Tuition Fee Loans for part-time students
A Tuition Fee Loan covers the cost of the fees charged by your university or college. Content provided by Student Finance England.
A Tuition Fee Loan covers the cost of the fees charged by your university or college. Content provided by Student Finance England.
Part-time student finance applications for academic year 2024 to 2025 are now open, apply now!
One of the main costs part-time students will have while studying is tuition fees. Student finance is available to cover the cost of the fees charged by your university or college – they will set your tuition fee. You should check with them how much you’ll be charged for your course, so you can apply for the right amount of loan.
Any loan you borrow has to be paid back, but not until the April four years after the start of your course, or the April after you finish or leave your course, whichever comes first, and only when your income is over the repayment threshold.
How much you can get depends on:
If you started your course on or after 1 September 2012, you can get a fee grant of up to £6,935.
Private universities or colleges may charge more than this. If they do, it's up to you to pay the difference.
Whether you can get student finance depends on your:
To apply, you must:
You may be eligible for full support if you’re a UK national (or family member of a UK national) who:
You may also be eligible if your residency status is one of the following:
You could also be eligible if you’re not a UK national and are either:
You must also:
You can apply for tuition fee funding only if you’ve been living in the UK, the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland for the past 3 years and you have one of the following:
You may also be eligible for tuition fee only funding if either of the following apply to you:
Your course must be at an eligible uni or college in the UK, and must be one of the following:
You could also be eligible for funding if you’re studying a Level 4 or 5 qualification with HTQ approval e.g., Certificate, Diploma or NVQ. To find out if your course is HTQ approved and qualifies for undergraduate student finance, speak to your university or college.
If you’re studying a degree apprenticeship course, you can’t get student finance from Student Finance England. If you’re not sure whether your course qualifies for student finance, check with your university or college. Find out more information about degree apprenticeships.
To be eligible, you must be studying at a course intensity of at least 25% of the equivalent full-time course for each year of study, taking no longer than four times the length of time it would take to complete the course if studied full-time (up to a maximum of 16 years). This is measured by the number of part-time units (such as credits, credit points, or modules) you're studying.
If you're studying a part-time distance learning course, you'll only be able to get a Maintenance Loan if you're distance learning because you have a disability.
If you’re unsure about your course intensity, you should speak to your uni or college.You might also be eligible if you're:
From 1 August 2018, students studying a distance learning course will also be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan if they’re:
You’ll need to register at your uni or college before Student Finance England can make your first payment. You’ll usually do this in the first week of your course, and you may have to take your student finance entitlement letter with you.
Your Tuition Fee Loan is paid directly to your university or college in three instalments each academic year.
When are payments made to your uni or college? | How much is paid to your uni or college? |
---|---|
At the start of term one | 25% of the tuition fee |
At the start of term two | 25% of the tuition fee |
At the start of term three | 50% of the tuition fee |
If you started your course before 2012, and get a fee grant, this is paid in one single instalment to the uni or college.
To reapply for student finance, sign in to your student finance account and apply online as soon as the application service opens.
UK nationals
Include your valid UK passport details in your application the first time you apply.
If you don’t have a UK passport (or it has expired), you can upload a copy of your UK birth or adoption certificate to your online account.
Non-UK and non-EU nationals
If you’re a non-UK and non-EU national, you will need to send us your original passport or Home Office biometric residence permit card.
You’ll also need to provide us with proof of your lawful residency status in the UK for the full three years prior to the start of your course. Your biometric residence permit card or proof of your visa stamped in your passport are both acceptable forms of evidence to prove your status. We’ll return your original documents using a secure method of post.
It’s important to apply early and send us your evidence as soon as possible. We’ll return your evidence as soon as we’ve checked it, so you don’t need to worry about being without your original documents for long.
Don't send your original documents to us if you’re due to travel within eight weeks as we can’t guarantee they’ll be sent back in time. Instead, you should send the evidence when you return from travelling.
You must tell Student Finance England about any change in your circumstances which might affect your student finance.
The most common examples are:
Before your initial course start date, you can tell Student Finance England about any changes by filling in a ‘Change of Circumstances’ form, which you can download from www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance/change-an-application.
After your course start date, you’ll need to ask your university or college to tell us about any of the following changes: