Tuition Fee Loans for part-time students

Where you live

To apply, you must:

• be a UK national, Irish Citizen or have settled status (that is, have no restrictions on how long you can stay in the UK)
• normally live in England
• have been living in the UK and Islands for at least three years before the first day of your course

You may be eligible for full support if you’re a UK national (or family member of a UK national) who:

• returned to the UK by 31 December 2020 after living in the EE or Switzerland, 
• has been living in the UK, the EEA, Gibraltar, Switzerland for the past three years

You may also be eligible if your residency status is one of the following:

• refugee (including family members)
• humanitarian protection (including family members)
• migrant worker from the EEA or Switzerland, (including family members) with settled or pre-settled status
• child of a Swiss national and you and your parent have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• child of a Turkish worker who has permission to stay in the UK – you and your Turkish worker parent must have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020
• a stateless person (including family members)
• an unaccompanied child granted ‘Section 67 leave’ under the Dubs Amendment
• a child who is under the protection of someone granted ‘Section 67 leave’, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as the person responsible for them (known as ‘leave in line’)
• granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain
• a child of someone granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as their parent (known as ‘leave in line’)
• you’ve been given settled status (‘indefinite leave to remain’) because you’ve been the victim of domestic violence
• you’ve been granted indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner
• you or your family member have been granted Leave to Enter or Remain under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS)
• you or your family member have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Extension Scheme

You could also be eligible if you’re not a UK national and are either:

• under 18 and have lived in the UK for at least seven years
• 18 or over and have lived in the UK for at least 20 years (or at least half of your life)

You must have been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for three continuous years before the first day of your course.

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:

• pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you’re an EU national or the family member of an EU national
• pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you’re the family member of an Irish citizen
• Irish citizenship

You may also be eligible for tuition fee funding if either of the following apply to you:

• you’ve lived in Gibraltar or the other British Overseas Territories
• you’re the family member of a person with settled status and you’ve lived in the UK and Islands for the past 3 years

Your course must be at an eligible uni or college in the UK, and must be 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 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.

Course intensity

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.

You might also be eligible if you're:

1. a spouse or civil partner living with a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas
2. a child, step-child, or adoptive child living with a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas
3. a dependent parent living with either a child who is a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas, or the child’s spouse or civil partner who is a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas

From 1 August 2018, students studying a distance learning course will also be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan if they’re:

• a member of the UK Armed Forces who usually lives in England but is serving in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland
• a relative living with a member of the UK Armed Forces serving in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland

1. Set up a student finance account
   When you register, you’ll be given a unique Customer Reference Number, and you'll need to create a password and secret answer. You should keep these safe, as you’ll need them to sign in to your account to check the progress of your application and reapply for student finance next year.
2. Fill in and submit your application
   The first time you apply, you’ll be asked for proof of identity. You can easily do this by giving Student Finance England your valid UK passport details. If you don’t have a UK passport, you may have to send them evidence. If you want to apply for student finance that depends on your household income, Student Finance England will ask your parent(s) or partner for their income details.
3. Send any evidence Student Finance England asks for
   They may contact you, your parents or your partner, to ask for evidence to support your application.
4. Sign your declaration
   Student Finance England can’t pay you until you do! They’ll process your application and send you a Student Finance Entitlement letter, telling you how much you can get.

To reapply for student finance, sign in to your student finance account and apply online as soon as the application service opens.

If you’re applying for the first time, you can do this online at www.gov.uk/studentfinance.