Student finance

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, 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 September 2023, they will ask for income details from a parent/s’ or partner from April 21/22. 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.

Reduced maintenance loans

If Student Finance have offered a loan of approximately £4651 (Year 1 for 23/24 basic ‘living away from home rate’) and you do not think this is correct, it may be worth contacting Student Finance to check that Student Finance’s full income checks have been completed.

For England based finances, you can also use the Student Finance calculator, although this provides estimations only but can help as a guide.

Missing income checks

On some occasions one or more parents or partners that you live with may not have fully supplied their income details resulting in a lower amount being offered.

You can find out further details on loan rates on the Edge Hill fees and funding webpages and on the save the student website.

Final year undergraduate

It is worth noting that maintenance loans and childcare grants are reduced for final year students. Money advice for students that have completed their degrees are available online.

Overpayments

In some instances, your loan may have been reduced as a result of an of an overpayment of a loan due to a previous year of study. This may mean you studied for a degree, withdrew and did not fully complete the course.

Here is some useful information from Student Finance England about grant and loan overpayments.

You can also complete the ‘Student Finance England Financial Hardship Confirmation Form’ to request any repayments of overpayments to be postponed until after you graduate. It is important to reapply to Student Finance Hardship scheme every year to see if past overpayments can be postponed.

It is worth considering other sources of finance to support you while studying include part time work and applying for additional grants and funding which can be researched on the Turn2Us database.

You could also consider a student bank account and 0% overdrafts to help with any unexpected costs. More details can be found on our banking and budgeting section online.

If your Student Finance is delayed, we recommend that you first check the status of your Student Finance application. Normally, Student Finance is paid within 3-5 working days after stage 2 enrolment.

It is worth knowing that the University will automatically notify Student Finance of your enrolment and attendance on the course. If you have completed stage 2 enrolment and are still experiencing a delay in funding, you can make an appointment with the Money Advice Team.

It is also a good idea to check your eligibility for a 0% authorised overdraft on a student bank account.

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.

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 year 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.

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 last day of engagement on the course. As payments are made at the start of each term in advance, a proportion of the maintenance loan after the last date of engagement may result in an ‘overpayment’ and this may 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.

Before you return to study, you can apply to Student Finance Hardship scheme if you receive notification from Student Finance of an ‘overpayment’. This could help defer any repayments of overpaid maintenance loans until after graduation.

Here is some useful information from Student Finance England about grant and loan overpayments. It is important to reapply to Student Finance Hardship scheme every year to see if past overpayments can be postponed.

Please note that Student Finance will consider extending your funding for up to 60 days (including weekends) after you suspend your studies if you have compelling personal reasons.

Interrupting and withdrawing

Read more about withdrawing and interrupting your studies.

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.

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.

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.

The EHU Student Union can also help with application templates and guidance on applying for compelling personal reasons.

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.

Care Experienced students can also apply for the full maintenance loan by providing evidence of care leaver status. For further guidance, visit Student Finance England’s key information for students who qualify as care leavers.

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.

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 have further information on independent status.

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.

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.

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.

Turn2us features a grant database from external organisations. It’s always good idea to check the terms and conditions linked to any grants.

A select amount of courses offer a tax-free bursary or grant (subject to eligibility criteria), such as PGCE education bursaries and NHS training grants.