Can You Get a Masters Maintenance Student Loan For a Master’s Degree?

If you want to know if a Masters study is right for you, you need to know if you can finance it with a student loan. A master’s degree is an advanced degree earned at the postgraduate level. Therefore, we will be discussing whether you can get a master maintenance student loan.

A master’s degree is far more diverse than a bachelor’s degree and builds on prior undergraduate training. Students have greater options for part-time or online education when pursuing a master’s degree.

The good news is that you can pay for a master’s degree using a student loan. To pay for their coursework, Master’s students may apply for student loans up to £11,836. The repayment amount is 6% of your income over £21,000.

You will only have to repay the loan once your salary exceeds that sum. You must complete various requirements to be eligible for a student loan.

While this may have provided you with a summary, continue reading to learn if you can get a master’s maintenance student loan For a Master’s Degree and how other pertinent loans operate.

What is Masters Maintenance Loan?

A master’s maintenance loan is financial assistance given to students pursuing a master’s degree program. Is it possible to receive a loan for master’s maintenance? No, a maintenance loan is not available for master’s degrees.

While undergraduate student financing has a maintenance component, the Master’s loan scheme operates differently. One loan is available for postgraduate students to aid with living expenses or tuition.

What Criteria do you Have to meet to get a Student Loan for a Master’s Degree?

Make sure you meet the qualifying requirements before applying for a student loan for a master’s degree. Below are all the requirements:

• You must not be older than 60 to be eligible for a loan; if you are 60 or older on the first day of the academic year, you are not eligible.
• It must be a full master’s program, which officially entails a 180-credit level 7 qualification. Postgraduate degrees typically include 120 or 60 credits thus they don’t count.
• You won’t be eligible for the loan if you already have a master’s degree or another higher qualification, even if it wasn’t from a UK university; this must be your first master’s degree.
• It should be a one- or two-year master’s program or a maximum four-year program if you’re taking classes on the side. If there is no full-time equivalent, you can apply for the loan while enrolling in a three-year part-time course.

Student Loan for a Master’s Degree

• This must be your sole source of funding from the UK government if you can apply for a bursary in its place, such as a healthcare bursary from the NHS or a social work bursary. You will not be eligible for the postgraduate loan from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) or a bursary from the Student Awards Agency in Scotland (SAAS). However, if you have a scholarship, you are still qualified.
• To be eligible, you must be an English resident who is a national of the UK and have resided there for at least three years before the commencement of your degree. If you are an EU citizen, have lived in the EU for the past three years, will be residing in England when your course begins, and will be attending an English university or college, you may also be eligible for the loan. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have significantly different regulations regarding student loans.

See also: Do University Students Pay For The Dentist?

How do you get a Student Loan for a Master’s Degree?

If you match the requirements, you may apply for a student loan through the Student Finance England page on gov.uk.

You may use the same account to apply if you have already obtained a loan from Student Finance England for undergraduate studies.

According to the dates of your academic year, a few deadlines might apply to your loan application.

Your or your family’s income does not determine the amount you will receive. They pay the loan directly to you, and you can choose the amount you want to request (up to the maximum). 

You can use it to pay for your living expenses and tuition. If your course lasts longer than a year, they will disperse equally the loan over the course’s multiple years.

Can you get a Masters Maintenance Loan for a Master’s Degree?

There isn’t a loan for postgraduate upkeep. Undergraduate student financing has a maintenance component, but the Master’s degree loan scheme operates differently.

You can use the one loan offered by the postgraduate student finance program to aid with living and tuition expenses.

The price of a master’s degree might vary, and your postgraduate loan may not always be enough to pay for both your tuition and living expenses.

Instead, the money is given as a “contribution to the cost” of getting a master’s degree. 

However, a postgraduate loan can be combined with other funding sources. Many scholarship options are available, so look to see which ones you could apply for.

You can read this: What To Do When Student Loan Account Is Closed Due To Transfer.

Can you get a student loan for a second master’s degree?

You cannot apply for another loan if you have already earned one for a prior master’s degree. This is true whether or not you made a passing grade on the course.

Similarly, if you have already obtained a UK postgraduate loan, you cannot apply for an English Master’s loan. This still holds, even if your previous loan was for a non-master’s course.

You can apply for a loan to take a fresh course if you previously started a master’s degree but didn’t finish it or got a student loan for it.

