Accredited official statistics

Definitions (England)

Updated 28 November 2024

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Wales

Term	Definition
Alternative provider	Prior to academic year 2019/20, an alternative provider was any provider of higher education courses which was not in direct receipt of recurrent funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (OfS) or from equivalent bodies in the devolved administrations; or did not receive direct recurrent public funding (for example, from a local authority, or from the Secretary of State for Education); and was not a further education college. Only providers with courses designated for student support were included in the statistics. This term/process is no longer used (see OfS categories)
Applicant	This is a person applying for student support. Not all applicants take up a place. Applicants become students once they take up a place and the SLC has received a confirmation of their attendance.
Award	If an applicant for student finance is assessed as meeting the eligibility criteria as stipulated within the student finance regulations then they will be awarded student support. Awards will be paid on condition that the applicant subsequently attends the higher education provider at which point they will be considered a student and payments will be released according to the payment schedule for the support types awarded.
Country of study	The country in which the higher education (HE) provider is located and which the applicant intends to / is studying at.
Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)	Disabled Students’ Allowances help pay for extra costs a student might incur as a direct result of their disability. This also includes long-term health conditions such as mental-health illnesses, specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dyspraxia etc.
Domiciled	The country in which the applicant would normally reside in the three years prior to the start of the course.
Entry cohort	Grouping of applicants according to the Education (Student Support) Regulations against which the applicant was assessed for support. Student finance applicants are generally covered by transitional protection which means they continue to be assessed against the regulations in place for their first year of study, but this is not always the case.
Estimated eligible population	The numbers of students that are eligible to apply for student finance including those who do not apply. Figures for the estimated eligible population are supplied by the Department for Education (DfE) for England, the Welsh Government for Wales and the Department for the Economy (DfE NI) for NI. DfE, the Welsh Government and DfE NI use data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and other sources with the closest approximation of eligibility criteria available from those sources.
Final figures	The final position refers to statistics in a steady state. Final figures are not expected to change significantly and should represent the final outcome.
Full time	This refers to the mode of study for which student support is being paid, primarily to undergraduate students. For the purposes of this publication, the full time data also includes part time and flexible ITT students who started their courses before 2010/11, as these students were also eligible for full time student support. Students starting the same courses after 2010/11 are not included.
Full year Maintenance Loan	The amount of Maintenance Loan available to students varies between those studying in their final year and those studying in an earlier year of their course. Students in their final year will be entitled to a reduced amount to reflect the reduced length of time in attendance at their university over which maintenance support is required.
Higher education provider	For the purpose of this publication it is an organisation designated for student support and can include universities which receive the bulk of their funding from public sources and further education colleges.
Household residual income	This is the income associated with the household where the applicant normally resides. It comprises of the taxable earned and unearned incomes of the applicant or those of the applicant’s parents’ minus any allowable deductions.
Level of support	Identifies if the applicant was awarded the full level of means tested grant, the partial level or no grant at all (Nil).
Maintenance Loan rate	Applicants are entitled to a different amount of Maintenance Loan depending on their term-time residence. Rates differ for applicants living at home, in London or elsewhere (excluding London).
OfS categories	From academic year 2019/20, higher education providers in England have registered with the Office for Students (OfS) as ‘Approved (Fee Cap)’ providers or ‘Approved’ providers’. This, and whether providers have an OfS Access and participation plan and with / without a Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) will determine the fees they can charge. Refer to Office for studentsfor further information.
Other targeted support	These are grants and allowances provided to students meeting specific circumstances. Targeted support includes Travel Grant, Parental Learning Allowance, Childcare Grant and Adult Dependants Grant.
Provisional figures	These are figures are based  on the status at either end-August (Sections 1 to 6) or end-October (Section 7: Early in year insight & new policy). End-August figures: Although most payments /awards are captured by this point, figures are finalised a year later due to 1) those noted as ‘awards’ (e.g. Adult Dependents Grants) may change as they are based on the amount which will be paid if the applicant’s attendance is confirmed for the full academic year, 2) a small subset of providers being subject to movement due to later course start dates (formerly alternative providers) and 3) postgraduate courses having later start dates. Section 7 of the publication provides a look at emerging trends of new policies, two months into the academic year. These figures are not revised.
Student	For the purpose of this publication, an applicant for student support becomes a student once the Student Loans Company has received confirmation that the person is attending a course with a higher education provider. Not all applicants take up a place.
Student support available	This is the arrangement available at the time of the application for support. It includes the range of support available, the eligibility rules and the income thresholds.
Take-up rate	The % of the eligible population who apply for, and receive a loan.