Indian citizen living in the UK

Hello, I have been living in the UK for the past 7 years (since Sept. 2010) and I am about to apply for university. I was wondering that will I be eligible for student loans? I am not a British citizen yet. Thank you for any help!

Student loans are only for UK and EU citizens. You will be treated as an Indian/ international citizen.

There is a category for those with settled status i.e those with indefinite leave tor remain.
https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/who-qualifies

Settled

'Settled' means being both ordinarily resident in the UK and without any immigration restriction on the length of your stay in the UK. The regulations refer to immigration law for the definition of 'settled'.

If you have the Right of Abode (including those people who have this by virtue of a Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode), or Indefinite Leave to Enter/Remain (ILE/R), in the UK, then you are 'settled'. If your passport describes you as a 'British citizen', then you also have the Right of Abode and are, therefore, settled.

I am aware of that but there is an option for long residents. It's for people who have lived here for 7 years. But what I don't get is it also says you have to be under 18 at the start of the course. I just don't get how can you be under 18 at the start of the course?