Student Living Costs

Student living expenses average £924 per month, according to Save the Student’s Student Money Survey 2022.

Whether you choose to live in residence halls or a rented property, your rent will probably be your biggest outlay.

Therefore, you should extensively study your available possibilities for student housing.

Budget any additional expenses not covered by your rent, such as Wi-Fi access and necessities like food.

Don’t forget to budget for social activities, insurance, clothing, toiletries, books, course materials, printing, and transportation (locally and at home).

There are numerous student discounts available for you to use. For £30 a year or £70 for a three-year card, you can get third off rail prices with a 16-25 Railcard (for those 16 to 25 plus mature students). 

Additionally, a TOTUM Student discount card offers access to a range of valuable discounts with companies including Apple, Virgin Media, ASOS, Domino’s, Hello Fresh, and the Co-op for a nominal fee (£14.99 for one year or £24.99 for up to three years).

If you are in a student residence and they enrolled each resident full-time in school, you are exempt from paying council tax. Call your local council or visit their website to apply for this exemption.

Student Living Costs

If you choose to study in London rather than another part of the UK, your living expenses will be significantly greater.

The 10 most affordable UK cities for students among 21 well-known university cities, according to Nat West’s Student Living Index 2022 research, are:

• Cardiff
• Cambridge
• Southampton
• Sheffield
• Coventry
• York
• Durham
• Oxford
• Bristol
• Birmingham

When comparing living expenses to monthly income, these places provided the best value for money.

Unexpectedly, Manchester was said to have the highest average monthly rent for students in the nation, at £555.60.

The cost of living in London has decreased to £505.50, which is £100.20 less than the average cost of living for students in the UK, which is £455.40. I discovered that since 2021, the typical rent for students has decreased by 12%.

How to Apply for Student Finance

In England, applications for full-time undergraduate programs are typically open in March which many times comes with a masters maintenance loan.

If your course begins between 1 August and 31 December, you should apply for your loan by 31 May because the processing time for student loan applications might take up to six weeks.

Before applying, you do not need to have a confirmed offer of a course spot.

Nine months following the start of the academic year for your study, the final deadline for student aid applications is due.

Through Student Finance England, students from England can register and submit applications online.

You may follow your application from here, look at your student loan payment due dates, and edit any of your personal information.

Online applications for tuition assistance and assistance with living expenses are also available to EU applicants with settled status.

However, you must download the paperwork and submit your application by mail if you request assistance with your tuition.

You should apply through the following organizations if you reside in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland:

• SAAS
• Student Finance Wales
• Student Finance Northern Ireland (NI)

Repaying student loans

They commonly calculated student loan interest using the retail price index (RPI) plus up to 3%.

You aren’t required to start paying back these loans until April of the year following your graduation or leave your degree and make at least £27,288 ($2,274 per month) before taxes and other deductions.

Taking Masters maintenance loan, that you must pay back 9% of your income above the threshold.

There are no penalties if you want to repay some or all of your loan amount outside of this repayment threshold.

If you have a job, the money will be automatically taken out of your paycheck along with tax and National Insurance (NI). Keep your paystubs and P60 forms, though, as you’ll need to produce them later.

Postgraduate Loan 2024/25

For individuals pursuing their initial master’s degree, the UK government may offer a Postgraduate Master’s Loan to help with living expenses, tuition fees, or both.

Please be aware that the UK government has not yet fully disclosed all of the information for students beginning in 2024. Except as noted otherwise, all numbers and qualifying requirements on these pages relate to people who began in 2024 and will be updated as new data becomes available.

Read also: Do You Get Maintenance Loan For Foundation Year?

FAQs About Masters Maintenance Student Loan

In Summary: Masters Maintenance Loan 

Tuition fee loans and maintenance loans are separate categories of student loans. Up to £9,250 in annual tuition fee loans pay your course fees.

They pay this money directly to the university hosting your course; you do not get it. Part-time students may be eligible for a loan for tuition costs of up to £6,935.

You might receive up to £11,100 if you’re pursuing an expedited degree—a two-year program as opposed to the standard three. Therefore, I hope this article tells you everything you need about masters maintenance student loans.

References 

• thinkstudent.co.uk ______ Can You Get a Student Loan For a Master’s Degree?
• prospects.ac.uk  _______ Student loans and finance

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