Understanding Student Finance England
Hello! We’re Student Finance England (SFE for short).
Starting university or college is exciting, and we’re here to help you understand your financial options and get the support you need.
Who we are
Student Finance England is part of the Student Loans Company (SLC). We manage applications and provide loans and grants to students attending university or college in England. We’re here to make sure money doesn’t stop you from getting your education.
You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X to keep up to date with us and don’t miss important news.
What you can apply for
We provide two main types of financial help:
Loans you can apply for
- Tuition Fee Loan – up to £9,790 to cover your university fees. This is paid directly to your university, so you don’t need to pay upfront.
- Maintenance Loan – between £4,013 and £14,135 (depending on where you live and your household income) to help cover your living costs like accommodation, food, books and travel. This is paid directly into your bank account.
You will need to repay your loans, but not until after you finish your course and are earning over £25,000 a year. Your monthly repayments depend on what you earn, not what you owe. Student Loans Company (SLC) will manage your repayments.
Extra financial help you don’t need to pay back
You could also be eligible for grants and allowances. These don’t need to be paid back.
- Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) – support to cover study-related costs if you have a mental health problem, long-term illness, disability or specific learning difficulty like dyslexia. You can get up to £27,783 a year. Find out more about DSA.
- Parents’ Learning Allowance (PLA) – if you’re a full-time student with children, you could get between £50 and £2,024 a year to help with learning costs. Find out more about PLA.
- Childcare Grant (CCG) – if you have children under 15 (or under 17 with special educational needs), you could get up to £199.62 a week for one child or £342.24 a week for two or more children. This covers 85% of your childcare costs. Find out more about CCG.
- Adult Dependants’ Grant (ADG) – if an adult depends on you financially, you could get up to £3,545 a year. Find out more about ADG.
Can you apply for it
Which student finance you qualify for depends on:
- your university or college
- your course
- your age
- whether you’ve studied a higher education course before
- your nationality or residency status
You can visit GOV.UK for the most up-to-date information to understand your eligibility.
Different funding rules apply if you normally live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
How much could you get
This depends on where you’re living during your course, your household income and other factors.
You can check how much student finance you could get using our GOV.UK Student Finance Calculator which will give you an estimate of how much:
- Tuition Fee Loan
- Maintenance Loan
- Extra financial help
This is an estimate based on the information you’ve provided. You’ll be told your exact amount, including any extra funding, after your application is approved.
What is household income
We assess household income to work out how much Maintenance Loan you can get.
If you apply for the higher amount of Maintenance Loan and any grants, we’ll need to assess your household income.
This means we’ll ask your parents (who you live with or depend on financially) or your partner to support your application by confirming their income.
You can find out what counts as household income on GOV.UK.
What to expect on your student finance journey
The typical student finance journey is:
- You apply for student finance and give us your parents’ or partner’s details.
- We ask your parents or partner to support your application by confirming their income.
- We’ll work out how much you can get and let you know in your online account when your application is approved.
- You register on your course, and your university or college lets us know so we can start paying you.
- We pay your tuition fees to your university or college, and we pay you any loans or grants at the start of each term.
- You need to re-apply for student finance for every year of your course.
- After your course ends, you’ll start repayments in the April after you finish or leave. These are handled by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
It’s important to keep all your details up to date. If anything changes, you can let us know using your online account.
Don’t lose track of important dates! We’ve made a timeline to keep you on track.
Applying for student finance
It is straightforward to apply and usually takes around 30 minutes.
When you apply, you’ll need to create an account and complete an online application.
What you’ll need:
- Your valid passport details (if you’re a UK national)
- Email addresses for your parents or partner – if you’re applying for the full Maintenance Loan (not just the basic amount), we’ll email them to ask about their income. This helps us work out how much you can get. Their income won’t affect your Tuition Fee Loan.
- Your National Insurance number (if you have one)
- Details of your course and university – you can apply before you have a confirmed place
When to apply
If you’re starting a full-time undergraduate course between August and December 2026, you can apply from late March 2026.
You can sign up to be one of the first to know when applications are open to apply.
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