Living costs for part-time students

Nationality and residency

UK nationals

You’ll be eligible for student finance if all of the following apply:

• you normally live and work in England
• you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man for three years before starting your course

And you’re:

• a UK national or Irish Citizen, or
• have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or
• granted indefinite leave to remain for other reasons

Lived outside the UK, EU, or EEA?

You can also apply if you’ve been living in the UK, the EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland for the past 3 years and are:

• the child of a Swiss national and you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• an EEA or Swiss worker, or the family member of an EEA or Swiss Worker, and you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or you are an Irish Citizen
• a family member of a UK National - both you and your family member must have lived in the UK, EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland for the past 3 years
• the child of a Turkish worker and you and your Turkish worker parent were in the UK by 31 December 2020, with your parent being granted extended leave to remain beyond that date
• of Chagossian descent and hold British citizenship

If you’ve lived outside the UK, EU, or EEA on a temporary basis, you must have returned to the UK by the start of your course to be eligible for student finance.

You can apply if you have one of the following Home Office statuses:

• Humanitarian protection or the family member of someone with this status
• Stateless status or the family member of someone with this status
• Refugee status or the family member of someone with this status
• Calais leave or the dependent child of someone with Calais leave
• Classed as ‘leave to remain’ under the section 67 of the Immigration act or the dependent child of someone with this status
• You, your parent or step-parent have been given settled status (‘indefinite leave to enter or remain’) because you or your parent have been the victim of domestic violence
• You, your parent or step-parent have been granted indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner
• You or your family member have been granted Leave to Enter or Remain under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS)
• You or your family member have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Extension Scheme

Non-UK nationals

Most EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals starting courses on or after 1 August 2021 will not be eligible for support from Student Finance England.

Students whose courses start before 1 August 2021 will continue to get student finance for the rest of their course. Find out more on GOV.UK.

You could also be eligible if you’re not a UK national and are either:

• under 18 on the first day of your course and have lived in the UK for at least seven years
• 18 or over on the first day of your course and have lived in the UK for at least half of your life or 20 years, whichever is less

You must also:

• have been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for three continuous years before the first day of your course
• have held a form of leave to remain during this time
• be living in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course

You may be eligible for tuition fee only funding if you've been living in the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or overseas territories for the past 3 years and you’re:

• an EU national or a family member of an EU national or a family member of a person of Northern Ireland and you have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement scheme
• an EU national or a family member of an EU national who has resident status in Gibraltar
• an EEA or Swiss worker or a family member of an EEA or Swiss worker; or
• a child of a Swiss national or the child of a Turkish worker and you do not qualify for full support

UK nationals and their family members who have resident status in Gibraltar and lived in the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA or Switzerland for the past three years can also apply for tuition fee funding.

You may also be able to get tuition fee funding if you are a:

• family member of a UK national
• family member of a person with settled status in the UK
• family member of a person of Northern Ireland
• family member of an Irish Citizen

You must have been living in the UK and Islands for the past 3 years and your family member is resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course.

You can also apply if you are a UK national, an Irish Citizen or you have settled status in the UK and you have been living in any of the following for the past 3 years:

• the UK, Islands and/or the specified British Overseas Territories
• the UK Islands and/or Ireland

You can also apply if you have Irish Citizenship and have been living in any of the following for the past 3 years:

• the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or the Overseas Territories, and were resident in the UK on or before 31 December 2020
• the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or Gibraltar, and were resident in the EEA or Switzerland on or before 31 December 2020

You’ll need to tell us all the addresses you’ve lived at in the last five years, and send us original evidence to prove this.

• Examples of evidence you can send include:
  • Council Tax bills
  • utility bills
  • P60s
  • wage slips
  • letters from HMRC
  • Child Tax Credits letters
  • Child Benefit letters
  • tax returns
  • tax calculations
  • bank statements

If you were under 18 at the start of the five year period before your course starts, we can also accept:

• signed/stamped letters on headed paper from your school or college confirming dates of attendance (it must confirm the exact dates)
• a Child Benefit or Child Tax Credits award letters addressed to your parents, with your name listed on the letter
• school reports

Your course must be at an eligible uni or college in the UK, and must be one of the following:

• first degree, e.g. BA, BSc, or Bed
• foundation degree
• Certificate of Higher Education
• Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE)
• Initial Teacher Training (ITT)

You could be eligible for help with living costs if the following Level 4 or 5 qualification has HTQ approval:

• Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
• Higher National Certificate (HNC)
• Higher National Diploma (HND)
• National Vocational Qualification (NVQ)
• Certificates or Diplomas

This list is not complete exhaustive. To find out if your course is HTQ approved and qualifies for undergraduate student finance, speak to your university or college. 

If you’re studying a degree apprenticeship course, you can’t get student finance from Student Finance England. Find out more about degree apprenticeships.

If you’re not sure whether your course qualifies for student finance, check with your university or college.

Course intensity

To be eligible, you must be studying at a course intensity of at least 25% of the equivalent full-time course for each year of study, taking no longer than four times the length of time it would take to complete the course if studied full-time (up to a maximum of 16 years). This is measured by the number of part-time units (such as credits, credit points, or modules) you're studying.

If you're studying a part-time distance learning course, you'll only be able to get a Maintenance Loan if you're studying long distance because you have a disability.

You might also be eligible if you're:

1. a spouse or civil partner living with a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas
2. a child, step-child, or adoptive child living with a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas
3. a dependent parent living with either a child who is a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas, or the child’s spouse or civil partner who is a member of the UK Armed Forces serving overseas

From 1 August 2018, students studying a distance learning course will also be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan if they’re:

• a member of the UK Armed Forces who usually lives in England but is serving in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland
• a relative living with a member of the UK Armed Forces serving in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland

1. Set up a student finance account
   When you register, you’ll be given a unique Customer Reference Number, and you'll need to create a password and secret answer. You should keep these safe, as you’ll need them to sign in to your account to check the progress of your application and reapply for student finance next year.
2. Fill in and submit your application
   The first time you apply, you’ll be asked for proof of identity. You can easily do this by giving Student Finance England your valid UK passport details. If you don’t have a UK passport, you may have to send them evidence. If you want to apply for student finance that depends on your household income, Student Finance England will ask your parent(s) or partner for their income details.
3. Send any evidence Student Finance England asks for
   They may contact you, your parents or your partner, to ask for evidence to support your application.
4. Sign your declaration
   Student Finance England can’t pay you until you do! They’ll process your application and send you a Student Finance Entitlement letter, telling you how much you can get.

To reapply for student finance, sign in to your student finance account and apply online.