What is a Maintenance Loan ?

A maintenance loan means you will receive funding for your day to day expenses directly into your bank account. This money will have to be paid back, but only after you start earning £25,000 and if you lose your job or fall on hard times then your payments will stop. In other words, a student maintenance loan is a sum of money for living costs. This money arrives in the form of a loan and is available to all students eligible for Student Finance England The amount distributed per student will depend on where and when the applicant studies.

How much Maintenance Loan will I get?

Short answer – it depends on your living arrangements and household income. The maximum maintenance loan available is £11,800 per annum but this is only applicable if you are living in London away from the family home. The average student will be given around £3,000 per term… which when factoring rent and living costs isn’t that much.

When is the Maintenance Loan paid?

Student Maintenance loans payments are released in three installments. You should receive your maintenance loan at the start of each term. Typically this means you will receive funds in:

• - January
• - April
• - September (if you are starting a new term)

What is additional Maintenance Loan?

Make sure to not confuse additional maintenance loan with extra student maintenance. The two terms sound similar but have two different meanings:

Additional Maintenance Loan

You can often (but not always) get an additional maintenance loan if your course is longer than the regular 30 weeks. This will really depend on the course you are doing and is taken on a case by case basis.

Extra Student Maintenance

You can receive extra student maintenance if you fall under one of the groups below:

Student Maintenance loans payments are released in three installments. You should receive your maintenance loan at the start of each term. Typically this means you will receive funds in:

• - Single parents with a child under 20
• - A married couple both in education with a child under 20
• - Have a disability
• - Qualify for housing benefit
• - Have been incapable of working for 28 weeks
• - Have been certified as being ill or had a caring responsibility
• - More info can be found on the SFE website

What does my maintenance loan cover?

Once you receive your maintenance loan you should immediately work out a realistic budget. It will need to cover the following:

• - Rent (if you are living away from home)/Bills/Food/Transport costs/ Social events… be careful not to overspend here / Household goods (soap, washing up liquid,..) / Books

Childcare Grant & Parents’ Learning Allowance

You can receive a Childcare Grant (CCG) towards the cost of your childcare if you have children in registered and approved childcare.:

In academic year 2017/18 and 2018/19 you can receive up to 85% of your childcare costs up to a maximum of:

£161.50 a week for one child; or
£274.55 a week for two or more children.

You won’t qualify for this grant if either you or your partner claim the childcare element of Working Tax Credits, Universal Credit, Tax-free Childcare from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or NHS funded childcare grants.

How repayments are calculated

Your employer will take repayments from your salary during any pay period where your earnings before tax are over the weekly or monthly threshold.

By pay period, we mean each time you receive your salary. This could be every:

• - Week
• - Four weeks
• - Calendar month

How to work out your monthly repayment amount

• Take away £25,000 from your annual salary before tax
• Work out 9% of the remainder
• Divide that figure by 12
• Round down to the nearest pound

How much will I repay?

You’ll repay 9% of your income above the repayment threshold. The repayment threshold is expected to change to £25,725 a year, £2,143 a month or £494 a week from 6 April 2019.

Here are some examples of what your monthly repayments might be: