Student finance if you suspend or leave your course

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Repaying your student finance

How much and when you have to repay depends on:

  • the type of student finance you have
  • when in the academic year you leave your course
  • whether you’re planning to return to your course or not

Your university or college will tell your student finance provider the date you finished your studies.

Maintenance Loans

Your student finance provider will reassess your Maintenance Loan based on the number of days you attended your course.

If any of your loan covers the period after you’ve left your course, this counts as an overpayment and you’ll need to repay it straight away.

The Student Loans Company will write and tell you how much you must repay. If you cannot repay the full amount, you can ask them to set up a repayment plan.

The rest of your Maintenance Loan is repaid in the usual way once you start earning over the threshold amount.

Example

You get a Maintenance Loan of £1,200 to cover a 12 week term (£100 a week) and you leave your course after 8 weeks.

You can keep £800 of the loan (8 weeks X £100 = £800), but you need to repay the remaining £400 straight away as this counts as an overpayment (4 weeks X £100 = £400).

You repay the rest of the loan (£800) in the usual way.

If you’re planning to return to your studies

The amount you were overpaid will usually be taken off your student finance payments when you return, so you do not have to repay straight away.

Grants and bursaries

If any of your grant or bursary covers the period after you’ve left your course, this counts as an overpayment and you’ll need to repay it straight away.

There are exceptions for:

  • childcare grants taken in or after the 2019 to 2020 academic year
  • grants taken in or before the 2016 to 2017 academic year

You do not have to pay back overpayments on these grants until you’ve finished your course.

Tuition Fee Loans

You’ll need to repay at least some of your Tuition Fee loan for the year that you suspend or leave your course.

You’ll need to pay back:

  • 25% of the loan for the year if you suspend or leave in term 1
  • 50% of the loan for the year if you suspend or leave in term 2
  • all the loan for the year if you suspend or leave in term 3

This is repaid in the usual way once you start earning over the threshold amount.