What to Expect from Student Finance

If you’re going to university in September, then you should have already applied for Student Finance and most likely know what you’re entitled to over the next few years. But what exactly should you expect?

(This applies to English student finance and, of course, could be different in other countries)

When you get paid:

Your loan comes in three parts. The first part will be paid within the first few weeks of starting university. Nothing gets paid until your enrolment on your course, when the university confirms to student finance that you are at university. It can take a couple of weeks, but the first instalment of the loan and grant comes through then.

The second instalment comes at the beginning of January, the beginning of the second term at university, so long as your still on your course, of course, and the third instalment comes at the beginning of April.

Loan vs grant:

Your maintenance loan and your maintenance grant come through at the same time. The amount of grant and loan depend on how much your house hold earns and, really, the only difference between the two is that the maintenance loan will be added to the overall loan you will have to pay back (someday, providing you earn over a certain amount), but the maintenance grant will never have to be paid back (unless you drop out of your course, but that’s another matter).

How do I pay the university?

You don’t.

Well, if you’re getting student finance to pay your tuition fees, you don’t. If you’re not, then you need to seek out advice from you university.

If student finance is paying your tuition fees, the money does not go into your bank. Not for a second. Student finance pay it straight to your university. You don’t need to worry about it at all.

Is it enough to live on?

This depends on how much you receive, and whether you will get any grants or bursaries from your university. For me, if was plenty enough to live on but a flat mate of mine didn’t even get enough to cover his accommodation (and we were in the cheapest halls of residence the university offered).