Full-time UK undergraduate funding

If you plan to live away from home, you can apply for a means-tested loan of up to £10,227 each year for your living expenses which is paid into your bank account at the beginning of each term. If you live with your parents during your studies, the maximum loan is £8,610.

To work out how much you could get, you need to know whose income and what portion of that income counts. Please see the means-tested section on this page. 

You may be eligible for a higher level of living cost support if you’re a single parent responsible for a child or entitled to benefits such as Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance. This is called the Special Support element and means up to the first £4,327 of your living cost funding is disregarded for benefits assessment purposes.

As UWE Bristol's academic year is longer than 30 weeks each year, our students may receive an additional amount of loan each year, taking this total means-tested loan for living expenses up to £10,777 each year, or up to £9,160 each year if you live with your parents during your studies. Entitlement to the additional weeks loan is affected by household income above £39,796.

If you usually live in Wales but will be studying in England, you can apply for living cost support (made up of a mix of grant and loans) of £12,150 if you plan to live away from home. If you choose to live at home while studying, you can apply for living cost support of up to £10,315. Both support options are subject to Student Finance Wales eligibility rules.

You’ll be considered for a higher level of living cost support if you’re a single parent responsible for a child or entitled to benefits such as Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance. This is called a Special Support Grant and means up to the first £5,575 of your living cost funding is disregarded for benefits assessment purposes.

The information in the Finance at a glance – Student Finance Wales section provides an indication of the financial support you may be entitled to if you’re a full-time undergraduate student – either living away from home during your studies, or living at home based on household income.

As UWE Bristol's academic year is longer than 30 weeks each year, our students will receive an additional amount of extra weeks loan each year, taking the total maintenance funding up to £12,860 each year if you live away from home, or up to £10,785 each year if you live with your parents during your studies. 

If you're on a paid or unpaid placement, you're eligible for a reduced living cost loan from Student Finance England (SFE) of £3,098 (£4,350 for London placement or £2,324 if living with your parents).

If you're on a paid or unpaid placement, you're eligible for a reduced living cost loan from Student Finance Wales (SFW) of £5,575 (£7,085 for London placement or £4,655 if living with your parents).

If you're on an unpaid placement in one of the following institutions, you'll be eligible for the full package of funding from SFE/SFW as for a standard year of study:

• a hospital or in a public health service laboratory or with a clinical commissioning group in the UK
• a local authority in the UK acting in the exercise of its functions relating to the care of children and young persons health or welfare, or with a voluntary organisation providing facilities or carrying out activities of a similar nature in the UK
• a local authority acting in the exercise of public health functions
• the prison or probation and aftercare service in the UK
• a UK institution doing unpaid research
• a Special Health Authority, the NHS Commissioning Board, the National Institute for Care and Excellence, the Health and Social Care Information Centre, a Local Health Board, a Health Board or a Special Health Board in Scotland, or a Health and Social Services Board in Northern Ireland
• unpaid service in the UK Parliament.

Please note: Students on placements are not eligible for Disabled Students Allowances.

If you are under 25 on 1 September, Student Finance will normally consider you to be dependent on your parents and it is your parents household income that they will use to determine how much maintenance loan (or Grant if you're from Wales) you get each year. Student Finance will therefore want the income details of your parents.

If you are dependent on your parents, Student Finance will want income details for both parents if they are living together. If they are not living together, Student Finance will want the details of the parent with whom you have lived most recently or have most contact with. If your parent is living with a partner, civil partner or spouse, then Student Finance will need their details too.

If you are 25 or over, you will be considered to be an independent student and therefore your parents income will be ignored. Instead of your parents income, you will need to provide the income details of your co-habiting partner or spouse.

There are some circumstances in which you can be considered to be independent even if you are under 25. See the independent status and funding section below.

If you are an independent student under the age of 25, only the income of your spouse or civil partner is included. If you are single and independent, then Student Finance will just use your income in the means-test. 

To be considered for the UWE Bursary, Student Finance will need to have assessed your household income to calculate your entitlement to student funding. With your consent and that of your parents or partner, details of your household income from a previous financial year are sent to the University. Please ensure that consent has been provided in order for UWE Bristol to assess you for a bursary.

Student Finance assumes that you are the financial responsibility of your parents unless you can prove otherwise. This is up to the age of 25. Once you turn 25 you are automatically considered to be independent. There are also circumstance in which you can be considered to be independent even if you are under 25. The following circumstances are ones that indicate that you are 'independent' from your parents:

• if you have had a child
• if you have been married or in a civil partnership
• if you have been in care
• if you have supported yourself for 36 months (see self-support below)
• if you are irreconcilably estranged from your parents (see estrangement below)

This is not an exhaustive list, and you may wish to seek further advice if you feel that you should be assessed as independent.

You will need to provide evidence of earnings or benefit receipt for 36 months prior to the start of your course. The 36 months do not have to be consecutive; they can include any month where you earned enough.

There is no fixed amount but, as a rough guide, earning more than £8,000 per year may be seen as sufficient. Evidence could include wage slips, P60s and benefit award notices.

For parents or partners, SFE/SFW will need the gross taxable income for the tax year 2022/23 to determine the students funding entitlement for academic year 2024/25, and tax year 2023/24 for 2025/26 funding, and so on. You must reapply for your funding each academic year.

