Why it's important they get your household income details quickly
If you haven’t finished your student finance application, you need to do it now to give Student Finance England time to process your application. It’s also important that your parent(s) or partner support your application as soon as possible. This will help them make sure you get the full amount of student finance on time for the start of your course.
If you find yourself applying after the deadline, or your parent(s)’ or partner’s details are missing, Student Finance England is on hand to give you guidance on what happens.
Estranged students
You could apply as an estranged student if:
- you haven’t had any contact with either of your parents for 12 months or more; or
- your relationship with your parents has broken down within the last 12 months and you don’t expect this to change in the near future
If you apply as an estranged student, your parents won’t need to send their financial information.
You may also be assessed as estranged if you later stop contact with your parents or meet any of the estrangement criteria later in the academic year. Each estrangement application is looked at on a case by case basis.
Find out more on our page for estranged students.
Applying close to the start of your course
If you apply less than four weeks before the start of your course, Student Finance England will work out how much you could get without taking your household income into account. This makes sure you’ll have some money ready for the start of your course, but it may not be the full amount you’re expecting.
You’ll receive your student finance entitlement letter with the smaller payment amount. Once Student Finance England has all the information they need from your parent(s) or partner, they will update the amounts, and make sure you’re paid any difference as soon as possible.
How long will it take to get the full amount of student finance?
To help speed up the progress of your student finance application, sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/studentfinance to make sure there’s nothing else they need from you. If they’ve got everything they need, Student Finance England will be in touch soon with your updated entitlement letter.
If Student Finance England is still missing information from your parent(s) or partner, they’ll need to give them this as soon as possible, to make sure you get the right amount of student finance. They can do this online at www.gov.uk/studentfinance. Your parents will have their own login details, and should use these to provide their details.