Are you figuring out how you’re going to pay for university is often more stressful than picking a course. Between tuition fee loans, maintenance loans, repayment thresholds and a whole separate world of scholarships and bursaries, it’s a lot to take in, especially if you’re the first in your family to apply.
The good news: nobody in the UK is turned away from university because they can’t afford the fees upfront. The government lends you the money, and you only start paying it back once you’re earning above a set threshold.
This guide walks through how that works in 2026/27, plus the extra funding that’s out there if a loan alone doesn’t quite cover it. For the official, always-current figures, gov.uk’s student finance section is the primary source everything below is drawn from.
How UK student loans actually work
Student Finance is the umbrella term for the government-backed loans that fund higher education in the UK. There are two main parts:
- Tuition fee loans, which cover your course fees and are paid straight to your university (you never see this money).
- Maintenance loans, which are paid directly to you to cover living costs like rent, food and travel.
You don’t repay anything until the April after you leave your course, and what you repay each year depends on how much you earn, not on how much you borrowed.
If your income drops, your repayments drop with it, and if you never earn enough, the remaining balance is eventually written off. The Student Loans Company administers the whole system on behalf of the government.
Which repayment plan you’re on depends on when and where you started studying:
| When you started your course | Repayment plan |
|---|---|
| Before September 2012 | Plan 1 |
| September 2012 to July 2023 (England/Wales) | Plan 2 |
| Scotland (any undergraduate) | Plan 4 |
| On or after August 2023 (England/Wales) | Plan 5 |
| Postgraduate master’s or doctoral loan | Postgraduate Loan |
If you’re not sure which one applies to you, check which repayment plan you’re on using the official gov.uk tool; your plan type is also shown on your payslip once repayments start.
Tuition fees for 2026/27
Tuition fee caps rose for the second year running after being frozen at £9,250 for seven years. For the 2026/27 academic year, the maximum fee a university in England can charge home undergraduates is:
- £9,790 for a standard full-time course
- £11,750 for an accelerated (two-year) course
- £7,335 for a part-time course
Scotland remains different: Scottish students studying in Scotland don’t pay tuition fees at all, since the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) covers the cost directly.
Wales and Northern Ireland set their own fee levels through Student Finance Wales and Student Finance NI, which are typically a little lower than England’s.
Whatever your fee is, you can take out a tuition fee loan to cover the full amount. There’s no means-testing on this part, so household income doesn’t affect how much you can borrow for fees.
Repayment thresholds and interest rates in 2026/27
This is the part that changes most often, and it’s worth checking every year because thresholds and rates are usually announced in the autumn Budget. Here’s where things stand for the 2026/27 tax year, per the official gov.uk terms and conditions guide:
| Plan | Repayment threshold (annual) | Interest rate |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | Lower of RPI or Bank of England base rate + 1% |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | Capped at 6% from September 2026 |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £33,795 | Lower of RPI or base rate + 1% |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | RPI only |
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000 | RPI + 3% |
A few things worth knowing about how this actually plays out:
- You repay 9% of everything you earn above the threshold (6% for postgraduate loans), not 9% of your total salary.
- Repayments are calculated per pay period, so a one-off bonus month can trigger a deduction even if your annual income is modest.
- The Plan 2 threshold is set to be frozen at £29,385 until 2030, while Plan 5’s threshold stays at £25,000 until at least 2027. Both are fixed by policy rather than rising automatically with inflation, so the real value of the threshold gradually shrinks over time.
- Interest rates affect how fast your balance grows, not how much you repay monthly; that’s driven entirely by your income and plan type.
- Any remaining balance is written off 30 years after you first became liable to repay (40 years for Plan 5), or if you die or become permanently unfit for work.
You can use the official student loan repayment calculator to see how a given salary translates into monthly repayments on your specific plan.
Postgraduate loans
Are you’re heading into a master’s or PhD, postgraduate loans work a little differently: they’re not means-tested against household income, so everyone eligible can borrow up to the same maximum.
- Postgraduate Master’s Loan: available as a contribution toward course and living costs, paid directly to you rather than your university.
- Doctoral Loan: for PhD study, also paid directly to you in instalments across your course.
