At the Student Loans Company (SLC), we remain at the forefront of
supporting the education sector by providing trusted,
transparent, and accessible student finance services. SLC
enables more than 1.5 million students each year to invest in
their futures by providing financial support to access further
and higher education.
At the start of September, we began paying maintenance loans as
the academic year got underway and this week we have marked
another significant milestone in the 25/26 delivery of student
finance to the education sector - paying £2.4 billion pounds in
tuition fees to higher education colleges and universities.
This follows the £3 billion that was paid in maintenance loans to
students so in total, SLC has paid over £5.4 billion* in student
finance in the 25/26 year so far.
We are continuing to make student finance payments to those who
applied after the deadline and will have received a minimum level
of student finance.
Where a student applied late for funding, we awarded the minimum
maintenance loan and their tuition fee loan to ensure they had
funding to start their term, their remaining funding is paid to
them as a top-up payment once all necessary application details
are confirmed. Applications can take up to four weeks to process,
so we do encourage students to apply as early as possible.
For students who are starting courses in January, we're already
processing applications and there's a range of advice on applying
at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/students-from-england-can-find-answers-to-their-questions–2
*Please note these are provisional figures. Full year figures are
published in our Student Support for Higher Education statistical
release which will be published on 27 November 2025.
