Doctoral Loan
Eligibility
Whether you qualify depends on:
- your course
- your age
- your nationality or residency status
You will not be able to get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if:
- you’ve received or will receive Research Council funding (for example, studentships, stipends, scholarships and tuition fee support)
- you’re already getting a social work bursary
- you’re already getting an Educational Psychology bursary and your course starts on or after 1 August 2020
- you’re eligible to apply for an NHS bursary (even if you’re not receiving it)
- you’re already getting payments from Student Finance England for another course that you’re studying
- you’ve received a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan before - unless you left your course due to illness, bereavement or another serious personal reason
- you already have a doctoral degree, or a qualification that’s equivalent or higher
- you’re receiving a doctorate by publication
- you’re behind in repayments for any previous loans from the Student Loans Company
Your course
It must:
- be a full, standalone doctoral course (not a top-up course)
- have started on or after 1 August 2018
- last between 3 to 8 academic years
- be provided by a university in the UK with research degree awarding powers
If more than one university delivers your course and one is overseas, you’ll still be eligible for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan so long as:
- the UK university is the lead institution
- you spend at least 50% of your study time over the whole course in the UK
It can be:
- full-time or part-time
- taught or research-based, or a combination of both
Examples of postgraduate doctoral qualifications include:
- PhD / DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy)
- EdD (Doctor of Education)
- EngD (Doctor of Engineering)
Integrated doctorals
You can apply for a loan if your doctoral programme includes an integrated master’s degree (even if you already have a master’s degree).
You must register for a full doctoral degree.
You will not be able to apply for a separate Postgraduate Master’s Loan.
Distance learning
To qualify for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan for distance learning, you’ll need to be living in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course.
You’ll also need to live in:
- England for the whole of your course, if you’re an EU national
- the UK for the whole of your course, if you’re not an EU national
This usually does not apply if you’re:
- serving in the armed forces
- a spouse or civil partner of a serving member of the armed forces
- a dependent parent living with a serving member of the armed forces
Your age
You must be under 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course.
The academic year is a period of 12 months starting on:
- 1 September, if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
- 1 January, if your course starts between 1 January and 31 March
- 1 April, if your course starts between 1 April and 30 June
- 1 July, if your course starts between 1 July and 31 July
Your nationality or residency status
You can apply for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if all of the following are true:
- you’re a UK national or Irish citizen or have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or indefinite leave to remain so there are no restrictions on how long you can stay
- you normally live in England
- you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of the first academic year of your course (apart from temporary absences such as holidays)
If you’ve been living in Ireland or a British overseas territory, you do not need to normally live in England. You can apply for the loan if you attend your course in England or do distance learning in England.
You might also be eligible if you’re a UK national (or family member of a UK national) and you’ve been living in the UK, the EU, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein for the past 3 years. To be eligible, you must have 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
- been living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein on 31 December 2020
If you’re an EU national or a family member of an EU national
You may be eligible if you’re an EU national, or a family member of an EU national, and all the following apply:
- you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (no restrictions on how long you can stay)
- you’ve normally lived in the UK, the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or overseas territories for the past 3 years (this is also known as being ‘ordinarily resident’)
- you’ll be studying at a university in England
You could also be eligible if you’re:
- the child of a Swiss national and you and your parent have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
- a migrant worker from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status, or a family member of a migrant worker where both have settled or pre-settled status
- a resident of Gibraltar who is a UK or EU national, or their family member
- an EU national and have pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and lived in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the past 3 years
Student finance for EU, Swiss, Norwegian, Icelandic or Liechtenstein nationals from August 2021
If you started a course on or after 1 August 2021, you usually need to have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get student finance.
You need to have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. The deadline to apply was 30 June 2021. If you’re joining family members in the UK who have settled status, you can apply for student finance before you have been granted pre-settled status.
Irish citizens do not need to apply for a visa or to the EU Settlement Scheme. They can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme if they wish to - for example, to apply on behalf of a child.
If you have a different residency status
You may also be eligible if your residency status is one of the following:
- refugee (including family members)
- humanitarian protection (including family members)
- child of a Turkish worker who has permission to stay in the UK - you and your Turkish worker parent must have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020
- a stateless person (including family members)
- an unaccompanied child granted ‘Section 67 leave’ under the Dubs Amendment
- a child who is under the protection of someone granted ‘Section 67 leave’, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as the person responsible for them (known as ‘leave in line’)
- granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain
- a child of someone granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as their parent (known as ‘leave in line’)
- you’ve been given settled status but not under the EU Settlement Scheme
- you, your parent or step-parent have been granted settlement (‘indefinite leave to enter’ or ‘indefinite leave to remain’) as a victim of domestic violence
- you, your parent or step-parent have been granted settlement (‘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’re a person of Chagossian descent and have British citizenship
If you’re a non-UK national and have lived in the UK for a certain number of years
You could also be eligible if you’re not a UK national and are either:
- under 18 and have lived in the UK for at least 7 years
- 18 or over and have lived in the UK for at least 20 years (or at least half of your life)
Both the following must also apply:
- you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of the first academic year of your course
- you had permission to enter or stay in the UK for those 3 years