Student Finance Centre

Full-time undergraduate from the UK starting in September 2013

This page is relevant to you if you will be a new student starting a standard Higher Education full-time undergraduate course (for example, BA, BSc, HND, Foundation degree, but not an NHS funded course) in 2013 for the first time.

Information on what funding is available for part-time students can be found here. 

If you already hold a full honours degree qualification obtained in the UK, or from a University overseas, the tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and maintenance grant will not be available to you. The only funding that may be available to you would be the University of Portsmouth Bursary.

If you currently live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland you will be able to apply for different support through your home government. Visit the following websites for further information:

• Students from Wales: www.studentfinancewales.co.uk
• Students from Scotland: www.saas.gov.uk
• Students from Northern Ireland: www.studentfinanceni.co.uk

To qualify for student finance as a student from England, you will need to meet all of the residence requirements. Generally, on the first day of the academic year in which your course starts, you must:

• be a UK national or have 'settled status' in the UK (under the terms of the Immigration Act 1971);
• be 'ordinarily resident' in England;
• have been 'ordinarily resident' in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years immediately before starting the course.

For more information on eligibility for student finance visit Student Finance England.

Eligible full-time English students are able to apply for the following support from the Government:

• Tuition Fees and the Tuition Fee Loan

  Tuition fees for undergraduate home (UK) or EU students starting in 2013 at the University of Portsmouth will be £8,750. Tuition fees will increase with inflation each year. You don't have to pay these fees upfront, all eligible full-time undergraduate students can apply for a loan to cover their tuition fees. This loan is not income assessed and is paid directly to the University. You won’t have to start repaying this loan until the April after you finish your course, when you make repayments at a rate of nine per cent of annual earnings above £21,000 (this threshold will also rise with inflation).
  
  If you prefer, you can arrange to pay your tuition fees without taking a loan, either in one payment before the start of term (an early payment discount is available) or via instalments throughout the academic year. Alternatively, you can pay part of your fees and apply for a reduced loan to cover the remainder. For more information about paying your fees visit our Tuition Fee pages.

• Maintenance Loan

  All eligible students are entitled to a maintenance loan, which has to be repaid. The maintenance loan is available to full-time, English students under the age of 60 on 1 September (at the start of their course), who don’t already have a degree. The amount of loan you receive will depend on where you live whilst studying; whether you receive the maintenance grant, and your assessed household income. The loan is paid directly into your bank account in three termly instalments and is available each academic year. An example of what you might receive is as follows:

  Where you live while studying	Loan amounts
  In the parental home	Between £2,698 and £4,375
  Elsewhere, for example Halls of Residence	Between £3,575 and £5,500

  The maintenance loan is repaid in the same way as the tuition fee loan. For more information about the tuition fee and maintenance loans visit Student Finance England.

• Maintenance Grant

  This is a non-repayable grant available to eligible full-time English undergraduates. How much you will be able to receive depends on your assessed household income for the tax year ending April 2012 - the maximum grant in 2013/14 will be £3,354. The grant is paid in three instalments directly into your bank account. Grants will not be paid during paid placement years.

  Household Income	Maintenance Grant
  £25,000 or less	£3,354
  £30,000	£2,416
  £35,000	£1,478
  £40,000	£540
  £42,611	£50
  Over £42,611	£0

  Grants are assessed on a sliding scale and these figures are for illustration only. For an estimate of the total support that you might receive visit Student Finance England.

• University of Portsmouth Bursary

  All eligible full-time English students whose assessed household income is £25,000 or less will be able to choose from either a tuition fee or accommodation discount of £2,000 and a bursary of £1,000 in their first year of study (the accomodation discount is for students in University Halls of Residence only and is subject to availability). They will then continue to receive a bursary of £1,030 in subsequent years. The fee or accomodation discount will not be available in subsequent years of study. There will also be bursaries available each year to students with household incomes between £25,001 and £42,611.

  Household Income	Bursary in first year	Bursary in subsequent years
  Up to £25,000	£2,000 tuition fee or accomodation discount and £1,000 cash bursary	£1,030 cash bursary
  £25,001 to £32,000	£1,000 cash bursary	£1,030 cash bursary
  £32,001 to £42,611	£500 cash bursary	£515 cash bursary

  The University of Portsmouth Bursary incorporates the National Scholarship Programme, and will be available to all eligible full-time English undergraduates.

• Repaying your loans later

  You do not have to start repaying the tuition fee loan and maintenance loan until the April after you finish university and only when you are earning over the minimum income threshold of £21,000 per year (from 2016). This threshold will increase with inflation each year. Repayments are set at nine per cent of your gross income above this threshold and are usually collected by your employer via the tax system. The repayments are based on your income alone, and the Government will write off any remaining student loan balance (except for arrears) 30 years from the April after you finish your course.

  Annual Earnings	Monthly Repayment
  Less than £21,000	£0
  £25,000	£30
  £30,000	£68
  £40,000	£143
  £50,000	£218
  £60,000	£293

  For more information about repaying a student loan see our repayments page. The calculator below has been provided by Student Finance England to give you an idea of what repayments would be for various careers:

  You can also use the student loan calculator at the Money Saving Expert website to get an estimate of what you may be likely to pay back in total (please note that this is an external link and we are not responsible for the content).

• How to apply

  You will be able to apply for the funding detailed from early 2013 through Student Finance England. Students apply online, using one application form for all funding. If you do have additional requirements, for example children or adult dependants, a separate form will be sent to you. Once your application has been processed you will receive a notification letter from Student Finance England, confirming your loan and grant entitlement. To apply for the University of Portsmouth Bursary, simply agree to share your information on your application. By doing this, details of your household income will be shared with us at the University and our Academic Registry department will process your bursary application. You will then receive a separate bursary notification letter from us.

• Additional funding

  For information on additional funding that may be available to you visit our , and pages.

• Cost of living

  For more details of the cost of living and studying in Portsmouth visit our Cost of living in Portsmouth pages.