Key facts and figures
How loans, bursaries and repayments work
For students, knowing how to fund their studies is often a big question as they prepare for uni. And students need to organise funding before they start their degree. They'll need to make sure that their tuition fees and other study costs are covered. So let's help ease their worries.
What is student finance?
If you're supporting students applying for finance, here's a little refresher. Students have access to 3 pots of money loaned to them by Student Finance England.
Tuition Fee Loans
Tuition fee loans can cover the whole amount of tuition fee and are paid directly to the university. These fees are capped at £9,250 per year for full-time courses at publicly funded universities, and £1,850 for placement years.
Student Finance England will cover every year of the degree, plus one 'gift' year in most cases. So, if your students change their course after their first year or need to retake a year, they should still be able to get their course fees covered.
Maintenance Loan
The maintenance loan is given to students to help with their living costs to cover things like rent, food, and social activities. This loan varies from student to student and is based on household income. It's paid directly to students in 3 instalments, so they will need to budget.
Regardless of their household income, students will always get a minimum of £4,651 (if on a full-time course and living away from home). Student Finance England also takes into account where students might be living during their studies, so they will get a bigger allowance if they are living in London.
Extra support bursaries
Student Finance England has various pots for those students who may need extra support. This money does not have to be repaid, and is there to support students who need it most.
For example, the Disabled Students Allowance supports students who have a disability, long-term illness, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty.
Since it is based on needs and not income, students have to undergo a needs assessment. Students can apply at any time during university - so students who have been diagnosed mid-way through their studies can still apply.
There are many other ways students can access non-repayable support, whether they have dependents, are on low income, are studying a health course (such as nursing or midwifery), or a teaching course. Find out more about the extra support available from Student Finance England.
University Scholarships and Bursaries
Every university will also have a selection of bursaries and scholarships to help students with the cost of their studies. Some are based on household income, others on personal circumstances, academic or extracurricular activity. Students may have to apply to these before they get to uni, so they should start looking into what is available to them once they have received their offers. Some of ours include:
- University of Portsmouth Bursary – £750 a year
- Care Leavers Bursary – £1,700 a year
- Stand Alone Bursary – £1,000 a year
- Young Carers Bursary – £500 a year
- Greenwich Hospital Bursary – £3,000 a year
- NHS Learning Support Fund – at least £5,000 a year
- Sanctuary Scholarship
How to apply
Applying for student finance is an easy process that takes about 15 minutes to complete. Students need to create an account and get their customer reference number. After this they’ll be asked to provide information for a secret question and a password. This information is important to remember as they will be asked for it every time they communicate with Student Finance England.
When applying for student finance, students will need proof of identity, for example:
- A birth certificate or current passport
- Their National Insurance number
- A bank account for the money to be paid into
When should students apply?
Student Finance applications open at the end of February. It can take 6-8 weeks for applications to be approved, so students should apply as soon as possible. Students don’t have to have even submitted their UCAS application in order to apply for student finance. They can guess which university and course they might choose, and can change this once they have their results, or their university offer.
We advise students to apply even if they aren’t sure they are going to apply to university. If they decide to go, then they will get the money in time for the start of their course. If they decide not to go, they can cancel their application at any time, and they won’t face any charges.
Repaying student loans
All tuition fee loan and maintenance loan borrowed are grouped together into 1 repayment plan. Interest (based on the Retail Price Index) is added onto these loans from day 1 of their studies, but this doesn't affect how they pay it back, or for how long.
How are repayments calculated?
Repayments are based on how well students profited from their degree after graduation, and doesn't start until the April after they finish their course. The amount they repay each month's based on what they earn once they've graduated, and's taken out before they receive their pay. It's almost like paying an extra tax. And because it's taken out automatically before they receive their pay, there's no need to worry about late or missed payments.
Self-employed graduates
If students are self-employed, repayments are calculated when they submit their tax return. Students only start to repay their loan once they're earning over £25,000 a year. Repayments are based on how much over that threshold your students earn and start the April following graduation, with students paying 9% of their income that's over the threshold.
When do repayments stop?
After 40 years, any remaining amount of loan and interest's written off. Even if students didn't finish their course, they'll still be expected to repay the money they borrowed. And students still have to repay even if they move abroad after university.
Myth-busting student finance
Misinformation and mistaken assumptions about student finance can be a massive barrier for some groups of students, especially with the rising cost of living. Although university sounds like a lot of money, many students never end up paying it all off before it gets wiped after 40 years.
It's important to help students and their parents or guardians to understand the reasons to go to uni, so that they can make an informed decision.
Talking them through the repayment plan can help to show students that they won't be dragged down by debt following university. It can also reassure them that they don't need to pay this money upfront.
Another important thing to note is that student loans aren't like any other form of debt. They won't affect a student's credit score, meaning they should still be able to get a car on finance, a mortgage, or a credit card, even if they haven't started paying back their student loan yet.
Key things to remember
- There are schemes equivalent to Student Finance England for students living in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
- Every university and city has slightly different living costs. Quite often universities have the figures on their pages, as we do for students living in Portsmouth. This can help your students to decide which accommodation they might want to live in, and encourage them to think about budgeting before they arrive at university.
- From 2021, EU students must've settled or pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme in order to get student finance. This doesn't apply if you're an Irish national. We recommend checking the student finance pages on the gov.uk website to learn more.
- Students should apply for student finance by May each year, so that they receive it in time for the start of their course. They can apply after this, but their payments may be delayed which can make the first few weeks of uni more difficult.
