Maintenance Loans

Maintenance loans are designed to support you with living costs such as food, accommodation and travel.

For many students, this is the main source of income during their time at university, which is why it's important to have a clear idea of how much you can expect to receive, and budget for all of your financial commitments such as accommodation, bills and subscriptions, and travel expenses.

If you're moving away from home for the first time and are new to budgeting, be sure to check out our guide to managing your money before you arrive. To help you plan your budget, we've also put together a cost of living guide for our local area. 


Entitlement

You could receive up to £9,706 for the 2022/2023 academic year if you are living away from your parents or carers. If you want to be assessed for the maximum available maintenance loan you will need to provide details of your household income. 

Maintence loans above the basic rate are means tested, therefore how much you receive will depend on your circumstances, including your parents' or partner's income and any personal savings. You can use the student finance calculator to estimate how much Maintenance Loan you’ll get.

Supporting an application

The gov.uk website has lots of helpful information for parents, carers and partners detailing how to help support an application with their household income information. We understand this process can seem overwhelming at first, so if you have any questions about your specific circumstances, please get in touch with our enquiries team.

Visit gov.uk website

Eligibilty

Maintenance loans are available to eligible full-time and part-time students starting an undergraduate or integrated Masters degree. The maximum amount of maintenance loan you can borrow will depend on the length/intensity of your course, your household income, the year of study and where you live during term-time. 

If you are applying for a postgraduate course, you will need to apply for a Master's Loan or Doctoral Loan.

How to apply

You can apply for a maintenence loan alongside your tuition fee loan on the gov.uk website.

The application window usually opens in February and it is important that you apply as soon as possible. Although late applications will be processed it could cause delays to your funding and is not recommended.

If you’re late applying for your maintenance loan, this could affect when you receive your first payment as your registration can only be confirmed once your application for a maintenance loan has been approved by Student Finance.

Start your application

How you'll be paid

The maintenance loan will be paid directly to you, meaning you are responsible for ensuring your costs are covered – even if you are staying in University managed accommodation, it will be paid directly to you and not the university.

You will receive your loan in three equal instalments. The first instalment will be normally be paid within 3-5 working days after the start of term, and once your application for a maintenance loan has been approved by Student Finance and the University has confirmed your registration to Student Finance. The second and final instalments will normally be paid at the beginning of the second and third term and should be in your account within 3-5 working days of the start of term.

Repayments

As with tuition fee loans, you will be charged interest on your loan. The earliest you’ll start repaying your loan is from the April after you leave your course and only then if your annual income is over the minimum threshold (currently £27,295). The amount you'll repay will depend on your earnings and not the amount borrowed.

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