Maintenance Loan

A maintenance loan is money given to students to cover everyday living expenses, such as food, travel, rent and books. When you apply for a maintenance loan, The Student Loans Company (the company in charge of allocating you your loan) will look at your individual circumstances, including where you will be studying and your family's income, to determine how much money you will receive. If, for example, you study at a university in London, you will receive a higher maintenance loan than someone studying elsewhere in the UK, in order to compensate for the higher cost of living.

All students are entitled to 75% of the maximum loan rate which applies to them. The other 25% is means assessed, meaning that your household income will be taken into account. If your household income is relatively low, you may be entitled to the maximum possible maintenance loan available each academic year. These maximum values are shown in the following table:

If you are a part-time student, you are not entitled to receive a maintenance loan from the Student Loans Company. Instead, you may be offered a non-repayable grant to cover either fees, living costs, or both, but the amount you will be entitled to receive is also dependent upon your household income. In addition, if you are aged sixty or over at the commencement of the course you are not entitled to receive a maintenance loan. This does not apply to tuition fee loans and grants, for which there are no age limits.

Maintenance loans are available to students taking any higher education course, with the exception of those studying school level courses, National Diplomas and Certificates, City and Guilds of the London Institute Courses, and Nursing education and training courses; these students must search for alternative sources of funding.

If you are required to study or work abroad or in industry as a compulsory part of your course, you may still be entitled to a maintenance loan to help cover your living costs whilst away from your university or college, although the amount you are entitled to may be less than the amount that you normally receive. If you wish to apply for support for an academic year away, you should apply to the Student Loans Company in the usual way (see Applying for a Loan), and consider the other support options available: see Studying Abroad for details. If you spend an academic year abroad and study or work within the EU, your university fees may be completely or partially waived, which may mean that it is not necessary to apply for a tuition fee loan for this year of study. The decision to waive fees is at the discretion of your university or college.

The repayment of any money given to you as a maintenance loan does not start until the April after you have finished your course and are earning more than £15,000 (see Repayment).