Student Loans Company

This page contains information for students who are having their fees paid in full or part through a loan from the UK Student Loans Company.

Tuition fee Loans

If you’re a UK undergraduate student who meets the eligibility criteria - whether studying full-time or part-time - you can apply for a government loan to cover your entire tuition fee.

Check if you are eligible for a tuition fee loan.

This loan is available regardless of your household income. Once approved, the Student Loans Company pays your tuition fees directly to the university each year.

Maintenance Loans

You may be eligible to apply for a maintenance loan to help with your living costs at university.

Your maintenance loan is paid directly to you in three instalments over the academic year, as long as you are fully enrolled and actively attending your course.

Although the tuition fee and maintenance loans must be repaid, you won’t begin making repayments until after you’ve graduated or left your course, and only if your earnings exceed the set repayment threshold.

Find out more about repaying student loans.

Applying for your loan

Who you apply to depends on where you have been living in the UK:

The process and eligibility criteria varies between countries. Visit the website for your country to find out the details.

You can apply for student finance using the details of your first choice university. If any of your details change, including the university you are attending or the course you are studying, you can update your student loan application online.

Be sure to apply for your loan well in advance to ensure your funding is in place by the start of your course.

Confirming your registration

To receive your maintenance loan, the University must first confirm your registration with the Student Loans Company. After this confirmation is sent, it typically takes 3–5 working days for the funds to reach your account.

Once you have completed steps 1–10 of the registration process, we aim to confirm your registration within two working days. The 3–5 working day payment timeframe begins from the point this confirmation is made.

Your first maintenance loan payment will be released after you have fully completed registration. The second and third instalments will then be paid at the start of each term.

It’s important to note that registration and attendance are not the same. The University confirms your registration once per academic year, while your attendance is confirmed three times a year, which is required for the release of your tuition fee loan payments.

Changes to your study

The University is obliged to notify the Student Loans Company if you:

Do not enrol on your course
Withdraw from your course
Suspend your studies
Transfer to a new course
Make any other amendment to your studies which may impact for your fees and funding

If you wish to make any of the changes listed above to your studies, you should first contact your school. Once your record has been updated, we will automatically notify the Student Loans Company via an electronic update, so you do not need to contact them separately.

See further information about how course changes can impact your fees on our Interruptions and Withdrawals page.

Student Finance Postgraduate Masters or Doctoral Loans

Please follow the steps below if you're intending to pay your tuition fees using a postgraduate loan:

Login to your university record and complete steps 1 to 9 for registration, leaving step 10 (payment of tuition fees) incomplete.
Three working days after completing steps 1 to 9 of registration, please login to your university record again, where you should be able to complete the final step of registration by inputting your bank details to pay by Direct Debit. The first payment will be taken on 24th November 2026, by which time you should have received the first instalment of your loan.
We will then confirm your registration to the Student Loans Company (SLC), who will release the first instalment of your postgraduate loan directly to you within five working days, and ahead of the first tuition fee due date. The second and third instalments of your postgraduate loan will be released directly to you by the Student Loan Company to coincide with the due dates for your remaining tuition fees.
Please note it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that tuition fees are paid by the due dates shown. Please visit our webpages for information on Paying your fees.
Should you have any queries please contact us using our online enquiry form.