Overview
This information is a guide only, as full details for students starting their course in 2021–22 have yet to be confirmed by the UK government.
We await further information from the Department for Education on specific eligibility criteria.
If you are an eligible home student undertaking your first master's degree, you will be able to apply for a loan from the UK government.
The scheme provides non means-tested loans for eligible taught and research master's degrees. The loan can be used as a contribution towards the costs of study including tuition fees and living costs. The loan is paid to you directly in instalments.
Eligible students starting their master’s course in academic year 2021–22 can get a loan of up to £11,570 in total towards the costs of study. (2021–22 maximum level is subject to parliamentary approval later this year).
The deadline to apply depends on when you start your course, see details on gov.uk.
Eligibility
This information is a guide only, as full details for students starting their course in 2021–22 have yet to be confirmed by the UK government.
Eligibility criteria include: nationality and residence, your course, your age and previous study.
Nationality
If you are UK national, who normally lives in England and has lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for the 3 years before starting your course, you may be eligible.
The UK government has signalled its intention that generally EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for home fee status, undergraduate and postgraduate financial support from Student Finance England for courses starting in academic year 2021–22.
However, the government have said that if you’re starting a course on or after 1 August 2021, that these changes will not apply if you are an EU, other EEA and Swiss national benefitting from Citizens’ Rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. Changes will also not apply to Irish nationals living in the UK and Ireland whose right to study and to access benefits and services will be preserved on a reciprocal basis for UK and Irish nationals under the Common Travel Area arrangement. There is no detailed information available yet from the government to explain how this will work nor what funding this refers to.
We suggest you keep checking for further updates from these webpages:
Your course
Your course must lead to a taught or research-based postgraduate master's degree.
This includes:
- Law Conversion LLM
- MA (Master of Arts)
- MBA (Master of Business Administration)
- MEd (Master of Education)
- MPhil (Master of Philosophy) on entry
- MRes (Master of Research) on entry
- MSc (Master of Science).
The course can be full-time or part-time.
Students studying PGCert and PGDip courses are not eligible for the loan.
Students studying undergraduate integrated master’s degree or postgraduate courses which attract the Student Finance England undergraduate loan package, including PGCE and pre-registration health courses are not eligible for the master’s loan.
You must be under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course (eg 1 September).
How to apply
You can apply for a postgraduate loan via gov.uk.
Online application advice: research course titles
As part of the online application process on the Student Finance England (SfE) website, you will need to enter the postgraduate research course title that you are applying for.
Alternative course titles for each university postgraduate research course have been created on the SfE database. This means you will need to find the SfE alternative title for your research course and enter it when you are applying for your postgraduate loan online.
Go to the SfE course titles tab to find your course title. If you can't find your course title, contact our enrolment team who will be able to help: 01273 644777.
Repayment
The postgraduate loans scheme is managed by the Student Loans Company, who will administer payment of the loan and collect repayments from your salary.
Interest will be charged at Retail Price Index (RPI) + 3%, from the day your first loan payment is made until your loan is paid in full.
You need to repay any loan you borrow, but not until you’ve finished or left your course and your income is over the repayment threshold, which is currently £21,000 a year.
Find out more on gov.uk.