For the student, SFE/SFW will need an estimate of unearned taxable income (for example, money you receive in rent if you are a landlord) for the academic year of your studies. SFE/SFW ignore income from your part-time earnings (except job release or secondment earnings).

If your household income has dropped by 15% since the financial year used for the assessment, let SFE/SFW know and they may be able to increase your funding by using the 'current' financial year. You can only do this if your household income was originally above £25,000 for students funded by Student Finance England, or above £18,370 for students funded by Student Finance Wales. Seek advice from UWE Student Money Service if your circumstances change. You will need to complete a current year income assessment form. See the SFE website or SFW website for further details.

Student Finance may class you as 'irreconcilably estranged' from your parents if your relationship with them has completely broken down and, if you have no, or very limited, contact with them and there is no expectation that this will change.

You are classed as estranged if you are 'irreconcilably estranged' from your parents on or before the first day of the academic year (1 September for September course starts) for which you can be applying for funding.

To claim independence on the basis of estrangement, you will need to source a supporting letter/s from third party professionals who are aware of the circumstances. This can include:

• a letter from a social worker (if you have one) or a police or social services report
• a letter from an advice worker, personal tutor or teacher, confirming your circumstances
• a letter from your doctor to confirm your circumstances
• if you claimed Income Support when you were under 18 years old, you can provide a letter from your local Jobcentre Plus office showing that you received benefits because of your situation.

Current students

If you are a current student and would like some advice about proving estrangement to a funding body, or if you are having difficulty proving estrangement, please contact a UWE Bristol Student Money Adviser. You can get in touch by completing an online InfoHub enquiry and the team will respond afterwards. This enquiry will ask you a series of questions about your circumstances so that we are best placed to answer your query as efficiently as possible.

You may also want to visit the Standalone website for guidance.

Prospective students

If you are a prospective student and would like some advice about proving estrangement to a funding body, or if you are having difficulty proving estrangement, please contact a UWE Bristol Student Money Adviser by emailing sms@uwe.ac.uk.

You may also want to visit the Standalone website for guidance.

Estranged students may qualify for the UWE Cares bursary and pastoral support.

If you're a full-time student funded by Student Finance England, commencing studies from 1 August 2023, you'll have a plan 5 student loan and will start to repay your tuition and maintenance loan in the April after leaving your course – but only when you're earning over the threshold which is £25,000 (gross).

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

Interest is charged on the loan during and after studies. The interest is set at the Retail Price Index (RPI) + 0%.

The RPI is usually set in September each year. To protect borrowers in periods when inflation is high, the government has typically capped the interest rate at somewhere between 6% to 8%. 

If you're a full-time student funded by Student Finance Wales (or Student Finance England and commenced your course between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023) you will have a plan 2 loan. You'll start to repay your tuition and maintenance loan in the April after leaving your course – but only when you're earning over the threshold which is £27,295 (gross).

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 £27,295 (gross) during the tax year.

If you earn less than £27,295 (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 30 years after the April you were first due to repay.

Interest and inflation

Interest is charged on the loan during and after studies.

The interest rate is set at the Retail Price Index (RPI) which is a measure of inflation + 3% during studies. 

After studies the interest is set at RPI + up to 3% (dependant on income). 

The RPI is usually set in September each year. To protect borrowers from rising inflation the government has capped the interest rate for 2022-23 as follows:

• 1 September 2022 to 30 November 2022: 6.3%
• 1 December 2022 to 28 February 2023: 6.5%
• 1 March 2023 onwards: 7.3%.

Student Finance Wales will be reviewing the repayment terms for students commencing studies 2024-25 onwards.

If you have a plan 5 loan you will start repaying the loan from the April after leaving your course and once your earning over the threshold of £25,000. Repayments will be 9% of income above £25,000, so the amount repaid each month will depend on earnings. For example, someone earning £31,000 gross taxable income would initially make repayments of £45 per month.

If you borrow the maximum fee loan and maintenance loan for each year of a three-year course, your outstanding balance will be approximately £57,684 + interest. How much of this student loan debt you'll actually repay, i.e. how much your degree will cost you, will depend on how much you earn as a graduate in the 40 years after you graduate/leave your course.

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. This repayment threshold will start to increase annually (which is good for the student) from April 2027. 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.

Check your registration status by logging on to MYUWE and following the 'Go to online registration' link in the Registration box. If you are fully funded for tuition fees by Student Finance and we have received details of that funding, you will be fully registered.

Remember to keep checking back on MYUWE to see if your information has been updated.

Please note: If you receive your notification of entitlement and it does not show UWE Bristol as your institution, the University will not receive your funding information from Student Finance, even if you are studying at one of our partner colleges. You can log in to your Student Finance account online to amend the institution on your application. You should do this as soon as possible to ensure the University receives your funding information and your tuition fees.

If your notification of entitlement does not show a tuition fee loan, you will need to make arrangements to pay the tuition fees yourself. If you think you should be entitled to a tuition fee loan, contact Student Finance to find out why you have not been awarded one.

Find out why your funding is delayed: If you have applied online you can track the progress of your application via your online student finance portal. If this doesn't provide the information needed you can contact your funding provider.

If you want someone else (such as a UWE Bristol Money Adviser) to contact Student Finance on your behalf, you will need to set up consent to share and provide a joint password for you and the third party. You can set up consent to share with Student Finance via your online account (you can also set it up by writing or phone).