Please note that this website has a UK government accesskeys system.
If you’re an eligible student doing a full-time higher education course, you can take out a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your tuition fees and a Maintenance Loan to help with accommodation and other living costs.
Student loans from the government are there to help with the costs of higher education.
If you're an eligible, full-time student you’ll be able to take out two student loans for each year of your course: a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your fees in full, and a Maintenance Loan to help with your accommodation and other living costs.
Apply for finance online
Apply now for 2009/10 or 2010/11
You apply for student loans through the main student finance application. The quickest and easiest way to apply is to do it online. But if this isn’t possible, you can use a paper form.
You can currently apply for the 2009/10 or 2010/11 academic years.
Apply as soon as possible. You'll need to make your application by a specific date to make sure your first payment is ready at the start of term. See ‘Student finance: how and when to apply ’ for details of dates and more - including what to do if you change the course you're planning to study.
The Tuition Fee Loan covers the full amount you’re charged for tuition fees (up to £3,290 in 2010/11, or £3,225 in 2009/10).
The amount that you can borrow does not depend upon your household income. Student Finance England makes the payment directly to your university or college.
Help with tuition fees is different if you started before September 2006 - or you’re treated as if you did because, for example, you took a gap year in 2005/06.
The Maintenance Loan is there to help with accommodation and other living costs.
If you're living away from home, the maximum loan is £4,950 for the academic year - more if you're studying in London. The maximum available is less if you’re living with your parents during term time.
Student Finance England usually pays the money into your bank account in three instalments - one at the start of each term.
All eligible full-time students can get a Maintenance Loan, but the exact amount you can borrow will depend on several factors - including household income, where you live while you’re studying, when you started your course and whether you’re in your final year.
It’s also affected by any help you get through the Maintenance Grant (though not the Special Support Grant).
You'll be eligible for a proportion of the maximum Maintenance Loan regardless of your household income (though this proportion will vary depending on the level of help you get through the Maintenance Grant).
Whether you get the remainder - the 'income assessed' part of the loan - depends on your household income.
Your first repayment will be due in the April after you leave your course (the start of the new financial year).
You’ll repay nine per cent of your earnings over £15,000 - but you can repay more if you want to clear your loans faster.
The more you earn, the quicker you repay the loan. So, someone earning £18,000 a year (the average starting salary for a graduate-level job) will have to pay back nine per cent of £3,000 (£18,000 minus £15,000). This works out at around £5.19 a week.
Repayment 'holidays' (taking a break from making student loan repayments for up to two years after you leave your course) were due to become available to some students from April 2012.
However, these will no longer be available.
But remember: you won’t have to make any student loan repayments if you’re earning less than £15,000 a year.
Student loans accrue interest from the date they are paid out, up until they are repaid in full. Generally, the interest rate for student loans is set in September each year.
