Your age
You must be under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course to get a part-time Maintenance Loan. There is no upper age limit for a Tuition Fee Loan.
Your previous study
You can usually only get student finance for your first higher-education course. If you’ve already studied a higher-education course, you might not get help for a second course.
However, you might get funding for a second degree if you study one of the following exception courses:
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Subjects Allied to Medicine
- Biological and Sport Science
- Psychology
- Veterinary Sciences
- Agriculture, food and related sciences
- Physical Sciences
- General and others in sciences
- Mathematical Sciences
- Engineering and technology
- Computing
- Geographical and environmental studies
Your university or college and course
The course you plan to study must be at an eligible uni or college in the UK and one of the following:
- first degree, e.g. BA, BSc, or BEd
- Foundation Degree
- Certificate of Higher Education
- Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
- Higher National Certificate (HNC)
- Higher National Diploma (HND)
- Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)
- Initial Teacher Training (ITT)
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 Level 4 or 5 qualification that is not HTQ approved or does not qualify for undergraduate student finance, you could still be eligible for an Advanced Learner Loan.
If you’re studying a degree apprenticeship course, you can’t get student finance from Student Finance England. Find out more about degree apprenticeships.
If you’re not sure whether your course qualifies for student finance, check with your university or college.
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 studying long distance because you have a disability.
If you’re unsure about your course intensity, you should speak to your uni or college.
