The Student Loans Company (SLC) is encouraging all returning full-time undergraduate students in England to submit their student finance applications for the upcoming academic year before the deadline on 23 June.
Students need to apply for student finance for each year of study and applying before the deadline is the best way to guarantee that their finances will be in place for the start of the new academic year. It's quick and easy for students to submit their applications by logging in to their online account.
SLC paid over 1.5 million students more than £22bn in maintenance loans, grants and tuition fees in the last completed academic year (21/22). Given the scale of the service it offers, it's important that students' applications are submitted and ready to be processed.
Jackie Currie, SLC Executive Director, Operations, said: "SLC processes hundreds of thousands of funding applications each summer and as always, our priority is to ensure that students have their funding in place for the start of term. Applying before the deadline will give our team the time needed to process your application and ensure that your funding is in place for the start of your next academic year."
To support all students with their applications, SLC has made information available to help answer some of the most common questions about applying for student finance. Students can also keep themselves up to date on the latest information by following Student Finance England on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Returning students should apply online at https://www.gov.uk/apply-online-for-student-finance/ and remember:
- Applications can take six to eight weeks to process. Students do not need to contact SLC during this time, they can check their application's progress in their online account and view 'actions to complete' to see if they need to do anything further.
- Once a student has applied, their application will be processed and they will be notified of their funding entitlement.
- Parents and partners (sponsors) who are supporting students' applications are also reminded to provide their financial information as soon as they're asked. Sponsors will receive an email once the student has submitted their part of the application to let them know when and how to provide their financial information. They should aim to provide their income details before 23 June to make sure the student they're supporting gets their money in time for the start of their term. Sponsors can also access this information on a dedicated page at www.gov.uk/support-child-or-partners-student-finance-application
- If the current tax year's household income drops by 15% or more compared to the 21/22 tax year the student may be entitled to receive more maintenance loan, more info here: www.gov.uk/support-child-or-partners-student-finance-application/current-year-income
