Postgraduate loans in England 2025

For UK students living in England, Masters loans are available in 2025/26 to help fund your postgraduate course as well as any associated living costs

How much can I borrow?

For courses starting in 2025/26, you can get an English postgraduate student loan of up to £12,858 to help cover your tuition fees, study costs and living expenses.

The Masters loan from Student Finance England is not means-tested. Therefore, the amount you receive does not depend on your financial background or that of your family. You can choose how much you want to borrow, up to the maximum amount.

Am I eligible for a postgraduate loan?

You must:

• be a UK national or have settled status
• normally live in England
• have lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for the past three years
• be under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course
• not already have a Masters degree or higher qualification.

If you're from the European Union (EU) or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you must have settled or pre-settled status under the government's EU Settlement Scheme.

You may also be eligible for Masters funding in the UK if you're:

• a refugee (or a relative of one)
• an EEA or Swiss migrant worker
• a child of a Swiss national or Turkish worker
• under humanitarian protection
• 18 or over and have lived in the UK for at least 20 years (or half of your life).

If you can't get a Masters student loan, consider other sources of funding, such as Masters scholarships and bursaries.

Read the full guide to postgraduate student loans at GOV.UK - Masters loan.

Is my course eligible?

Your course should be a full standalone taught or research Masters degree (at least 180 credits) studied at an eligible UK university or by distance learning (including The Open University).

If you study by distance learning, you must be living in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course and live in the UK for the whole of your course.

Full-time courses should take one or two academic years to complete. Part-time courses can be two to four years, but no more than twice the length of the equivalent full-time programme, or a maximum of three years if no equivalent full-time course is available.

The loan can only be used for full postgraduate degree courses, not to top-up a lower-level qualification, such as a postgraduate diploma (PGDip) or postgraduate certificate (PGCert), to a Masters.

You can't get an English postgraduate loan for courses that qualify for undergraduate funding - for instance, an integrated Masters or the Master of Architecture (MArch). This applies to teacher training.

You also can't get a postgraduate loan if you're eligible for NHS funding or a Social Work Bursary, unless you only get a Placement Travel Allowance.

Separate PhD loans are available for Doctoral-level study.

How do I apply for a postgraduate loan?

You can apply for Masters degree funding online by logging in or setting up a new account with Student Finance England.

Remember that you can only apply once for your entire course, not each academic year. If you can't submit an online application, Student Finance England offers paper forms.

To apply, you'll need details of your UK passport or, if you don't have one, your birth/adoption certificate. You may also be asked for evidence of your residency status.

When can I apply?

You're eligible to complete your application from the summer before your course starts.

However, the final deadline for applications is not until nine months after the first day of the last academic year of your course, meaning you can apply even after your course has started.

The academic year is defined as a period of 12 months from:

• 1 September - if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
• 1 January - 1 January and 31 March
• 1 April - 1 April and 30 June
• 1 July - 1 July and 31 July.

How will I receive my loan?

Your Masters loan will be paid directly into your bank account. It will be paid in three instalments (33%, 33% and 34%) over the course of the academic year, with each payment made at the start of the term.

If you're studying for longer than one year, the funding will be split evenly across the length of your course. For example, if you borrow the full amount for a two-year course, you'll receive £6,429 for each academic year (2025/26), with this divided into three instalments across the first year, and the same again for the second.

When do I start repaying my postgraduate loan?

You'll start repaying your postgraduate loan in the April after your course finishes at a rate of 6% of any income you earn over £21,000 per year (£1,750 a month before tax).

If you're employed, deductions will be made directly from your salary along with your tax and National Insurance contributions. For those who are self-employed, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will calculate your repayments on completion of your self-assessment tax return.

Interest will be charged on your loan from the date you receive your first instalment. This is calculated at the retail price index (RPI) plus 3%, meaning that the interest accrued will be the annually reviewed RPI percentage, plus an additional 3%. The interest rate currently stands at 7.8% (2025/26).

Get more information on your repayment plan at GOV.UK - Repaying your student loan.

What happens to my loan payments if I leave my course early?

If you leave your course or switch to an ineligible course, you'll have to repay what you've borrowed so far. The income threshold will not apply - you must start repaying straight away.

What if I also have an undergraduate loan?

Masters loans must be repaid concurrently with your undergraduate student loan.

This means that you may find yourself repaying up to 15% of your income - 9% for your undergraduate loan and 6% for your postgraduate loan.

Can I pay my student loan off early?

Yes. There is no penalty for making additional payments to pay off some or all of your Masters loan early. However, these extra payments are non-refundable, and you should only do this if you plan to pay off the balance before the loan term ends.

When are postgraduate loans written off?

Any outstanding balance remaining 30 years after the April you entered repayment will be written off.

Find out more

• Search for postgraduate courses in the UK.
• Discover how to balance working while studying.
• Consider studying a professional qualification.