Postgraduate Master's Loans

A Postgraduate Master's Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study a postgraduate master's course. It is considered to be a contribution to your costs.

If you are an English or an EU student who meets the criteria, you can apply for up to £11,836 from the UK government for master's programmes beginning in the 2022/23 academic year. If you are a student from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland you should contact your relevant local funding authority. 

The amount you receive is not based on your income or your family’s.

The loan is paid directly to you. You can use it for your course fees and living costs.

If your course lasts for more than a year, the loan will be divided equally across each year of your course.

In addition, you will not need to repay any of your undergraduate loan whilst studying your Master’s degree.

The loan is a contribution towards the cost of your postgraduate study, and you can choose whether you put this towards your tuition fees or living costs. You should also have other funding in place to cover your course and living costs for the duration of your entire course.

You may be eligible if you’re an EU national (to help cover costs for the duration of their study) and all the following apply:

• you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• you’ve normally lived in the UK, Gibraltar, EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstien for the past 3 years (this is also known as being ‘ordinarily resident’)
• you’ll be studying at a university or college in England

You could also be eligible if you’re:

• the child of a Swiss national and you and your parent have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• a migrant worker from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status, or a family member of a migrant worker where both have pre-settled status
• a resident of Gibraltar who is a UK or EU national, or their family member

The Postgraduate Master’s Loan will not be available if:

• you're already getting payments from Student Finance England for another course that you're studying
• you've received a postgraduate master's loan before - unless you left your course due to illness, bereavement or another serious personal reason
• you already have a master's degree, or a qualification that's equivalent or higher
• you're behind in repayments for any previous loans from the Student Loans Company.

Further eligibility criteria can be found here.

How does it work?

You can apply for: 

• a non-means tested loan of up to a maximum of  £11,836
• up to nine months after the academic year start date
• you only need to apply once for the Postgraduate Master’s Loan, even if your course is longer than one year. Student Finance England will write to you in the summer to tell you how much you’ll get in the next academic year.

How do I apply?

Check whether you’re eligible before you apply. 

If you cannot apply online, you can apply by post. The paper application form is available to download and complete at https://www.gov.uk/masters-loan/apply.

Eligibility evidence will be required, please see https://www.gov.uk/masters-loan/apply for further details.

Please note that the Postgraduate Master’s Loan application for the 2022 to 2023 academic year will be available for completion online or by post at the end of June 2022.

Please do monitor Student Finance England’s Facebook and Twitter channels where they will announce when the application service opens.

How will I be paid?

You will get receive the first payment after your course start date, once Brunel University London confirms that you are registered on the course. The loan will be paid in three instalments of 33%, 33% and 34% across each year of your course.

After your application has been approved you'll be sent a letter with your payment dates or you can check them in your online Student Finance England account.

Payments are made directly into your valid UK bank account.

Repayment

The earliest you can start repaying is the first April after you leave your course if your annual income is over £21,000 (£1,750 a month or £403.84 a week).

Change of Circumstances

If you wish to change your application or if your circumstances change including leaving your course early, you must contact Student Finance England.

You will have to pay back any overpayment straight away even if your income is less than £21,000.

Please contact Student Finance England if you have further questions. Student Finance England Postgraduate Loan team:

• Telephone: 0300 100 0031
• Textphone: 0300 100 0622