Student Finance in the UK: Guide for Parents

If your child is a national of the UK or another EU country, s/he may qualify for a student loan to cover tuition fees and a portion of living costs. These loans are available only for certain courses, mostly at undergraduate level. Loan repayments are collected automatically, in small monthly amounts once your child graduates and earns a salary above a certain level.

To fund a master’s degree or a PhD, your child could take out a postgraduate loan of up to £10,000 to cover tuition fees and living costs. S/he would be charged interest from the first payment onwards and have to repay the loan at the same time as any other student loans. To qualify for a postgraduate loan, your child would need to be enrolling in his or her first postgraduate course at a UK university, be under the age of 60 on the first day of the course, and be a UK/EU national or have ‘settled status’.  

If your child is studying a course related to career development, s/he may be eligible for a professional and career development loan (PCDL). These are available for certain courses lasting up to two years (or three years if one year of work experience is included), with the option to borrow between £300 and £10,000 to help cover fees and expenses. Like government-funded student loans, PCDLs typically offer lower interest rates than other types of loan.

To qualify, applicants must be over 18 years old, have been based in the UK for three years before the course start date, and plan to work in the EU, EEA or UK after the course. Those who are eligible for a government-funded student loan cannot apply. Applicants with a poor credit rating may not be granted a PCDL.

When deciding how much to contribute to your child’s finances during her or his studies, it’s important to understand what government support s/he will receive.

The government assumes that families with a certain income level are able to supplement their children’s living costs. For your child to be eligible to apply for a full student loan, your household income must be under £25,000 per annum.

To get an idea of how much money you should expect to chip in, use SavetheStudent’s parental contributions calculator, entering your pre-tax household income, child’s university start date and housing situation.