Student finance is a type of loan designed for higher education students. The two main financial considerations for uni students are tuition fees and living costs, and student loan services provide options to fund or partially fund these things. This ensures that all aspiring students in the UK have an opportunity to obtain a higher education, and reach their fullest academic and personal potential, regardless of their economic background.
Eligibility for a student loan is based on numerous factors, such as your chosen course and university, your age, residency status, and whether you’ve previously studied at a higher education level. What this means is that if you’re a UK resident, and are embarking on your first full-time undergraduate degree, then there’s an extremely high chance that you’ll be successful in getting a student loan to cover a significant amount of your student expenses.
Typically, these loans have a manageable repayment schedule where you only begin to make payments after you’ve finished your course and are earning above a comfortable minimum salary threshold.
English students can get a loan by applying to Student Finance England, which is a non-profit government-owned organisation that organises student funding in the UK. The process is straightforward and completed online. You should be able to apply for both a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan.
The tuition fee loan is paid directly to your university at the start of each academic year by Student Finance England and covers the entire fee amount. You’ll have access to this loan for one more year than the duration of your course, so for a three-year undergraduate degree, you’ll have the opportunity to take out a loan for four years of study, should you need it.
The tuition fee is currently capped at £9,250 in England, but this will be rising to £9,535 from the 2025/26 academic year.
The maintenance loan is a means-tested cost of living stipend, which is paid into your personal bank account in three instalments during the academic year, once at the start of each term. The exact amount you receive will be based on your household income, and the loan is intended to subsidise costs such as accommodation, travel, groceries, and additional academic supplies.
Students do not need to have their place confirmed to apply. Applications open in February/March of the year studies commence, and students can still apply for funding up to nine months after their course begins.
If you’re a Scottish student with plans to study at a Scottish university then we’ve got some great news – you won’t need to pay anything at all for your tuition fees. The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) is Scotland’s student funding agency, and it covers the entire tuition fee costs, as well as providing cost of living support for eligible students. To benefit from this, you must remember to apply to SAAS for payment of your fees before the start of each academic year.
Scottish students who plan to study an undergraduate course elsewhere in the UK will be charged the normal tuition fees for their chosen degree course and may apply to SAAS for a repayable tuition fee loan and maintenance loan.
Welsh students need to apply through Student Finance Wales for their student finance, regardless of which part of the UK they’re studying.
Full tuition fee loans are available to those full-time students to cover course fees. There’s also a means-tested cost of living funding package which includes the combination of a repayable maintenance loan and non-repayable grant. The package is available to all students, and the proportion of the overall amount which is repayable is based on your household income.
Applications are submitted online, and open in February/March of the year you begin studying, and you’ll be able to retrospectively apply for funding up to nine months after starting your course.
Student Finance Northern Ireland serves as the student loan provider service for students from Northern Ireland. A full tuition fee loan is available to all eligible full-time higher education students starting an undergraduate degree. For 2023/24, the loan will cover any amount up to £4,710 for students studying within Northern Ireland, and up to £9,250 for students studying in the rest of the UK.
Additionally, there’s a maintenance loan available to all Northern Irish students, regardless of whether they study in Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK, or even overseas. The amount you’ll receive is based on your household income, however 75% of the maximum amount will be automatically available and only the remaining 25% will be income assessed.
Applications are submitted online and the final deadline for applying is nine months after the first day of the academic year, although changes can still be made to the loan request up to one month before the end of the academic year.
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