Postgraduate: Masters Loans

What is a Postgraduate Masters Loan?

A Postgraduate Master’s Loan is funding to help with course and living costs whilst studying a postgraduate Master’s course. It’s paid directly to the student and isn’t based on their income or the income of their household.

What’s Available

Students can get up to £12,167 during their postgraduate course starting in 2023 to 2024. The total amount they borrow will be paid evenly over the length of their course. For example, if they apply for the maximum amount of Postgraduate Master’s Loan and study over four years, they’ll get around £3,041 in each year of their course.

Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) helps pay for extra costs a student might have as a direct result of their disability, including a long-term health condition, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. This doesn’t usually need to be paid back. For further information please visit the gov.uk website.

How it’s Paid

Payments are made directly to the student after their course start date, once their university or college confirms that they’ve registered.
They must have a UK bank or building society account in their own name.
The loan will be split equally and be paid in three instalments each academic year.
Their entitlement letter will tell them how much they’ll get and when they should expect each payment. They can also view their payment dates on their online account.

Paying your Tuition Fees

As the Postgraduate Loan is paid directly to the student, you must either pay the whole cost at registration or pay by direct‐debit which is the preferred method of the College.

Where fees are paid by direct debit, the duration of the plan would normally be 8 months or less per annum. The initial payment will equate to 25% of the course fee with the outstanding 75% paid over the remaining 7 months.

A direct debit form can be requested and completed at registration or by emailing HE Student Finance on [email protected]

Students who require a payment plan outside of the standard terms will need to put their request in writing to the HE Student Finance team for consideration to the Credit and Fees Manager.

Eligibility

Whether you qualify depends on:

your course
your age
your nationality or residency status

You will not be able to get a Postgraduate Master’s Loan if:

you’re already getting payments from Student Finance England for another course that you’re studying
you’ve received a loan or grant for a master’s course before – unless you only got a Disabled Students’ Allowance or you left your course for a serious personal reason like illness or bereavement
you already have a master’s degree, or a qualification that’s equivalent or higher
you’re behind in repayments for any previous loans from the Student Loans Company

How and When to Apply

Applications are now open to apply for student finance funding if you’re starting a postgraduate course for the 2023-24 academic year. Applications are also open for continuing students.

It can take up to six weeks to process, so apply now to make sure your funding is in place in time to start your course.

The quickest and easiest way to apply is online via the gov.uk website.

Interest and Repayment

A Postgraduate Master’s Loan has to be repaid and interest will be charged from the day the first payment is made to the student.
Interest will normally be charged at the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 3%.
They’ll be due to start making repayments the April after they finish or leave their course. They will only start repaying when their income is over £21,000 per year (before tax and other deductions).
If a student’s circumstances change during the year, this can affect their entitlement. If we pay the student more than they’re entitled to, this means they’ve been overpaid. We’ll ask students to repay any overpayments at the earliest opportunity, including whilst they’re in study and earning under the threshold.

Find out more about repayment at www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan