"This week marks another major student finance milestone.
On 21 October, we paid £2.3 billion in tuition fees to
higher and further education providers, on behalf of over
one million students. As of this week we have also paid
more than £2.7 billion in maintenance payments to over a
million students, taking the total amount of student
finance paid so far this term to £5 billion.
We will also make a second tranche of tuition fee payments
on 28 October to facilitate the re-profiling of fee
payments announced by Government this year. This second
payment essentially gives universities an ‘advance’ on the
second instalment of tuition fees; but, importantly,
students don’t become liable for these fees until the
normal second liability point.
While the vast majority of student finance applications for
this academic year are now processed and paid, we are still
working through late applications and applications for
additional types of support, such as grants for dependants.
We are also still receiving new student finance
applications every day - in fact, we are receiving more
late student finance applications this year than we ever
have before, meaning we are even busier than we normally
would be at this time of year.
Student finance applications can be submitted up to nine
months after the start of the academic year, but if you are
applying late you should be aware it may take us up to six
weeks to process your application, or possibly longer if
there are unusual or complex circumstances. If you are
eligible, we will pay you the basic rate of maintenance
loan as soon as we can, so you have some funding in place
while we finalise your entitlement. To ensure your
application is processed as quickly as possible, please
respond to our requests for additional information as soon
as you can.
SLC exists to enable people to invest in their futures
through further and higher education by providing trusted,
transparent, flexible and accessible student finance
services; and it’s looking increasingly likely that this
academic year, we will be providing those student finance
services to more students than ever before."