You can only take out one postgraduate loan per level of study, so if your course runs longer than expected, there’s no option to reapply for more.
Scholarships, bursaries and grants: the money you don’t pay back
Loans cover the basics, but they don’t always stretch far enough, especially in cities with high rent. This is where scholarships, bursaries and grants come in. Unlike a loan, none of this needs to be repaid.
The three terms get used interchangeably, but they’re usually awarded on different grounds:
- Scholarships, typically for an achievement, academic or otherwise (a strong exam record, excelling in a particular sport or subject).
- Bursaries, awarded based on financial need, often means-tested against household income.
- Grants, which can be tied to either need or specific circumstances, such as disability or being a care leaver.
There’s over £20 million in additional funding available across the UK each year, and individual awards commonly range from around £1,000 to £3,000, on top of, not instead of, your maintenance loan.
Some are one-off payments; others pay out every term or every year of your course.
Where to actually find them:
- Your university’s own funding or financial support pages. Most institutions run scholarships that never get advertised outside their own website.
- Subject-specific bodies and professional associations connected to your field of study.
- National databases that aggregate awards from multiple universities and charities, which save you from checking dozens of sites individually.
- Turn2us, a charity that runs a free grants search tool covering both students and the wider public.
Tips that actually move the needle on applications
- Start early. Committees can tell when an essay was written the night before a deadline.
- Answer the actual question. Not meeting stated eligibility criteria is one of the most common reasons applications get rejected before anyone reads the personal statement.
- Be specific about your own story. Generic answers about “wanting to make a difference” blend into every other application a reviewer sees that week.
- Get a second pair of eyes on it. A teacher, mentor or friend will catch both typos and vague phrasing you’ve stopped noticing.
- Submit before the deadline, not at it. Technical problems have a habit of showing up exactly when you can least afford them.
On using AI tools for applications: they’re genuinely useful for getting past a blank page, for outlining, structuring and tightening grammar.
What they can’t do convincingly is write your personal story, and reviewers increasingly recognise generic AI-written submissions when they see them. Use it to help organise your thoughts, not to write the answer for you.
Extra support for specific circumstances
Beyond general scholarships, there’s targeted funding if any of the following apply to you.
Parents and carers
Childcare Grant, to help with registered childcare costs
Parents’ Learning Allowance, toward course-related expenses
Adult Dependants’ Grant, if a partner or relative depends on you financially
Disabled students
Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), which covers specialist equipment, non-medical helpers and related travel costs, on top of your standard loan
Estranged students
Many universities run dedicated bursaries for students who are estranged from their families, alongside grants from charities that focus specifically on estrangement, such as Stand Alone
Anyone facing unexpected financial hardship
Most universities hold their own hardship funds: means-tested, usually non-repayable, and designed for exactly the kind of unforeseen situation a standard loan wasn’t built to cover.
If you think you might qualify, your university’s Student Services or Funding Office is the right first stop.
They’ll tell you what evidence they need, which usually includes your Student Finance entitlement letter and recent bank statements. Citizens Advice and StepChange are both good independent options if you need broader money guidance alongside this.
Working alongside your studies
If loans and additional funding still leave a gap, part-time work is the other lever most students pull. Common options include:
- On-campus roles through your students’ union, library or student services
- Retail and hospitality work, which builds transferable skills even outside your subject area
- Freelancing, if you already have a marketable skill like writing, design or coding
- Paid research assistant positions, particularly useful if you’re a few years into a research-heavy degree
- Placements, internships and apprenticeships, which combine income with direct industry experience
The bottom line
Between tuition fee loans, maintenance loans, and the growing pool of scholarships and bursaries available on top, most students in the UK can put together a funding package that covers both fees and living costs without paying anything upfront.
The system rewards a bit of homework: checking your repayment plan, applying for scholarships early, and knowing what extra support exists for your specific circumstances can make a genuinely meaningful difference to your finances, both as a student and for years after you graduate.
Figures for interest rates and repayment thresholds are reviewed and can change each year, usually announced in the autumn Budget. It’s worth checking gov.uk directly before making any decisions based on this guide.