England: funding by circumstance

Where you live while you study

For full-time undergraduates who are not eligible for benefits, the living-costs publication gives these maximum and minimum Maintenance Loans for 2026 to 2027. The most support is paid to students on a household income of £25,000 or less. Maximum loans for living costs rise by 2.71% for that academic year. GOV.UK’s clearing guidance says that, once an application is submitted, the minimum Maintenance Loan may be paid while household income is processed, and the rest afterwards.

A Tuition Fee Loan for a full-time student whose course starts on or after 1 August 2016 is up to £9,790 for 2026 to 2027. The continuing-students page states that maximum. It is paid to the university, and it depends on the fee charged.

Some part-time undergraduates qualify for the same living-cost rates as full-time students who are not eligible for benefits, scaled by intensity of study down to 25%. The publication does not print a separate part-time pound table.

Distance-learning students can get a Maintenance Loan only if they cannot attend in person because of a disability. That limit is on the continuing-students page.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027 (Department for Education); Student finance for continuing full-time students (GOV.UK); Guidance for students going through Clearing (GOV.UK).

Dependent students

If you are under 25 and financially depend on at least one parent, household income includes your parents’ income, or one parent and their partner if you live with them or depend on them. The application guide says this. There is no separate dependent-student maximum in the 2026 to 2027 living-costs table. The rates in the previous section are the ones published, then means-tested.

For a dependent student who is not eligible for benefits, the maximum outside London and away from home is £10,830 and the minimum is £5,048. Living at home the maximum is £9,118. In London, away from home, the maximum is £14,135. Those are the same published rates, not an extra entitlement.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Household income (GOV.UK application guide); Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027.

Independent students

If you are assessed as independent, Student Finance England does not count your parents’ income. The 2026 to 2027 assessment guidance says you are independent if one of these applies: you have the care of a person under 18 on the first day of the academic year; you are 25 or over on that day; you have been married or in a civil partnership before the academic year starts, even if you are now divorced or separated; you have no living parents; you have supported yourself for at least 3 years before the course; your parents cannot be traced or it is not practical to contact them; your parents live outside the UK, Gibraltar and the European Union and an assessment would put them in jeopardy, or it is not practical for them to send funds; you have not communicated with your parents for one year before the academic year, or you are permanently estranged; or, subject to exceptions, you were looked after by a local authority throughout any 3-month period ending on or after the day you turned 16 and before the first day of the first academic year.

The shorter application guide describes the under-25 tests as having supported yourself for at least 3 years, having been married or in a civil partnership, having spent at least 13 weeks in local-authority care before you turned 16, or having had no contact with your parents for over a year. The care test on that guide is not worded the same way as the assessment guidance. Student Finance England decides which test applies to you.

If you are over 25, parents’ income is not included. A partner’s income is included if you live with them. There is no separate independent-student maximum on the pages we checked. The away-from-home, outside-London maximum for someone not eligible for benefits remains £10,830.

From 2026 to 2027, a care leaver who meets the definition in the Student Support Regulations is entitled to the maximum loan for living costs for their living arrangements, and is exempt from means testing. The publication states that. It does not print a different set of care-leaver pounds.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Student finance: how you’re assessed and paid 2026 to 2027; Household income (GOV.UK application guide); Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027.

Final year of the course

The continuing-students page says you get less in the final year because payments stop after the last day of term. These are the 2026 to 2027 maximums it prints. It does not print a final-year minimum beside them.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Student finance for continuing full-time students (GOV.UK).

Aged 60 or over

If you are 60 or over on the first day of the first academic year, the living-costs publication gives one fully means-tested rate, not the London or away-from-home table above.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027.

Students eligible for benefits

Full-time undergraduates who are eligible for benefits, which the publication says includes lone parents and some disabled students, qualify for higher living-cost loans. These are the 2026 to 2027 rates it prints.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027.

Children, adult dependants and Disabled Students’ Allowance

For 2026 to 2027 the publication keeps these grants at 2025 to 2026 levels. The maximum Adult Dependants’ Grant is £3,545. New students whose adult dependants are ordinarily resident overseas no longer qualify for that grant. The maximum Parents’ Learning Allowance is £2,024. The Childcare Grant is 85% of actual childcare costs, up to £199.62 a week for one child or £342.24 a week for two or more children. The maximum Disabled Students’ Allowance for full-time and part-time undergraduates and postgraduates is £27,783.

These are maximums. They are not paid automatically, and the publication does not say every student with a child receives the childcare maximum.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027.

Postgraduate study

A Postgraduate Master’s Loan is up to £13,206 if the course starts on or after 1 August 2026. GOV.UK says the amount is not based on your income or your family’s. It can be used for course fees and living costs. If the course lasts more than a year, it is divided equally across the years.

The maximum Postgraduate Doctoral Loan for courses starting in 2026 to 2027 is £31,122 for the duration of the course. The living-costs publication and the postgraduate funding page both state that maximum.

A separate undergraduate-style maintenance table for postgraduates is not printed on those pages. The loans above are the amounts they state.

Sources, last checked 6 November 2026: Master’s Loan: what you’ll get; Funding for postgraduate study; Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027.

Corrections and what this is not

This is general information from the official pages linked in each section. It is not a personal entitlement and not personal financial advice. The funding body assesses your application. If a figure here is wrong, tell us.

Sources

Every figure above is tied to one of these. Accessed 6 November 2026.

1. Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027 (Department for Education)
2. Student finance for continuing full-time students (GOV.UK)
3. Guidance for students going through Clearing (GOV.UK)
4. Household income (GOV.UK application guide)
5. Student finance: how you’re assessed and paid 2026 to 2027
6. Master’s Loan: what you’ll get
7. Funding for postgraduate study