When you study at university you need to ensure that you can support yourself financially. Eligible students can apply to Student Finance England (SFE) to cover tuition fees and maintenance loans. Tuition fees are the payments for your university course and are paid directly to the university. Maintenance loans are payments for your living expenses and are paid directly to you.

Find out more about Student Finance Log in to Student Finance

We recommend that you apply for your student finance as soon as you receive your offer as applications can take up to six weeks to be processed, and paid 2-4 weeks after the application is approved. Find out more about applying in the video below:

UK/Home students and students with settled status can apply for both Maintenance and Tuition Fee loans (online or paper application via PN1 form).

 

Requirements

  • UK Students must demonstrate that you have been in UK for three years prior to course commencement with no significant time spent overseas. SFE may ask for evidence
  • Evidence of any dependant persons (where applicable)
  • Evidence of Marital Status (where applicable)
  • National Insurance Number
  • Evidence of any income and any P60

 

Definition of Statuses

Pre-Settled Status is given to EU, EEA or Swiss citizens (or family members of) resident in the UK for less than five years at the time of their application, or by 30 June . Pre-Settled Status is the same as Limited Leave to Remain (LTR). Once the individual has accrued five years of continuous residence in the UK they will then need to apply for Settled Status if they wish to remain in the UK. There is no cost attached to making an application for Settled Status.

Settled Status is given to EU, EEA or Swiss citizens (or family members of) resident in the UK for 5 years by 30 June 2021. This is the same as Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Once acquired the holder of Settled Status can leave the United Kingdom for up to five years without losing that status.

 

SFE applications based on Pre-settled Status

  • Protected by withdrawal Agreement
  • Must be a resident in the “UK or EU” for the 3 Years prior to their course start date
  • Can apply for tuition fees only
  • Can apply for a maintenance loan as well if you are continually working (or have a family member working) in the UK, and have been working up to 3 months prior to course commencement.
  • If you have been a resident in the UK for more than 5 years you can upgrade your status from “pre-settled” to “settled” and receive full support without the need to work. You can also change this part way through their course.

SFE evidence based on Pre-settled Status

  • Evidence of Pre-Settled status via your Digital Share code
  • ID (passport or ID Card)
  • Bank statements to show proof of residency
  • Marriage Certificate (if married)
  • Dependants (birth certificate)
  • You may qualify for maintenance support if you are currently working in the UK. If so, you will need to provide the Student Loans Company (SLC) with financial evidence to confirm you are working, such as a P60 or a letter from your employer

 

SFE applications based on Settled Status 

  • Protected by withdrawal Agreement
  • Can apply for both Tuition and Maintenance (same as a Home student)
  • Must be a resident in the “UK” 3 years prior to the course start date to qualify

SFE evidence based on Settled Status

  • Evidence of Settled status via your Digital Share code
  • ID (passport or ID Card)
  • Bank statements to show proof of residency
  • Marriage Certificate (if married)
  • Dependants (birth certificate)

You can find out more about applying for student finance at gov.uk/student-finance.

It takes on average 4-6 weeks to be approved for student finance from the start of the application process. Once you have submitted your application it’s important you:

  • Check your portal regularly for any updates on your ‘to do list’. Make sure you have your login details from you agent, if they completed the application for you. Login to your portal at https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login
  • The University’s Student Finance Team are here to assist with your application so you can get approved by Student Finance England as quickly as possible. We can’t get involved in specific claims questions but we can offer advice to help you.
  • If you come and see the Student Finance Team please make sure your logged in to your student finance account on your phone and remain calm. We know student finance can be very stressful and we will help you in any way we can.

If you are unsure about how to check the status of your application take a look at the video below:

 

Stages of Approval

There are four stages of approval during the application process:

  • Approval stage one: once you have been approved for student finance your status will go green on your homepage
  • Approval stage two: you will then receive a “Notification of Entitlement Letter” in the post
  • Approval stage three: the ‘Notification of Entitlement Letter’ will also include a ‘Schedule of payments’ page. Please bring the ‘schedule of payments’ page to the student finance team as they require this document
  • Approval stage four: you will be able to view your Notification of Entitlement Letter on the correspondence page in your student finance portal

Login to your student finance account to ensure you have provided all the information you need to. Take a look at this video to find out how to do this:

If you’re not sure how to upload evidence to support your student finance application this video shows you each step of the process:

Change of Circumstances (COCs) are changes made to your application such as the incorrect course, incorrect course start date, incorrect tuition fee amount or incorrect campus.

If any of these are incorrect, they must be changed as soon as possible. The earlier we can resolve this the quicker both you and the university will receive the funds from student finance. These will delay any payments by a minimum of 4-6 weeks.

It’s important that you don’t rush your application as this may cause you to submit the wrong information, causing your payments to be delayed. Usually the university can resolve this but in some instances you may have to complete an additional form, or restart the whole application from the beginning.

In most cases the university will need to complete the COC’s for you, however this can only be completed once you have been approved for your student finance and registered with university.

  1. Applications take an average of 4-6 weeks to be approved, providing Student Finance England have all the supporting evidence. Once the application has been approved you will receive your first payment 2-4 weeks later
  2. Call Student Finance England for updates and check your portal daily
  3. Remember that payment dates provided by Student Finance England that are on your schedule of payments are for guidance only, and you may receive payments later
  4. Change of Circumstances – make sure you have applied for the correct course and correct academic year, if any information is incorrect, notify Student Finance Team immediately
  5. Your attendance is confirmed automatically so please be patient
  6. Stay as calm as possible so it does not affect your studies
  7. Remember that every single Student Finance application is different
  8. Login to your portal and print and sign your Declaration Form and sent it back to Student Finance by Post

How do I contact Student Finance England?

Phone

0300 100 0607 Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, Saturday, 9am to 4pm

Webchat

You can chat to an advisor from your online account.

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm

You will only see the webchat option if there is an advisor available.

 

How do I contact the university finance team?

Take a look at the list of key contacts here.

 

Why have I not received my money yet?

Payment dates on your approval paperwork are guidelines and not accurate dates. Your 1st payment will take around 2-4 weeks after the day your application was approved.

 

I have sent the same documents multiple times. Why are SFE not accepting my documents/evidence?

Student Finance England make the final decision regarding your application approval. Please contact Student Finance England directly regarding this. Try sending different types of evidence or talking to a different advisor at Student Finance England.

 

I have applied with the wrong application or I have applied for the incorrect course or academic year?

Please notify us if you have applied with the wrong application or for the wrong course and we will guide you through the correct process. It is important that we rectify this as soon as possible.

 

I have lost my login details

Reset your password using your email address on the Student Finance portal. If this still doesn’t work then please call Student Finance England immediately to get this resolved.

 

I have still not been approved for SFE and I am struggling to financially support myself

Please contact our Finance team for support with your application. If you are struggling financially please reach out to our Welfare Department, please be aware we will need information relating to your financial situation as part of the process. 

 

How do I get my attendance approved?

Attendance approval is subject to a review of attendance records, VLE engagement and submission of assessments. Please make sure you’re attending and be patient regarding your attendance being recorded.

 

I am an EU student applying for tuition fees only but I’m unable to see my details on the Student Finance portal?

You will not be able to see any information on your Student Finance portal if you are an EU student applying for tuition fee. For more information visit gov.uk/student-finance/eu-students.

 

If you need help with budgeting during your time as a student, check out our student budget calculator

Student budget calculator