Student finance is the government-backed funding that helps students from England pay for university or college. You apply online through Student Finance England, and you do not need a confirmed place before you start your application. The two main parts are a Tuition Fee Loan, which is paid straight to your university, and a Maintenance Loan, which is paid to you to help with living costs such as rent, food and travel.

Applications for the 2026 to 2027 academic year are open now. This guide explains who can apply, how much you can get, how to apply step by step, and when you start repaying. Figures and rules can change, so always check the official GOV.UK pages before you apply.

What is student finance?

Student Finance England is a service provided by the Student Loans Company. It provides financial support on behalf of the UK Government to students from England entering higher education in the UK. Most students will not have to pay any tuition fees up front, because the Tuition Fee Loan covers the fees and is paid directly to the university or college.

Student finance is not one single payment. It is a package, and what you get depends on your course, where you study, where you live while you study, and your household income. Some parts are loans that you repay later. Other parts are grants and bursaries that you do not have to pay back. There is also extra help if you have children or adult dependants, or if you are disabled or have a long-term health condition.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own student finance systems. If you normally live in one of those nations, you should apply through Student Finance Wales, the Student Awards Agency Scotland, or Student Finance NI instead. This guide covers students who normally live in England.

What can student finance pay for?

For a full-time undergraduate course starting in the 2026 to 2027 academic year, the main funding is a Tuition Fee Loan of up to £9,790 a year. For a full-time accelerated degree course, the maximum is £11,750. Part-time students can borrow a Tuition Fee Loan of up to £7,335 a year. The loan is paid directly to your university or college, so you never handle the money yourself.

The Maintenance Loan helps with your living costs while you study. How much you can borrow depends on where you live and your household income. For students whose household income is £25,000 or less, the maximum Maintenance Loan in 2026 to 2027 is £10,830 if you live away from home and study outside London, £14,135 if you live away from home and study in London, and £9,118 if you live with your parents. The amount falls as household income rises. For example, at a household income of £40,000 the figures are £8,512 outside London, £11,777 in London and £6,825 living with parents.

Students who are entitled to benefits can get more. At a household income of £25,000 or less, the maximum Maintenance Loan for a student entitled to benefits is £12,345 outside London, £15,415 in London and £10,757 living with parents. Students aged 60 or over on the first day of the first academic year of their course can apply for a Loan for Living Costs of up to £4,582, depending on household income.

Who can apply for student finance?

Whether you qualify depends on your nationality, your residency, your course and any previous study. To get full support, meaning help with both tuition fees and living costs, you must have been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for three years before starting your course, and England must be your home. You must also be a UK national or Irish citizen, be settled under the EU Settlement Scheme, or have been granted settled status for another reason. People with refugee status, humanitarian protection, stateless status and several other Home Office statuses can also apply for full support.

Some people can get help with tuition fees only. This applies, for example, to EU nationals with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme who have been living in the UK, the EEA or Switzerland for the past three years. If you only qualify for tuition fees, you will not get help with living costs, and you must apply by post rather than online.

Your course must also qualify. It must be at an eligible university or college and lead to a degree, a Diploma of Higher Education, a Higher National Diploma or Certificate, a Certificate of Higher Education, an Initial Teacher Training course, or an approved Level 4 or 5 qualification with Higher Technical Qualification approval. Most postgraduate courses do not qualify, apart from postgraduate teacher training and some postgraduate healthcare courses. If you are unsure whether your course is eligible, ask the university or college.

There is no age limit for a Tuition Fee Loan. For a Maintenance Loan, students who started their course before 1 August 2016 must have been under 60 on the first day of the first academic year, but students aged 60 or over starting on or after that date may be eligible for a Special Support Loan instead.

Student finance is usually only available for your first higher education qualification. If you already hold a degree, you will not normally get funding for a second one. There are exceptions: full support is available if you already have a first degree but are studying an Initial Teacher Training course, a nursing, midwifery or allied health professional course in England, or a dental hygiene or dental therapy course. A Maintenance Loan is also available if your course leads to a professional qualification such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary surgery or architecture.

How much Maintenance Loan can you get?

Your Maintenance Loan is worked out from your household income. GOV.UK uses the household income from a set tax year: for applications for 2026 to 2027, it is the 2024 to 2025 tax year. If your household income is £25,000 or less, you get the full rate. Above that, the loan is reduced gradually until only a percentage of the full loan remains.

What counts as household income depends on your circumstances. It always includes income from your own savings, investments or property, such as dividends or rent. If you are under 25 and financially depend on at least one parent, it also includes your parents' income. If you are over 25, you are classed as an independent student, and your parents' income is not counted, although your partner's income is counted if you live together. You can also be classed as independent if you have supported yourself financially for at least three years, have been married or in a civil partnership, or have no living parents.

If you are a care leaver, your household income is not used to calculate your Maintenance Loan, and you can choose to borrow the maximum amount. The Student Loans Company will still use your household income to check what other funding you can get.

If your household income has fallen by at least 15 percent compared with the tax year you submitted, your parents or partner can tell Student Finance England, and your loan can be reassessed. Use the student finance calculator on GOV.UK to get an estimate of what you could receive before you apply.

