Finance for full-time EU students

Applications for full-time undergraduate student finance in 2023/24 are now open!

If you’re a UK national or Irish citizen, settled under the EU settlement scheme or have been granted indefinite leave to remain for other reasons, you could qualify for a Tuition Fee Loan and get help with your living costs.

If you’re an EU national studying full-time in England, you might be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your tuition fees. How much you can get depends on:

• how much your university or college charges
• whether you’re studying at a publicly or privately-funded university or college
• when you started your course

You can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan of up to £9,250 if you're studying at an eligible university or college. If you're studying an accelerated degree course, you could get up to £11,100.

If you're not sure if a course qualifies for student finance, check with the university or college.

You have to pay back any loans you borrow, but not until you’ve finished or left your course, and your income is over the repayment threshold.

Are you an EEA or Swiss national working in the UK during your studies?

You could get the same funding as a UK national – find out more.

You can apply for tuition fee funding if you’ve been living in the UK, the EEA, Overseas Territories or Switzerland for the past 3 years and you have:

• pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and are an EU national or a family member of an EU national
• pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme
• Gibraltarian status as an EU national or family member of an EU national
• been living in the UK on the first day of the first term of your course

You may also be able to apply for tuition fee funding if you're the: 

• family member of a person with settled status in the UK
• family member of a Person of Northern Ireland 
• family member of an Irish Citizen

You must have been living in the UK and Islands for the past 3 years and your family member is resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of the course.

UK nationals and their family members who are resident in Gibraltar and lived in the UK, Gibraltar, the EEA or Switzerland can also apply for tuition fee funding

You can also apply if you have Irish Citizenship and have been living in any of the following for the past 3 years: 

• the UK and/or Ireland
• the UK, Islands and/or specified British Overseas Territories  
• the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or the Overseas Territories

You may be able to prove this status with an EUSS share code. 

You will not be eligible for funding to help with living costs.

Your course must lead to a recognised higher education qualification. The most common examples include:

• first degree (such as a BSc, BA, or BEd)
• foundation degree
• Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE)
• Higher National Diploma (HND)
• Higher National Certificate (HNC)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
• Initial Teacher Training (ITT)
• Certificate of Higher Education
• integrated master’s

You could also be eligible for funding if you’re studying a Level 4 or 5 qualification with HTQ approval e.g., Certificate, Diploma or NVQ. To find out if your course is HTQ approved and qualifies for undergraduate student finance speak to your university or college.

If you've studied before

You can usually only get student finance for your first higher education course.

As a general rule, a Tuition Fee Loan is available for the full length of your course, plus one extra year if needed. For example, if:

• you change your course
• you leave your course but start another
• you need to repeat a year

The number of years for which you are eligible for funding is usually calculated as length of current course + one year – years of previous study.

If you haven’t got enough years of funding left to cover your course, you’ll usually have to cover some of the cost yourself.

You might be able to get an extra year of tuition fee support if you need to repeat a year due to compelling personal reasons, such as bereavement or illness. You would need to provide evidence of this. Depending on your circumstances, this could include:

• medical evidence from your GP
• evidence from social services
• evidence from your university or college

The evidence must:

• confirm the reason you could not complete your year
• provide the dates or period of time your compelling personal reason covered
• be signed and dated by the person providing the evidence (doctor, social worker etc.)

You might also need to provide a valid EUSS share code, in order to prove your Settled or Pre-Settled status. 

Your university or college

You must be studying at an eligible university or college in England.

If you’re applying for tuition fee support and help with living costs, apply online.

If you’re applying for tuition fee support only, application forms are available to download at www.gov.uk/student-finance-forms.

You should fill in a paper application form and send it to Student Finance England at the following address:

Student Finance Services
Student Loans Company
PO Box 89
Darlington
County Durham
United Kingdom
DL1 9AZ

You should apply as early as possible to make sure you get your student finance in time for the start of your course. This might mean applying before you have a confirmed place at university or college, but you should still apply using your first choice and change it later if you need to.

Evidence

The first time you apply you’ll be asked for proof of identity.

You should send us one of the following:

• your passport
• your National Identity card

It’s important that you send this as quickly as possible to avoid any delay in your application being processed.

Changing your details

If any of your details change after you’ve applied for student finance, you must tell your university or college and Student Finance England as soon as possible. You should download an EUCO1 form from www.gov.uk/student-finance-forms and send it to Student Finance England.

More information

The international office at your university or college will be able to help you with general questions about coming to the UK to study.

You can call Student Finance Services if you need help with your finance application, or with working out what you can apply for.

You need to register at your uni or college before we can make your first payment. You’ll usually do this in the first week of your course, and you may have to take your student finance entitlement letter with you.

Your Tuition Fee Loan is paid directly to your university or college in three instalments during the academic year. Your university or college will confirm your attendance to us three times throughout the year to release the payments.

If you decide to take a break or withdraw from your studies, you need to contact Student Finance England, and let your university or college know as soon as possible, so they can tell Student Finance England.  

If you leave your course before term three, Student Finance England won’t make any more Tuition Fee Loan payments to your university or college.

You’ll still be responsible for paying back any Tuition Fee Loan they’ve paid to your university, but not until your income is over the repayment threshold.

If you don’t tell Student Finance England about a change to your circumstances, you might end up being overpaid. In this case, you might have to start repaying earlier and before your income is over the repayment threshold.