Postgraduate loans

Students starting certain Master's courses can receive a loan of up to £11,836 to assist with the cost of studying.

The loan is paid directly to you. You can use this towards the cost of fees, daily living costs or other study costs.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:

Residency

UK and EU nationals will need to meet certain residency criteria.

Age

You must be under 60 years of age on the first day of the academic year in which your course begins (i.e. 1 September, 1 January, 1 April, 1 July). If you begin a course between August and December, the first day is classed as 1 September (and so forth).

Course of study

• Eligible courses may be a taught or research-based Master's degree (e.g. MA, MSc, MBA, MPhil, MRes) in any subject. Integrated master's courses (e.g. MMath, MChem) and PGCEs do not qualify.
• Full-time courses of 1 and 2 years are eligible.
• Part-time courses of up to 4 years are eligible.
• The course may contain an overseas element of up to 50% of the syllabus.
• Distance-learning courses are eligible but you must reside in England while studying.

You are not eligible if:

• You are able to apply for a healthcare bursary or you hold a social work bursary from the NHS, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety or the SAAS. (If you are not awarded a Social Work bursary, you may be eligible to apply for a loan.)
• You already hold a Master's (including an integrated Master's) or a higher qualification, including those awarded outside of the UK. (This excludes Bachelor MA awards from Oxford, Cambridge, and Scottish universities.)

Payment

There is no minimum amount you can request. If you wish to increase the loan amount, you must do this at least one month before the end of the academic year.

Payments will be made in three instalments per academic year:

• Course start date as advised by the university
• 4 months after the course start (last Wednesday of the month)
• 7 months after the course (last Wednesday of the month).

The postgraduate loan cannot be used to pay your tuition fees at registration. The first instalment is released to you only when we confirm that you have completed registration. Therefore, you will need sufficient funds to make an initial tuition fee payment.

You will receive the following instalments as long as you remain registered and continue to pay tuition fee payments to schedule.

There are specific rules for students who transfer or repeat a year of study. For further information, contact: studentfinance@gre.ac.uk.

Please note: the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) includes 30% of the maximum annual loan amount when it calculates entitlement to means-tested benefits. See JobCentre Plus for details.

Repayment

You begin to repay postgraduate loans from the first April after the course ends (or following withdrawal). Students who are studying a course of three or four academic years will enter repayment in the April following the second academic year and so will still be studying and making repayments.

Currently, you pay 6% of any income you earn over £21,000 a year. This is taken directly by your employer or paid through self-assessment via HMRC. If you work overseas, the income threshold may be different. Payments from overseas are made directly to the Student Loans Company.

You continue to repay any other student loans you have at the same time.

The postgraduate loan balance is annulled 30 years after it becomes due for repayment. If a loan holder becomes permanently unfit for work and there are no outstanding arrears, or if the loan holder dies, the loan will be written off.

How to apply

The application process begins in the spring for an autumn start.

If you have questions relating to your circumstances, contact us at studentfinance@gre.ac.uk.