What are tuition and maintenance loans?

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So you’ve confirmed your place on an undergraduate degree course at uni, and now you’ve got to secure a student loan. There are various ways to go about this, and you’ll have quite a lot of options to choose from, allowing you to customise your payment scheme to best suit your future funding needs.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of loan which you’ll encounter: the undergraduate tuition fee loan, and the maintenance loan. We’ve put together the following guide, which explains the differences between the two, and informs you about when to apply for them, how you’ll receive them, and what to expect from repayments.

Tuition loans

A tuition loan covers the cost of your undergraduate course fees for the duration of your studies. There are many companies who provide this service, but the most popular and convenient in the UK by far is Student Finance.

Currently, full-time undergraduate tuition fees are set at £9,250 per year (this will be rising to £9,535 in England and Wales from the 2025/26 academic year), and if you’re a full-time undergraduate student then Student Finance will pay this amount directly to your university at the start of each year. It’s super convenient since you don’t even need to handle the payment yourself.

You can apply for a full tuition loan (and most students do) or you can ask for a partial loan if you don’t need the full amount every year, giving you less to repay in the long run. The loan is available for the length of your degree course, plus one year. So, for a three-year course, you can take a loan for up to four years in case you need to repeat a year.

The tuition fee loan is also available to part-time undergraduate students, and the amount received depends on the ‘course intensity’ which is essentially the amount of credits you complete each year compared with a full-time course. Part time students can receive up to 75% of the maximum full-time tuition loan per year.

Maintenance loan

The maintenance loan is an additional loan, also offered by Student Finance to help subsidise your general living costs while at uni. It’s paid directly to your bank account in three instalments throughout the year, usually towards the start of each term.

It’s intended to help out with accommodation costs, travel, groceries, and academic supplies, and the way you allocate this money is your decision. The maintenance loan is means-tested, so the amount you receive will be based on your household income.

In the current academic year, the maximum maintenance loan available for students living outside of London is £9,978 per year, and the maximum maintenance loan available for students living in London is £13,022 per year. Bear in mind that these will be rising for the 2025/26 academic year for English and Welsh students.

How do you repay these loans?

There are several categorisations of student loan when it comes to your repayment schedule, and these are named Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, and Plan 5.

If you’re an English student who started their course after 31 July 2023 or who hasn’t yet started their course, then you’ll be on Plan 5. If you’re an English student who started your course between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023, then you’re on Plan 2.

Welsh students are on Plan 2, Scottish students are on Plan 4 and Northern Irish students are on Plan 1. Regardless of your Plan, you won’t need to start paying back your loan until you leave uni, are employed, and earning over a minimum salary threshold. These loans all have different repayment thresholds, which are subject to change. The current repayment thresholds are listed here:

• Plan 1: £22,015
• Plan 2: £27,295 
• Plan 4: £27,660
• Plan 5: £25,000

For top tips on loans, budgeting and other student finance topics, check out our handy guide.