Financial help for prospective undergraduates

Fee payment

You will not be expected to pay your fees up front if you don’t want to and student loans will be available to cover the tuition fees. Students will not have to start repaying this loan until they are earning over £21,000 per annum.

Where to apply for a tuition fee loan

Student Finance England can give English domiciled students a maintenance loan to help cover living expenses. As a guide, the maximum living cost loan for students studying in Bristol in 2013/14 is £5,500 a year for those living away from home and £4,375 for those living at home.

These figures may change, but as a guide, in 2013/14, all students will be able to get 65% of the loan which is non-means tested. The remaining 35% is dependent on household income and the level of living cost grant (if any) a student could receive. This means that if you come from a low-income household, you will build up less debt over the course of your studies. You should check the on the DirectGov web page for up-to-date details and to make an application.

The student loan for living costs will be combined with any student loan for tuition fees and you will start repaying both together from April 2016 after you have graduated (or left your course) and are earning more than £21,000 a year.

In previous years, students who already had an honours degree and applied for a second one were not be eligible for the maintenance grant, the student loan for fees or the student loan for living costs. They were only eligible for the student loan for living costs if they undertook a course leading to a professional qualification, eg medical doctor, dentist or veterinary doctor. Staff at the Student Finance England Service will be able to give you further information.

For repayment purposes, the government will combine your tuition fee loan and maintenance loan. You will only start to repay your tuition and maintenance loan after you have left higher education and are earning at least £21,000. You will only start repaying in the April after you leave higher education, even if you already earn over £21,000. If for any reason your income falls below £21,000 your repayments will be suspended. All outstanding repayments will be written off after 30 years.

How loan repayments work

The repayment process is simple as it will be deducted automatically from your pay packet through the tax system.

Interest on your loan will be charged at inflation plus 3% while you are studying, and up until the April after you leave university.

From the April after you leave university if you are earning below £21,000, interest will be applied at the rate of inflation.

Graduates earning between £21,000 and £41,000 will be charged interest on a sliding scale up to a maximum of inflation plus 3%.

Repayments will be 9% of income above £21,000, so the amount repaid each month will depend on earnings. Someone earning £21,500, for example – currently the salary of a newly-qualified teacher – would initially make repayments of £4 per month. The monthly repayment would increase to £23 for someone earning £24,000 per year; £30 on a salary of £25,000; £45 on £27,000; and £68 on £30,000.

For further information on loan repayments and interest rates, please visit the Student Loans Company repayment web site.

The qualifying household income thresholds and the maximum living cost grant figure for 2013/14 are still subject to Parliamentary approval.

As a guide, in 2013/14, full-time UK students from low-income households, where the household income is £42,611 or less, will be eligible for at least a partial maintenance grant of up to £3,354 a year. This does not have to be paid back. The amount students get depends on their income and that of your household.

NB This table is based on 2013/14 levels of support for a student living away from the parental home

Notes to table:

The amount of Maintenance Grant you receive will affect the amount of Maintenance Loan you can borrow.

If eligible, you may receive the special support grant instead of the maintenance grant.

The qualifying household income thresholds and the amount of special support grant which you may be eligible to recieve are exactly the same as the maintenance grant for living costs highlighted above.

However, if you are eligible to receive the special support grant, there is no reduction in your loan entitlement and the special support grant should not be counted as income if you claim means tested benefits.

You could be eligible for a Special Support Grant if you:

• are a lone (single) parent;
• have a partner who is also a student and one or both of you are responsible for a child or young person under 20 who is in full-time education below higher education level;
• have a disability and qualify for the Disability Premium or Severe Disability Premium;
• are deaf and qualify for Disabled Students’ Allowances;
• have been treated as incapable of work for at least 28 weeks;
• have a disability and qualify for income-related Employment and Support Allowance;
• are from outside the UK and are entitled to an Income Support Urgent Cases Payment because you are temporarily without any money for up to six weeks;
• are waiting to go back to a course having taken agreed time out from that course due to an illness

You do not have to repay any part of the maintenance or special support grant unless you leave your course early.

To apply for a living cost grant, contact Student Finance England.