How much student loan can I get?
The amount of student loan you can get for living costs varies depending on your circumstances. The loan covers 52 weeks from the first day of the academic year of your course. The amount of loan you can get depends on your family's income. In general, the maximum and minimum loan amounts for courses that last for 30 weeks are:
- £4,585 (Maximum) or £620 (Minimum) if you are living in your parents' home;
- £5,570 (Maximum) or £940 (Minimum) if you are living away from home and studying outside London ; or
- £6,690 (Maximum) or £940 (Minimum) if you are living away from home and studying in London .
You will get extra loan payments for each week you have to study on the course over 30 weeks and three days as follows:
- £56 if you are living in your parents' home;
- £85 if you are living away from home and studying outside London; or
- £109 if you are living away from home and studying in London.
If your course is longer than the standard 30 weeks, the additional loan amounts apply to the income-assessed loan only. This means that if you are only eligible for or have applied for the non income-assessed loan only, you will not be entitled to any extra week payments.
Do I have to pay back my student loan?
Yes. By law, you have to repay your loan. If you fail to make repayments that are due, the Student Loan Company (SLC) has the right to accelerate your debt. This means that they can get a court order to make you repay the total loan in a single payment. This can be enforced in the courts as a civil debt whether you are in the UK or living abroad.
How do I pay back my student loan?
You will not normally have to make any repayments while you are studying, unless you want to. You start repaying the student loan after you leave your course, get a job and are earning over £15,795 a year (in other words, the repayment is income-contingent).
Most students will repay their loans through HM Revenue and Customs either by employers taking amounts from pay through the PAYE system or through the tax self-assessment process. How quickly you repay your loan will generally depend on how much you earn. You can also make voluntary payments, at any time, direct to the SLC.
When do I start to repay my student loan?
You will normally start making repayments from 6 April of the year following the date you leave your course. The SLC will write to you before you start making payments to tell you how they will collect.
Repayments are not over a fixed period, but the level of repayments will rise and fall in line with your income.
You can pay off your loan more quickly by making extra repayments straight to SLC. This can include making payments before your start date, or if you earn less than £15,795 a year . If you choose to make extra repayments, it will not affect the amount of repayments you have to make through your employer or HM Revenue and Customs. The SLC have a website dedicated to the repayment of student loans.
Do I pay interest on my student loan?
Yes. Student loans are not commercial loans. The government subsidises the actual cost of interest on the loans, so they do not attract the same rates of interest as a loan from a bank or building society.
Interest on the amount you owe will be linked to inflation - in line with the retail price index (RPI) - so the value of the amount you pay back will be about the same in real terms as the value of the amount you borrowed. This will apply as long as the loan lasts and will include any time when you are not studying or not repaying the loan, as well as when you are repaying the loan.
How do you pay my student loan?
The SLC pay any support due on a monthly basis. This applies to all students studying an HNC, HND, Degree or PGDE at a Scottish college or university. For postgraduate students (except those doing a PGDE) and students studying at a UK institution outside Scotland, any support due will be paid at the start of each term or semester.
When we process your application for a loan, we will send you an award notice which will show the monthly break down of any bursary and grants you are entitled to, plus the full loan amount you are entitled to. We then send this information electronically to the SLC who in turn will issue you with a Loan Payment Schedule. This will show the monthly break down of any loan you are entitled to. You should take this with you when you enrol on your course so the payments can be released.
I have not received my student loan payment schedule?
If you have received an award notice from us that shows you are entitled to a loan, you will receive a Loan Payment Schedule from the SLC which will show the monthly break down of any loan you are entitled to. If you have not received your loan payment schedule before your course starts, you should contact the SLC on 0845 026 2019.
I applied for the income-assessed loan but have been given the non-income assessed loan?
Depending on the level of your own, your parents' or your husband's, wife's or partner's income, we may only be able to give you the non-income assessed loan. If the contribution we expect you or your parents or your husband, wife or partner to make is more than the income assessed part of the loan, you will only receive the non-income assessed loan. You can find the amount we expect you or them to contribute on the back page of your award notice. You can find out the relevant income and non-income assessed loan rates that you are entitled to in the financial support section of this site.