Postgraduate loans in England

For UK students living in England, Masters loans are available in 2023/24 to help fund your postgraduate course as well as any associated living costs

How much can I borrow?

For courses starting in 2023/24, you can get an English postgraduate student loan of up to £12,167 towards your tuition fees, study costs and living expenses. This is a 2.8% increase on the maximum loan amount for the 2022/23 academic year, which was £11,836.

The Masters loan from Student Finance England is not means-tested, therefore the amount you receive does not depend on your financial background or that of your family. You can choose how much you want to borrow, up to the maximum amount.

Am I eligible for a postgraduate loan?

You must:

• be a UK national or have settled status
• normally live in England
• have lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for the past three years
• be under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course
• not already have a Masters degree or higher qualification.

If you're from the European Union (EU) or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you must have settled or pre-settled status under the government's EU Settlement Scheme.

You may also be eligible for Masters funding in the UK if you're a refugee (or a relative of one), an EEA or Swiss migrant worker, a child of a Swiss national or the child of a Turkish worker, if you're under humanitarian protection, or if you're 18 or over and have lived in the UK for at least 20 years or at least half of your life.

If you can't get a Masters student loan, consider other sources of funding, including scholarships and bursaries.

Is my course eligible?

Your course should be a full standalone taught or research Masters degree (at least 180 credits) studied at an eligible UK university, or by distance learning (includes the Open University). If you study by distance learning you must be living in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course and live in the UK for the whole of your course.

Full-time courses should take one or two academic years to complete. Part-time courses can be for two to four years, but no more than twice the length of the equivalent full-time programme - or a maximum of three years if no equivalent full-time course is available.

You can't get an English postgraduate loan for postgraduate diplomas (PGDip) or postgraduate certificates (PGCert).

Separate PhD loans are available for Doctoral-level study.

Courses that qualify for undergraduate funding, such as integrated Masters and the Master of Architecture (MArch), aren't eligible for postgraduate loans. This applies to teacher training. You also can't get a postgraduate loan if you're eligible for NHS funding or a Social Work Bursary - unless you only get a Placement Travel Allowance.

The loan can only be used for full postgraduate degree courses, not to top-up a lower-level qualification (such as a PGDip or PGCert) to a Masters.

How do I apply for a postgraduate loan?

Apply for Masters degree funding online by visiting GOV.UK - Masters loan. Only apply once for your entire course, not each academic year. Paper application forms are available from Student Finance England if you can't apply online.

You can apply from the summer before your course starts. However, the final deadline for applications is not until nine months after the first day of the last academic year of your course - meaning you can apply even after your course has started.

The academic year is defined as a period of 12 months from:

• 1 September - if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
• 1 January - if your course starts between 1 January and 31 March
• 1 April - if your course starts between 1 April and 30 June
• 1 July - if your course starts between 1 July and 31 July.

To apply, you'll need details of your UK passport or, if you don't have one, your birth/adoption certificate. You may also be asked for evidence of your residency status.

How will I receive my loan?

Your Masters loan will be paid directly into your bank account. You'll get three instalments over the course of the academic year (33%, 33% and 34%), with each payment being made at the start of term.

If you're studying for longer than one year, the funding will be split evenly across the length of your course. For example, if you borrow the full amount for a two-year course you'll receive £6,083.50 for each academic year, with this divided into three instalments across the first year, and the same again for the second.

When do I start repaying my postgraduate loan?

You'll start repaying your postgraduate loan in the April after your course finishes at a rate of 6% of any income you earn over £21,000 (£1,750 a month before tax).

If you're employed, deductions will be made directly from your salary along with your tax and National Insurance contributions. If you're self-employed, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will calculate your repayments on completion of your self-assessment tax return.

Interest will be charged on your loan from the date you receive your first instalment. This is usually calculated at the retail price index (RPI) plus 3%, meaning that the interest accrued will be the annually reviewed RPI percentage, plus an additional 3%. However, the interest rate is currently capped until 31 August 2023. This means that loan interest rates will not go above 7.3% during this time. Get more information on your repayment plan at GOV.UK - Repaying your student loan.

If you leave your course or switch to an ineligible course, you'll have to repay what you've borrowed so far, and the income threshold will not apply - you must start repaying straight away.

Masters loans must be repaid concurrently with your undergraduate student loan. This means that you may find yourself repaying up to 15% of your income - 9% for your undergraduate loan and 6% for your postgraduate loan.

There is no penalty for making additional payments to pay some or all of your Masters loan off early, but these extra payments are non-refundable and you should only do this is if you plan to pay off the balance before the loan term ends. Bear in mind that any outstanding balance remaining 30 years after the April you entered repayment will be written off in any case.

Find out more

• Search for postgraduate courses in the UK.
• Read about Masters loans in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Explore Masters degrees.