Students in England
Students living in England can apply for a student loan towards the cost of any of our postgraduate courses. Student loans aren’t based on household income, although there are some important conditions you have to meet.
For postgraduate student loans you must be:
You won’t be able to get a postgraduate loan if:
For all student loans:
Generally, you’ll only get student finance if you’re doing your first higher education qualification at each level. However, you may still get it if you change course, you leave your course but decide to start again, or you’re ‘topping up’ a higher education qualification; e.g. you’ve finished an HNC, HND or foundation degree and now want to do an Honours degree.
If you’re a resident of England, find out more about postgraduate loans.
Students in Scotland
Residents of Scotland can’t claim funding for our courses.
Students from EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals
The UK government announced on 23 June 2020 that EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals would no longer be eligible for postgraduate loans from Student Finance England. This didn’t affect EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals benefitting from Citizens’ Rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. For more information, please visit Student Support in England.
Please see the UK government’s website for additional information for EU students about postgraduate student finance options.
Loan repayments
If you finance your course using a government-backed student loan from Student Finance England, then you’ll be due to start repaying your loan through your employer’s Pay as You Earn (PAYE) system.
You’ll start repayment in the April four years after the start of your course or the April after you leave your course – whichever comes first.
However, you’ll only start making repayments if you’re in work and your income is more than £21,000 a year for postgraduate loans, and any outstanding balance will be written off after 30 years. If your income falls below the repayment threshold, your repayments will stop and only restart when your income is over the threshold again.
Your monthly repayments will be based on your income, not how much you borrowed. For postgraduate student loans, you’ll only pay back 6% of any income above £21,000. You’ll be charged interest on your postgraduate loan from the day you get your first payment.
If you have both an undergraduate and a postgraduate student loan, you’ll pay back both at the same time.
Approximate monthly repayment of your postgraduate loan
| Income each year before tax | Monthly income before tax | Approximate monthly repayment |
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £0 |
| £22,000 | £1,833 | £4 |
| £23,500 | £1,958 | £12 |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £19 |
| £27,000 | £2,250 | £30 |
| £30,000 | £2,500 | £45 |
There’s also no charge on graduates who wish to repay their tuition fee loan early.
If you’re a resident of another country, your repayment schedule will vary.
Applying for a tuition fee loan
Call us on +44 (0) 151 318 4466 and our specialist student finance team will guide you through your application.
Please note, our team can advise you on your eligibility and the student loan process but the final decision about your fee loan will be made by the Student Loans Company.
Your loan needs to be approved by the Student Loans Company before the course start date.
Students from the USA
Distance learning (i.e. online) programmes provided in partnership with Kaplan Open Learning are ineligible for Title IV aid (Direct Loans) in accordance with Federal regulations (34 C.F.R. 600.51(d) and 668.10(d))
Students undertaking Distance Learning provided by the University of Liverpool can apply for Private Loans to help cover tuition costs.’