How to apply for student finance, step by step

First, check your eligibility on GOV.UK for a Tuition Fee Loan, a Maintenance Loan and any extra funding. If you are eligible for both loans, known as full support, you can apply online. If you are only eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan, you must apply by post using the form finder on GOV.UK and send your form to Student Finance England, PO Box 210, Darlington, DL1 9HJ.

New students applying online should set up a student finance online account, sign in and complete the application, include household income details if needed, and send proof of identity if asked. Your parent or partner will be asked to confirm the household income details. Continuing students simply sign in to their existing student finance account and apply online for the next year. You must reapply for student finance every year of your course.

When you apply online, you will be asked to give valid passport details. UK nationals who cannot apply online can fill in a UK passport details form instead, and should not send their physical passport. UK nationals without a passport can upload or send a copy of their birth or adoption certificate. Irish nationals may need to send their physical Irish passport by post. Other nationals provide details from a passport, national identity card, biometric residence card or expired biometric residence permit.

Your student finance account will be updated within four weeks to show how much you will get, and you will get an email when it is ready to view. If you apply in the wrong way, for example by post when you should have applied online, it could delay your application, so check which route applies to you before you send anything.

When should you apply for student finance?

You do not need a confirmed university place to apply. Apply with your preferred course and university, and update the details later if they change. You can still apply for funding up to nine months after the first day of the academic year for your course. For a course starting between 1 August and 31 December, the final date to apply is 31 May after your course started. For courses starting between 1 January and 31 March it is 30 September, for courses starting between 1 April and 30 June it is 31 December, and for courses starting between 1 July and 31 July it is 31 March after your course started.

Applying late can still mean you get less money than expected at the start of your course. If you apply close to the start of your course or after it has started, you will be given the minimum amount of funding to make sure you have at least some money, and anything else you are owed will be paid later once Student Finance England has checked your household income. Apply as early as you can to avoid that delay.

What extra help is available?

As well as the two main loans, there is extra funding for students in particular circumstances. If you have children, you may be able to get a Childcare Grant, a Parents' Learning Allowance or an Adult Dependants' Grant. If you are disabled or have a long-term health condition, a mental health condition or a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, you may be able to get Disabled Students' Allowance, which helps with the extra costs of studying.

Students who started their course before 1 August 2016 may be entitled to a non-repayable Maintenance Grant of up to £4,473 a year, depending on household income. Universities and colleges also offer their own bursaries and scholarships, which do not have to be repaid, so it is worth checking what your chosen university offers.

How and when do you repay a student loan?

You only start repaying your student loan after you have finished or left your course and your income is above the repayment threshold. The threshold and the amount you repay depend on which repayment plan your loan is on, and repayments are normally taken automatically through the tax system when you are earning. If your income falls below the threshold, repayments stop.

Interest is charged on student loans, and the rate depends on your plan and your income. Any loan balance that is still unpaid after a set number of years is written off, and the write-off period depends on when you started your course and which plan you are on. For the exact threshold, interest rate and write-off rules for your loan, check the GOV.UK page on repaying your student loan, because the figures depend on your individual circumstances.

One important warning: if a change to your details means you were overpaid, you will need to repay any money you were not entitled to. In that case the repayment threshold does not apply, and you might have to repay the overpaid amount sooner. That is why it matters to report changes promptly.

What if your circumstances change?

You must tell Student Finance England if you change your course, university or college, repeat a year, change your name or marital status, change your Tuition Fee Loan amount, or move to a new address. If the academic year has already started, ask your university or college to tell Student Finance England about a course or university change, but report a change of name, marital status or address yourself.

Full-time students can report changes through their student finance account. Part-time students need to fill in form CO2. If you are only eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan, you need form EUCO1, sent by post. If you change your name or marital status, you must write to Student Finance England with your customer reference number, the date, your signature and evidence such as a marriage certificate or deed poll.

If you are returning to study after taking time out for personal reasons, such as illness, pregnancy, caring for someone or a bereavement, you will need to reapply, and include a letter explaining why you suspended your studies with supporting evidence, such as a letter from your doctor or university on headed paper, or copies of birth or death certificates.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a confirmed university place before I apply for student finance? No. You do not need a confirmed place to apply. Apply with your preferred course and update the details later if they change.

Can I apply for student finance if I already have a degree? Usually not for a second degree, but there are exceptions for teacher training, nursing, midwifery and allied health courses, and for courses leading to a professional qualification such as medicine or architecture.

How long does a student finance application take? Your student finance account is updated within four weeks to show how much you will get, and you will get an email when it is ready to view.

Is there an age limit for student finance? There is no age limit for a Tuition Fee Loan. Maintenance Loan rules depend on your age and when you started your course, and students aged 60 or over may be eligible for a Loan for Living Costs of up to £4,582.

What if I live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland? Each nation has its own system. Apply through the Student Awards Agency Scotland, Student Finance Wales or Student Finance NI, not Student Finance England.

Student finance rules and amounts are set by the government and can change. Before you apply, check your eligibility and the current figures on GOV.UK, and use the student finance calculator to see what you could get.