Advanced Learner Loan

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Eligibility

Whether you qualify for an Advanced Learner Loan depends on your:

  • age
  • course
  • college or training provider
  • nationality or residency status

You must be 19 or older on the first day of your course.

Your course must be:

If you’re studying a level 4 or 5 qualification with Higher Technical Qualification approval, check with your college or training provider. You may need to apply for undergraduate student finance instead.

Ask your college or training provider if you do not know if your course is eligible.

Your nationality or residency status

In most cases, all of the following must apply. You must:

  • be living in the UK on the first day of your course
  • be a UK national or Irish citizen or have ‘settled status’ (no restrictions on how long you can stay)
  • have been living in the UK, British overseas territories, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of your course (apart from temporary absences such as holidays)

You may also be eligible if you’re a UK national (or family member of a UK national) who either:

  • returned to the UK on or after 1 January 2018 and by 31 December 2020 after living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
  • was living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein on 31 December 2020 and has been living in the UK, the EU, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein for the past 3 years

If you or a family member is from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein

You may be eligible if you’re:

  • an EEA national
  • a Swiss national
  • a family member of an EEA national
  • a child of a Swiss national

Both of the following must also apply:

  • you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or are in the process of applying for it
  • you’ve normally lived in the UK, EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, or British or EU overseas territories for the past 3 years (this is also known as being ‘ordinarily resident’)

Irish citizens do not need to apply for a visa or to the EU Settlement Scheme to be eligible.

If you have a different residency status

You may also be eligible if your residency status is one of the following:

  • a refugee, or the family member of one
  • a migrant worker or a frontier worker, or a family member of one
  • you’re not a UK national but you’ve lived in the UK for at least 20 years (or at least half of your life)
  • you’re the family member of someone with ‘settled status’ in the UK
  • under humanitarian protection or a family member of someone who has been granted it
  • the child of a Turkish worker
  • staying in the UK as a stateless person, or their family member, and your course started on or after 1 August 2018
  • granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain, or the child of someone granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain - if your course starts on or after 1 August 2020
  • a serving member of the UK armed forces, or their spouse, civil partner or a dependent parent or child living with them, doing a distance learning course from outside the UK that started on or after 1 August 2017
  • you, your parent or your step-parent have been given indefinite leave to enter or remain as a victim of domestic violence
  • you, your parent or your step-parent have been given indefinite leave to remain as a bereaved partner
  • you or your family member have been granted leave under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizen’s Resettlement Scheme (ACRS)
  • you or your family member have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Extension Scheme
  • you are a Chagossian with British citizenship, or a British citizen who is a direct descendant of a Chagossian
View a printable version of the whole guide