

You pay interest from the time your first payment is made until you pay your loan back in full.

For courses that started on or after 1 September 2012 the following interest rates apply:

Income	Interest rate
While you’re studying	Rate of inflation (Retail Price Index) plus 3%
Â£21,000 or less	Rate of inflation
Â£21,000 to Â£41,000	Rate of inflation plus up to 3%
Â£41,000 and over	Rate of inflation plus 3%

Making repayments

You can pay some or all of your loan at any time without an extra charge.

If you’re an employee your employer will work out your repayments and take them out of your salary with your tax.

If you’re self employed you must make repayments as part of your Self Assessment tax return.

If you leave your course early, you still have to repay your student loan.

If you go abroad for more than 3 months you need to fill in an overseas income assessment form. Student Finance England will then work out your repayments.

Download 'Overseas income assessment form' (PDF, 118KB)

The Student Loans Company has detailed information on repayments.

The Student Room has lots of information and advice about student grants, loans and bursaries.

If you’re from England and want to study full time, Student Finance England’s student finance calculator lets you compare finance for up to 5 courses.