Who is eligible for student loans ?
The student loans for tuition are paid directly to your university upon enrolment and are for your year of study. Your maintenance student loan covers your extra costs, such as rent, food, enrichment, equipment, field trips, materials, stationary, etc., basically anything you may need to be able to live in relative comfort whilst you are studying.
If you are applying for student loans on Student Finance England, you can opt to apply for either the tuition fee loan or the maintenance loan, alternatively you can apply for both. You can complete your application form online or by post, however it is important to note it may take a considerable amount of time before you receive notification which of the student loans you are entitled to.
On the Student Finance England website there is an entitlement calculator you can use to assess your eligibility. If the calculator says you are eligible, these are only guidelines and you should not pin your hopes on this being accurate, only when you have fully applied will you know if you are entitled.
Once you have read through all of the documents explaining your application, you can apply. Once you have received notification of the amount of student loan you are entitled to, you take the letter to registration and the amount will be paid directly into your account.
After your initial year of study, you must not forget that student loans have to be applied for annually. Once you attain your qualification and leave education to move onto working life, your student loan is to be paid back with interest.
But there is no need to stress, as once you begin working and are earning £18,000 yearly, your student loan is paid for automatically out of your wages. If it is a better option, you can make payments to cover your debt whatever you are earning. The Student Finance England student loans company will send you annual statements of how much you owe and you can make payments to them using the form they send.
It is a comforting thought that when embarking upon your first higher-level qualification that you aren't going to be in any financial distress. Whatever method of finance you apply for, student loans or unsecured loans, it is a sigh of relief to know that you needn't use your precious studying time for a job, allowing you to focus entirely on gaining your qualification. Take a look online and see all of the options for student loans available to you and whether you meet the criteria. It's worth applying.