Support your child or partner's student finance application
Give details of your household income
You may be asked for information about your household income if your child or partner has applied for student finance in England.
Your information will be used to work out if your child or partner can get extra money on top of the Tuition Fee Loan and the basic Maintenance Loan.
If you do not share information about your household income, your child or partner will only get the minimum amount of student finance.
If your child or partner is a care leaver, your household income is not used to calculate their Maintenance Loan. They can choose to borrow the maximum amount. Student Finance England (SFE) will still use your household income to check what other funding they can get.
There’s a different process if your child or partner is applying in Scotland, applying in Wales or applying in Northern Ireland.
Create an account or sign in
After your child or partner applies, you’ll get an email from SFE within 3 hours.
You should wait for the email before you create an account or sign in. You cannot use the same account as your child or partner.
The way you sign in depends on when your child or partner’s course starts.
If your child or partner’s course starts before 1 January 2027
If you are supporting your child or partner and they start their course before 1 January 2027, you’ll need to use the student finance login.
If you’ve had student finance or supported an application before, you’ll need to sign in to your existing student finance account.
If your child or partner’s course starts on or after 1 January 2027
Most courses starting on or after 1 January 2027 will use the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).
You cannot sign in to support your child or partner’s student finance application until September 2026, when applications for the LLE open.
If you’re supporting more than one student, you may need to use different accounts depending on when each student’s course starts.
What information you’ll need
You’ll be asked for your National Insurance number once you’ve signed in.
SFE will use this to get information about your income from the previous tax year from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
You’ll also need to say if you have:
- paid into private pensions
- made additional voluntary contributions
- children (other than the student) who depend on you financially
If your income has gone down by at least 15% since the relevant tax year, you can apply for a current year income assessment. You must still give details of the year SFE has asked you about.
What happens next
SFE will email your child or partner when all your information has been confirmed. This usually takes 4 weeks. SFE cannot share details of the loan with you without your child or partner’s consent.
If your information is still being processed when your child or partner starts their course, they’ll still get the Tuition Fee Loan and the basic Maintenance Loan (if they’re eligible).
Your child or partner can sign in to their own online account to check the progress of their application.
If you do not get an email or cannot use the online account
There are other ways to submit your details if you:
- cannot use the online account
- do not get an email after your child or partner applies
How you do this will depend on when your child or partner’s course starts.
If your child or partner’s course starts before 1 January 2027
Download form PFF2 for the correct year:
You can upload the form to your online account, or your child or partner’s account. You may need to create a student finance account or sign in.
If you cannot upload the form, you can post it to:
Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
DL1 9HJ
If your child or partner’s course starts on or after 1 January 2027
If you cannot sign in or access an online account, or you do not get an email, you can contact Student Finance England to request a paper form.
Supporting a continuing student
Your child or partner needs to apply for student finance each year they’re studying.
When they apply, you’ll get an email within 3 hours. The email will have a link to sign in to your account, where you’ll need to confirm:
- your marital status
- any changes to the information you provided the previous year
- details of any private pensions, additional voluntary contributions and other child dependants
If you previously gave income details for the current tax year
You might have previously sent details for the current tax year. You would have done this if your income had gone down by at least 15%.
If you did, you can use the same income details that you provided last year.
If your income has dropped by at least 15% again, you can send in a new current tax year income assessment form.