The Postgraduate Loan Almanac

An informative read into all and everything you need to know about the Government Master’s Loan.

In this article, we aim to answer the most frequent questions about the Government Postgraduate Loan. We know thousands are searching every day and scrambling to find reasonable answers for questions such as:

Am I eligible for the Postgraduate Loan?

Is my course eligible for postgraduate loan?

Is a part time course eligible for the government masters loan?

Is a distance learning course eligible for the postgraduate loan?

How much is the postgraduate loan in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland?

Is there a maintenance loan for postgraduates?

….and many more. We hope our research below gives you straight and clear answers.

The UK Government Loan for postgraduate studies, introduced in 2016, is continuing to be a very positive force for post graduate education and is already giving a helping hand to hundreds of thousands of students (UK residents only after 31^st December 2020) in achieving their educational aspirations.

This is not, however, a one size fits all loan. The amount you may be eligible for, how it is paid and repaid, vary according to your residence (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland), as well your age and your current, or prior educational attainment.

You may be eligible for a Master’s Loan if you are aged under 60 on the starting date of your course. You’ll also need to be up to date with your payments on previous loans you have taken from Student Finance and not be receiving another type of government student finance loan at the same time. If you already have a Master’s qualification or similar or higher level, you will probably not be eligible for the government loan.

How much you are able to borrow and how that amount can be used, varies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The important criterion here is your residency and not where you are going to study.

England

In England, the maximum amount you can borrow is £11,222 if your course started after the 1^st of August 2020. Over the past three years, this amount has increased.  It is paid in 3 equal instalments (if your course duration is less than 12 months), directly to your bank account (around the start of each term and also depending on how early or late you were to apply) and it is up to you to sort out your budget and finances to use it for the payment of tuition fees and / or maintenance expenses. With the level of tuition fees for postgraduate courses varying widely, this means that for some courses it may more than cover your tuition fees and leave you with a comfortable headroom for your personal expenses, while for others it may only cover a small part of the tuition fees so financial planning and alternative funding sources are required to bridge the gap.

If your course has a longer duration than 12 months or is on a part time basis then the number of payments / instalments from Student Finance England and the amount of each payment will be equally distributed accordingly. The time duration limits rules set by Student Finance England allow for maximum course duration of 2 years if the course is full time, 4 years if it is part time (and in case no more than twice the duration of the equivalent full time course) and exceptionally 3 years for a part time course where a full time equivalent does not exist.

Finally, if you are eligible for a postgraduate loan from Student Finance England you need to apply within 9 months of the first day of the last academic year of your course. Although this gives you wide flexibility it always best to plan and sort your finances early.

Scotland

In Scotland the rules are quite different. Starting from the last point we talked about, application dates, you must apply by the 31^st of March 2021 for courses that start(ed) in 2020 otherwise SAAS will not pay your tuition fees. And if your course lasts more than a year you need to apply for each year individually.

The Scottish Government has separate tuition and maintenance loans and there are different eligibility criteria for each one. Tuition fees are paid directly to the University and not to you and have a maximum of £5,500. If the course is part-time or more than one academic year in duration then the fees are split in that manner.

The maintenance or living-cost loan as it is aptly named is available only for full time courses and eligible students can borrow a maximum of £4,500 if their course lasts one year or £2,250 per year if the course is two years long.

There is a wide variety of course titles being eligible (MSc, MRes, MPhil, MLitt, MBA) and surprisingly the PgDip is also eligible where in almost all cases this is not an eligible qualification for Student Finance England.  Students are eligible to borrow from SAAS for courses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, provided however that the course is not available in Scotland.

Another major difference regards previous qualifications of a similar standard. In Scotland you are eligible for a tuition fee loan if you have previously gained a postgraduate qualification, provided that you have not had assistance from UK or other EU public funds. If you had assistance you may still be eligible for the living-cost loan. 

Wales

Residents of Wales are eligible for the highest amount possible under a grant and loan combination of £17,489. The maximum grant amount (meaning you don’t have to pay it back and there is no interest charged on it) you can receive is £6,885 and depends mainly on your household income. You need to apply only once (irrespective of the length of your course) and the application deadline is again 9 months of the first day of the last academic year of your course. As we have previously mentioned – it is always better to apply early. In Wales you have the added benefit that you don’t need a confirmed place at university or college in order to apply. If you change your course, you can update your course details later.  Similar to England, the money is paid directly in your bank account and you have to sort the tuition fees to the University or College yourself.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, Student Finance NI follows a similar approach to SAAS in some areas. The postgraduate government loan aims to assist with your tuition fees and is paid directly to the University on your behalf. PgDip, PgCert are also eligible courses of study and you can borrow up to a maximum of £5,500. If your course tuition fees are less, then the loan amount will be capped at that level and you can not request the maximum amount.