Undergraduate Loans for 2016/17 launched!

The Student Loans Company (SLC) have recently announced the launch of the 2016/17 Student Finance England (SFE), Student Finance Wales (SFW) and Student Finance Northern Ireland (SFNI) services for HE full-time undergraduate students. The SLC and UCL are encouraging new students to apply for their loans as soon as possible.

The process for continuing students is different. Continuing students should wait for SFE, SFW or SFNI to contact them before they apply. The SLC will automatically process applications for some continuing students for 2016/17. Continuing students who do not have their applications automatically processed will be contacted during March and asked to apply online.

For more information on Student Finance applications, visit the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/apply-online-for-student-finance

It is also worth noting that there has been a change to the eligibility for maintenenace loans for EU students resident in the UK. Until this year, EU nationals needed to have been resident in the UK for three years prior to their studies to qualify for a maintenance loan – the requirement has now been increased to five years.

Important: the new five-year requirement comes into effect on 24 March 2016. Prior to this date, the previous requirements will remain in place. Therefore, students who have been resident in the UK for three-years will be eligible to apply for maintenance loans for 2016/17 up until 24 March when the new rules come into effect.