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Student tuition fee loans – UK students
Home (UK) undergraduate students are eligible to apply for student loans, which are paid directly to
us by the Student Loan Company:
- The maximum loan you can apply for is the full tuition fee
- Any difference in fees not covered by the tuition fee loan must be paid by you
- Tuition Fee Loans are available regardless of family income
- You will only start repaying your course fees once you earn over £ 27,295 per year
Living costs
UK undergraduate students are able to apply for maintenance loans via the Student Loans Company.
EU and EAA students may also be eligible for funding via Student Finance England.
The costs you must cover while studying will also vary depending on your accommodation
arrangements. They could include:
- Accommodation type
- Heating
- Gas/electricity
- Food
- Clothing
- Books
- Daily travel
- Entertainment
Visit www.slc.co.uk to apply for your student loan.
PERSONAL ELIGIBILITY
You can only apply if:
If you don’t meet those conditions, you may still be eligible if you are:
If you normally live in the Channel Islands you can’t apply to Student Finance England. You should contact the education authority on your island to apply for student finance.
Usually you can only get student finance for your first higher-education course. However, you may still get it if, for example:
There’s no upper age limit for grants or for Tuition Fee Loans. To be able to get a Maintenance Loan you must be under 60 when you start your course.
List of FSB courses which have been specifically designated for the purposes of student support can be viewed here:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/reg/register/search/Provider/10033187/
Application is done online via the Student Finance England website . It is important that you apply for funding as early as possible to help ensure you have finance in place for the start of the term.
Depending on your circumstances, your course and where you study, you may be able to receive a range of financial help and support in the form of grants and bursaries (which you don’t have to pay back) and loans (which you do). There’s also extra help for those with special circumstances, for example, if you have children or adult dependants, a disability, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia.
The following table shows what you might be able to get and what it’s for
| What is it for? | How much can I get? | Do I have to pay it back? |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition Fee Loan | Up to £6,165 to help with the cost of your tuition fees. (Tuition fees vary between different universities and colleges) | Yes, but not until you leave your course and are earning over £21,000 a year. |
| Maintenance Grant (or Special Support Grant) | Up to £3,387, depending on your household income, to help with your living costs. | No, unless you leave your course early |
| Maintenance Loan | Up to £6,600 depending on where you live and study and your household income, to help with your living costs. | Yes, but not until you leave your course and are earning over £21,000 a year |
| Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) | To help with extra costs you have as a result of a disability, long-term health condition, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty. Disabled Students’ Allowances can help pay for specialist equipment, a non-medical helper, travel or other extra costs. They don’t depend on your household income. How much you’ll get depends on your circumstances. | No, unless you leave your course early |
| Childcare Grant | To help with childcare costs if you have dependent children aged under 15 (or 17 if they have special educational needs) in registered or approved childcare. You can get 85% of childcare costs, up to a maximum of £150.23 a week for one child or £257.50 a week for two or more children. | No, unless you leave your course early |
| Parents’ Learning Allowance | To help with course-related costs if you have dependent children. You can get up to £1,523 a year, depending on your household income. | No, unless you leave your course early |
| Adult Dependants’ Grant | To help with costs if an adult depends on you financially. You can get up to £2,668 a year, depending on your household income. | No, unless you leave your course early |
You can get a personalised online quote by providing some information about yourself, your course and your household income at Directgov using the Student Finance Calculator .
For more detailed information on how to apply see the ‘Apply and get paid’ fact sheet (FS03).
You don’t have to wait until you’ve accepted a course to apply for student finance. If you haven’t accepted a place yet, create your student finance account and apply using your first choice of course. So apply online now and have everything in place for starting your course.
If you’re only applying for the Tuition Fee Loan and the basic Maintenance Loan entitlement (the bit that doesn’t depend on your household income), you can fill in and send your application without your parent’s or partner’s involvement.
But, if you’re applying for finance that depends on your household income, SFE will ask your parents or partner to give us some information about themselves and your household income. If you’re not filling in the application together, your parents or partner can log on and fill in their part at another time. But remember, your application isn’t complete and can’t be assessed until SFE have all the information we need.
Before you start your online application make sure you have the following to hand: passport; course details; bank details; National Insurance Number and your parent’s or partner’s details, including their National Insurance Number and income if needed. Make sure you fill in all the relevant questions correctly as this will help SFE process your application quickly.
If any of your details change after you have sent your application for student finance to SFE, don’t worry – it’s easy to update. Using your online student finance account you can make changes to:
For more information on what evidence you might be asked to provide see the ‘Student finance evidence’ fact sheet (FS04)
In most cases the evidence we need can be provided easily by filling in the appropriate details on the application. By providing your UK passport number and your parent’s or partner’s National Insurance Numbers SFE can automatically check your identity and household income and process your application as quickly as possible.
However in certain situations you, or your parents or partner, may have to send to SFE evidence such as a non-UK passport, a birth certificate or a P60.
Once you have completed your online application you will see a list of evidence that you may need to send. Remember to send this straight away. If you don’t, your student finance might be delayed and you might not be paid on time. Remember to include your customer reference number on everything you send to SFE.
Once SFE has assessed your application, they will send you a Financial Notification letter showing what student finance you are entitled to. You should keep this letter as you will need to submit a copy to Admission Office/Finance Office when you register with FSB.
This letter will include a declaration that you must sign and return to SFE.
Enrolling with FSB Finance Office
Remember to enrol – SFE can’t pay you until you do!
You have to enrol with FSB before SFE can make your first payment. You will usually do this in the first week of your course and you will need to take along your Financial Notification letter, so make sure you keep this safe.
Once you have enroled, FSB will inform SFE and they will make your payment. It can then take three to five days for the money to reach your account, depending on your bank.
SFE will pay any Maintenance Grant or Loan to your bank account and your Tuition Fee Loan directly to FSB.
You need to apply for student finance for each year of your course. Fees may go up each year and grant and loan amounts may change too.
SFE will contact you when you need to re-apply.
Remember to keep your password and secret answer safe as you’ll need these to re-apply each year or to let us know about any changes to your details. Your parents or partner will receive their own password and secret answer so they will also need to keep these safe.
Don’t forget, the amount of student finance available may change each year!
Don’t wait — reapply for your student finance now to make sure you have your money when you return to your course. You can do this at https://www.gov.uk/browse/education/student-finance
Reapplying for student finance is easy:
If you applied for finance that doesn’t depend on your household income, you’ll simply need to sign and return the form that we send you along with your Student Finance Entitlement letter.
If you applied for finance that does depend on your household income you should reapply by filling in a short application online at https://www.gov.uk/browse/education/student-finance will then send your Student Finance Entitlement letter along with a declaration form that you must sign and return.
If you applied for DSAs along with your main application for student finance, you will not have to reapply for DSA — as long as you stated on your main application that you wished to continue receiving them
Remember to re-enrol for Year 2 at FSB Finance Office. SFE can’t pay you until you do!
Note: Whilst the College will assist in any application, the award of a loan or grant and the amount is decided by the Student Loan Company only and may be subject to change in accordance with Goverment policy.