Student finance

Course fees and funding

The fees and funding information online for UK and EU students covers everything about tuition fees, financial support, and scholarships for Edge Hill University’s programmes. We will tell you how much your course will cost, outline the financial support which may be available, and explain how to apply for student funding.

Information if your maintenance loan is reduced

How maintenance loans are calculated

If you are under 25 on the first day of your course, Student Finance will request income details from a parent or both parents that you normally live with. If you are over this age and living with a partner, you will have to supply your partner’s income details . Any earned income from the student, applying for funding from employment or self-employment, is not required and does not influence the loan.

Student Finance ask for the income tax year from two years ago. So, if you start your course in Sept 2021 they will ask for income details from April 19/20. You can use this calculator to help check your loan.

Please remember some courses run for longer periods during the academic year so the calculator may not include any entitlement to extra ‘long course’ loans.

Current year income assessments

Student Finance ask for the income tax year from two years ago. If your household income has recently dropped by at least 15% you can ask for a current income year check. You can also look at the Student Finance calculator for an estimate based on new income details.

To apply for a current income assessment, you can fill in this additional form. Please remember that parent/s or a partner may have to estimate their current income which could result in an underpayment or overpayment of the maintenance loan. This Student Finance webpage can help with further advice.

You may also find it helpful to talk to the Money Advice team, especially if you have tried every option available to improve your loan without success.

Book an appointment with the Money Advice team

Maintenance loans, leaving during the academic year and interrupting studies

When you apply for financial support for living costs, Student Finance will confirm the maintenance loan for the full academic year. These loans are paid in three instalments throughout the year – one at the beginning of each semester (other than in Scotland, where loans are paid differently).

If you leave during the term, the entitlement will be recalculated based on the period of attendance, up to the withdrawal date. As payments are made at the start of each term in advance, any amount of loan paid to you more than this may result in an ‘overpayment’ and this will need to be repaid. There is helpful information from the Student Loans Company about your loan and leaving during the year.

You can check with academic records for their official last date of engagement on your course and this information will be held with Academic Registry and shared with Student Finance.

Returning to complete a final course placement in the following academic year

In some circumstances, such as for PGCE and NHS courses, a final course placement may be outstanding and this may be required to be commenced and completed in the next academic year.

For September programmes, this may mean that a student has studied on a course during September 2021 to July 2022 but is required to return in the academic year 2022/23 to complete a final placement.

In situations like this, it is advisable to consider re-applying to Student Finance for a maintenance loans to help towards the personal costs associated with the placement.

As this will amount to additional money to be repaid after graduation, it is a good idea to complete a short budget showing potential costs and income. This could help to establish the amount of loan you may need for the placement and for the time afterwards whilst another source of income is established.

Claiming back tuition fee loan entitlement with compelling personal reasons 

You may have been ill or have personal circumstances that result in repeating a year and in this situation you can request a Compelling Personal Reasons (CPR) claim through Student Finance. A successful CPR claim could help protect tuition fee entitlement for future study.

Student Finance will require medical evidence or other official personal evidence to claim CPR for the year that you experienced compelling personal reasons. The evidence should show how the situation impacted directly on completing a year of study.

Check the CPR process online

A successful CPR claim could help increase tuition fee entitlement. Please note that previous tuition fee loans for years when you withdrew cannot be cancelled but eligibility, if required for further tuition fee loans, could be claimed.

Students without family support and estranged student finance

People who are considering university or who are already studying a degree may experience a situation where they do not have support from a family network and may be interested in being assessed by Student Finance as being ‘irreconcilably estranged from their parents’. If eligible, a full maintenance loan will be issued without assessing the income of parents and this avoids situations where a student must depend on parental income details being shared and assessed by Student Finance.

Student Finance will consider a student to be ‘irreconcilably estranged from their parents’ if they have not had verbal or written contact with both biological or adoptive parents or their only living parent for a significant period (usually, for a period of at least twelve months, but they will consider all cases) and this situation will not change.

Stand Alone and SFE have guides and details of how to apply.

Student Finance can be contact via email to help with processing supporting evidence.

Independent status for students under 25

Most students under 25 require their parent or parents to share their income details with Student Finance. In certain situations, some students may have complete financial independence from their parents as they have supported themselves away from their parents for at least three years before the start of their course. This means they could request Student Finance to consider them as  independent which will mean their maintenance loans will not be influenced by parental income. The only earned income that will then be relevant would be if a student lives with a partner or earns other regular income from a pension or investment. Any paid income the student may earn from employment or self-employment will not be considered in the assessment.

In order to gain independence, applicants can send evidence to show they have lived independently and earned a certain amount of money. Student Finance will assess income evidence, such as P60s, pay slips, utility bills or letter-headed information from an employer.

UCAS and the SLC have further information on independent status.

Deferring your loan

If you wish to defer your course you will need to reapply to Student Finance when the new application window opens .This is usually around February or March for September courses and we recommend you apply before the advisory deadline to ensure your funding is in place before the course starts.

All loans taken out since 2012 to date (July 2020) follow the ‘Student Loan Plan 2’ terms and conditions.

View the current interest rates and repayment thresholds

Scholarships

The University offers a range of scholarships which are worth up to £2,000. Our scholarships celebrate determination, commitment and achievement in a variety of areas, as well as rewarding academic excellence, overcoming adversity, promoting equality, inspiring others and making an outstanding contribution to student life.

Interest on student finance loans

Student finance repayments, unlike other forms of finance, are based around how much a graduate earns. This form of finance does not appear on credit reports, although the loan does incur interest.

When you’re at university:

While you’re studying, up until the April after you leave your course, the Government applies interest at the Retail Price Index (RPI) level, plus 3%.

When you’ve left your course:

From the April after you’ve left your course, interest charged is based on your income, up to a maximum of the RPI plus 3%.

Interest rate you will be charged, when you repay your loan, also depends on the year that a loan was taken out, such as ‘plan 2’ loans taken from September 2012.

The interest changes annually, on 1st September each year.

View the current rates

Alternative finance

Religious faith may mean taking out a student loan and paying the required inflation based interest is an issue for some students and could be prohibited for religious reasons. The UK government conducted a public consultation in 2014, which has resulted in an agreement to offer an alternative finance product. This was followed by a White Paper in 2016, which resulted in a decision to work towards an alternative Sharia-compliant finance for students.

The NUS and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies also met with Department for Education to discuss Sharia compliant Student Finance.

The suggested alternative financial product would not be interest based and would result in identical graduate repayments to the current student loan system. No further product details (As at January 28th, 2022) have been published. Updates will appear on associated Government sites.

You may find it useful to contact a local Imam to discuss Sharia-compliant finance and access to education if you are unsure what to do.

Other finances you may wish to consider