9 things to know about student finance as a mature student in 2024
Money doesn’t need to be a barrier to university, says External Liaison Officer John Lees from the Lifelong Learning Centre.
Worried about your money? Understanding your money, how to budget, how to make more of your money and knowing what to do if things are going wrong are essential skills for life. Here are links and guides to help keep your finances on track.
There can be a lot to take in when thinking about university as an adult and how you’re going to pay for it can understandably be a worry, particularly if you’ve got a family to care for and bills to pay. There are lots of myths out there about student finance including headlines declaring students leave university with unmanageable debt. The reality about student loans, however, is very different.
It’s important to know the facts to help you decide on your next steps — in this blog I’m going to go through some of the key things I think you should know about student finance as a mature learner.
- Don’t let the fear of unmanageable debt put you off going to university — you don’t have to pay anything upfront!
That’s right — there’s no expectation that you’ll need to pay upfront for your studies. No deposit or down payment is necessary. Most students studying at university in England receive a tuition fee loan from Student Finance England for each year of study which is paid directly to their university. So, you don’t even need to worry about transferring the money yourself — nice and simple.
Check your eligibility for student finance
2. You can get a living costs loan
Most full time and some part time students may also qualify for a maintenance loan. This is provided to help with some of your living costs whilst you study, and you’ll receive it in three instalments for each year of your studies. It’s entirely up to you how you use your maintenance loan and depending on your household income you could receive between £3,790 and £10,227 per year of your studies for full time study and up to £5,114 per year for part time study (if you were to begin studying in September 2024). The amount of maintenance loan you’ll receive each year is based on your household income.
See what counts as your household income
3. It’s all about how much you repay, not the amount you take out
Now this is a big one for a lot of people, and understandably so. The main concern many have is: ‘how will I ever manage to pay such a large sum of money back?’ When it comes to repayments what’s important is not really the amount you’ve borrowed but how much you earn after your studies.
After you’ve finished your degree, you’ll only begin to pay back your student loan once you’re earning above £25,000 per year in taxable income (if you were to begin studying in September 2024). Earn less than this amount and you don’t pay anything back, irrespective of how much you borrowed. You’ll pay 9% of your earnings above £25,000.
So, for example, if you earn £26,000 per year, you’ll pay back £90 per year.
4. Repayments work like a tax
The word ‘loan’ is a bit of a red herring as student finance repayments work like a tax rather than a traditional bank loan. It’s essentially a graduate tax or contribution that only kicks in when you earn over the set threshold. Student finance repayments are deducted automatically from your wages if you’re employed just like income tax and stop if your earnings drop to below £25,000. If you never earn above the threshold you don’t pay anything back.
5. The loan is wiped after 40 years
Another key difference to a traditional bank loan is that your student loan is wiped after 40 years, regardless of how much or little you’ve paid back. If you never earn above the threshold then you’ll never pay your student loan back. The loan also won’t pass on to family members should anything happen to you.
6. Extra financial support is available for parents and carers
For full time students, Student Finance England also offer support for students with children or caring responsibilities that you won’t have to pay back, and which comes in addition to your tuition loan and maintenance loan. Eligible students with children could get between £50 and £1,963 a year, depending on your household income, from the Parent’s Learning Allowance. A Childcare Grant is also provided to eligible students which could cover up to 85% of your costs if you need childcare whilst you’re studying.
7. Support for students with a disability
If you have a disability, long term health condition or specific learning difference such as dyslexia then you could also qualify for additional financial support from the Disabled Students’ Allowance for study costs related to your course. The Disabled Students’ Allowance is provided by Student Finance England, comes in addition to your student loan and you don’t have to pay it back.
8. Your university may be able to provide you with additional money you might not know about
It’s not always very well-known but your university may provide additional financial support that could be as much as a few thousand pounds a year. This is in addition to whatever you get from Student Finance England and generally won’t need to be paid back. Criteria for university bursaries and who’s eligible will vary at each institution so it’s important to do your own research here.
Find out more about Leeds University Financial Support including who is eligible and how much you might qualify for.
9. It’s a good idea to apply early for student finance
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t sure what university you’ll be attending or what course you’ll be doing — apply anyway. It’s much easier to change or cancel an existing application than start a new application when it might be too late. Go with your first choice of university and course — you can easily change these later.
Applying early means you’ll have plenty of time to get everything sorted for when you start your course and it’ll be one less thing for you to worry about. Student finance generally opens for full-time students in early spring and for part-time students in the summer.
Apply online for student finance
Please note this blog is for general information only — we recommend that anyone considering higher education gets specialist advice about what finance they may be entitled to from the Lifelong Learning Centre. Figures in this blog are based on information provided by Student Finance England for the 2024/2025 academic year.
