Part-time UK undergraduate funding

This information is for students living in England looking to apply for funding from Student Finance England (SFE). Don't forget to check whether you're eligible for the UWE Bursary.

You can get information on the funding available for students from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales from Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Student Finance Northern Ireland, and Student Finance Wales.

For more information, please watch Student Finance England's video guides:

• Introduction to student finance for part-time students
• How and when to apply for student finance for part-time courses.

If you already have an honours degree, you won't qualify for financial support from SFE unless you are studying a part-time course in one of the STEM subjects including Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths. See further information on Equivalent or lower Qualification (ELQ).

If you have other previous study but have not achieved the qualification, this could affect the number of years funding you are entitled to. Please contact a Money Adviser or your funding body to find out how this may affect you.

To qualify, you'll need to register on a designated part-time course that is equivalent to at least 25% of a full-time degree course (30 credits or more), and you'll need to be classified as a Home (UK) student or meet other specified residency criteria. View full eligibility criteria.

The tuition fees charged for part-time courses depends on the number of credits you study each academic year.

Tuition fees for most part-time courses are charged on a pro-rata basis, so 50% of a full-time course would cost £4,625 per academic year.

You can apply for a non means-tested loan up to £6,935 each year.

You can choose to borrow a lesser amount (or none) and pay the difference (or all of your tuition fees) up front each year. The fee loan is paid directly to the University. Find out how and when you repay your loan.

You can apply for a means-tested loan each year for your living expenses, which is paid into your bank account at the beginning of each term.

Course intensity

How much loan you can get depends firstly on your ‘course intensity’. Course intensity measures your course each year compared to an equivalent full-time course. To work this out, you need to know how many module credits you'll study when you apply for the loan. The table below shows the maximum maintenance loan amounts per academic year depending on the intensity of your course, ie the number of credits you're studying per academic year.

Household income

How much loan you can get depends secondly on your parents' or partner's household income. This can reduce the living cost loan because it is means-tested based on this income. To work out how much you could get, you need to know whose income and what portion of that income counts.

Students living away from home with a household income (parents' or partner's) above £25,000 gross taxable income lose £1 of loan for every complete £6.84 of income above £25,000, until the amount they receive reaches 46.6% of the maximum amount, at which point there is no further reduction.

Students living with their parents lose £1 of loan for every complete £6.91 of income above £25,000, until the amount they receive reaches 44% of the maximum amount.

Maximum maintenance loan per academic year

The figures below are correct for the 2024/25 academic year.

Intensity of study per academic year	Max maintenance loan for students living away from home based on 100% amount of £10,227	Max maintenance loan for students living with their parents based on 100% amount of £8,610
75% (full-time equivalent rate) = 90 credits	£7,670.25	£6,457.50
66.6% = 80–85 credits	£6,811.18	£5,734.26
50% = 60–75 credits	£5,113.50	£4,305.00
33.3% = 40–55 credits	£3,405.59	£2,867.13
25% = 30–35 credits	£2,556.75	£2,152.50

You can also use the online student finance calculator.

Student Loans: a guide to terms and conditions

If you're funded by Student Finance England, commencing studies from 1 August 2023, you'll have a plan 5 student loan. If you're a part-time student, you'll become liable to repay from the April after your fourth year of study, but only if you're earning over £25,000 (gross) during the tax year.

If you earn less than £25,000 (gross) during the tax year then no repayment will be required during that tax year. You will repay 9% of the amount you earn over the threshold amount. Any remaining loan is written off 40 years after the April you were first due to repay.

Interest and inflation

The interest rate is based on the Retail Price Index (RPI), which is a measure of inflation. You can find up-to-date information on interest rates on the gov.uk website.

Rate of repayment

Repayments will be 9% of income above £25,000 so the amount repaid each month will depend on earnings.

The table below illustrates how much of your student loan debt you would repay monthly and annually based on the current repayment threshold, based on the following income levels. The higher your earnings, the more you repay. The lower your earnings, the less you repay. Any outstanding student loan debt is then completely written off after 40 years. The debt will not be passed on to anyone in the event of death.

Annual income	Net monthly income	Monthly repayment	Annual repayment	40 year repayment
£25,000	£1,725	£0	£0	£0
£27,000	£1,838	£15	£180	£7,200
£31,000	£2,065	£45	£540	£21,600
£36,000	£2,348	£82.50	£990	£39,600
£41,000	£2,631	£120	£1,440	£57,600
£46,000	£2,915	£157.50	£1,890	£75,600

Due to faith or conscience some students may be deterred from taking out the UK government's student loans, due to the interest payment system. 

UK government student finance loans

Student finance undergraduate loans incur interest on the repayments. For students commencing studies from 2023-24 or later the interest charged is set at the Retail Price Index (RPI) + 0%. Some elements of Student Finance are not repayable. These include supplementary grants for dependants and disabled students allowance.

Student Finance England plan to make significant changes to the undergraduate funding system for students commencing courses from 2025-26, when they will bring in Life Long Learning Entitlement. Part of the commitment is to introduce alternative student funding which will be Sharia compliant, however this will not be in place until after 2025.

Alternative sources of funding

If you do not wish to take out student finance loans you will need to source alternative funding to cover both living costs and tuition fees. The following websites may be useful:

• UWE scholarships
• National Zakat Foundation
• Scholarship Hub
• Family Action

Other options

Other options to consider are:

• studying part time so that you have more time for paid employment or possible eligibility for welfare benefits such as Universal Credit.
• Studying on a degree apprenticeship which is fully funded by your employer and you will earn a salary whilst studying.