SLC has now completed the majority of first term student finance
payments for the 2021/22 academic year. This is a significant
milestone for the organisation, and I am pleased to confirm that
we have advanced £3bn to students in Maintenance Loan funding. A
further £2.3bn in Tuition Fees has been paid to universities and
colleges on their behalf. This brings the total amount of student
finance paid this term to £5.3bn*.
Although the vast majority of students will have received their
first payments, there may be some who have still not received
their full entitlement. This may be because they applied later,
or perhaps because they still have evidence to submit. Applicants
who want to know what stage their payment is at can check their
payment status at any
time on their online account. More information on getting your first payment
if you are applying late can be found online.
This year SLC has supported more students than ever before to
invest in their future through higher and further education. We
have provided trusted, transparent, flexible and accessible
student finance services to a record number of applicants. And,
despite this growth in demand, we were still able to increase the
number of applications which were fully processed and
ready-to-pay at term start.
Regrettably, our phonelines have been busier than normal, and our
customers have had to wait longer than we would like to speak to
us. I would once again like to thank students for their patience,
and for following our advice to make use of our digital resources
and social media channels for assistance when required. This year
we have increased the amount of guidance available to help
students both online and within the application portal itself. We
will continue to build on this as we work towards our vision of
providing an outstanding customer experience.
Undergraduate students can still apply for student finance for 9
months after their course start date. However, they should be
aware that it can take up to 6 to 8 weeks to process an
application. We do our best to ensure eligible applicants have
some money in place as soon as possible by awarding the minimum
Maintenance Loan amount first, followed by a top-up payment if
students are entitled to more funding.
Anyone who has still to apply can find lots of useful information
and resources about payment and other student finance topics
online at https://studentfinance.campaign.gov.uk/.
They can also follow SFE on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
to stay up to date with all our latest guidance as the academic
year progresses.
*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 25 November.
