If you’ve not applied for student finance yet

If you’re thinking of going to uni or college this year, you should apply for student finance as soon as possible. It’s easy to apply and only takes around 30 minutes. Just use your first choice of course, you can change your application later if you need to.

Apply now!

If you’re applying for a higher amount of student finance that’s based on your household income, make sure to ask your parents or partner to provide their financial information as soon as possible to avoid delays to your application.

Your funding

Once you submit your application, we may awardgive you the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan while we process your household income details. This is to make sure you get some money for the start of your course.

Once we’ve processed your household income detailsdetails, you’ll get the rest of your money as soon as possible after your course starts

Find out the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan:

Living location	Minimum amount of Maintenance Loan	Maximum amount of Maintenance Loan*
Living with parents	£3,790£3,907	£8,610£8,887
Not living with parents and studying outside London	£4,767£4,917	£10,227£10,544
Not living with parents and studying in London	£6,647£6,855	£13,348£13,762
You spend a year of a UK course studying abroad	£5,662£5,838	£11,713£12,076

*Maximum amount of Maintenance Loan is based on the household income for the academic year 2025 to 2026.

Use our student finance calculator to find out how much you could be entitled to for the 20242025 to 20252026 academic year. There are different rates if you spend a year of a UK course studying abroad.

When will I get paid?

To pay your Maintenance Loan, we’ll need:

• confirmation of registration from your university or college
• your National Insurance number
• valid UK bank details

Your Maintenance Loan will be paid in 3 instalments, one at the start of each term.

If you’ve already applied for student finance

You won’t need to do anything unless your living location, university, college or course details change.

If your university, college or course changes

If you accept a place at university or college through Clearing, you’ll need to sign in to your student finance account and let us know of any changes. You must do this even if your UCAS application has changed - your student finance application is not linked to UCAS.

Sign in to change your applicaiton

You’ll need to change the university or college on the application as well as your course. You should also tell us the correct tuition fee being charged for your new course. For step by step guidance on how to change your application online check out our ‘how to’ guide.

If your living situation changes

It’s important that you update where you’ll be living on your application if it changes, otherwise you might not get the right amount of Maintenance Loan.

You can update your living location through your online account. You’ll be asked to confirm where you will spend most of your time during the academic year under the ‘change your university/college and course’ section.

Check out our tutorial for guidance on how to make changes to your application.

Making changes to your application

Check out our walk-through film to find out how easy it is to update your student finance application online.

How to change your student finance application

For full-time students, sign in to your online account and follow these easy steps:

1. Click ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’

2. Select the application you wish to change

3. Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, click ‘View and manage your applications’

4. Click ‘Change your application’ and then click again

5. Click ‘University/college and course’

6. Click ‘Submit’ once you’ve entered and confirmed your changes

If you’re unable to make the changes online, you can upload a completed CO1 Form to your online account and we can make these changes for you.

Find more guidance on how to change your application for part-time and tuition fee only funding students.

After you’ve updated your application

We’ll review your application and let you know if there’s any change to the amount of student finance you’ll be paid.

If your application is based on your household income, make sure your parents or partner give us their income details as soon as possible. Don’t forget, you could also get more student finance if your household income has dropped.

If you’ve been awarded the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan to begin with, once your household income has been reviewed, we’ll pay any money owed to you from the start of the course. Payments usually take 3 to 5 working days after your account is updated - you don’t need to wait till your next payment date.

If you’re a parent or partner of someone who’s applying for student finance

You’ll need to support their application with details of your household income so they can get as much student finance as possible. Visit our guide for more information on how to support an application.

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