crunching the numbers

For all students there is funding available to cover the tuition fees, as well as an additional maintenance loan to help with their accommodation and living costs while they’re studying.

If your child has dependents themselves or specific disabilities, they might be entitled to additional financial help.

From September 2020, healthcare students are now also entitled to the NHS training grant, providing them with extra financial support. 

It’s actually quite a straightforward process. You only need to make one application for most of the funding, which can be done online at gov.uk/apply-online-for-studentfinance.

As part of the application, you will need to provide information on your household income, which will help Student Finance England (SFE) to determine how much money your child is entitled to. You might also need to provide specific documentation to evidence this, such as a P60 from the relevant tax year. Healthcare students also apply for the extra training grant through the NHS.

Get started early, ideally when applications open in the February before your child goes to university, as it can take time for funding to be approved.

Parents should be aware that the maintenance loan for living costs might not completely cover expenses, so you should be prepared to contribute towards these, if you’re financially able to.

It’s often assumed that students should only borrow the minimum amount of money that they need to live, rather than receive the full amount that they’re entitled to, due to concerns about the cost that this might later incur.

However, as repayment is based on future earnings, they may not end up paying back the full amount of their loan, so it makes sense for students to benefit from all of the financial support available to them when they most need it.