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).
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
SFE evidence based on Pre-settled Status
SFE applications based on Settled Status
SFE evidence based on Settled Status
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:
If you are unsure about how to check the status of your application take a look at the video below:
There are four stages of approval during the application process:
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.
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.
Take a look at the list of key contacts here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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