If you are aged 19 or over and thinking about studying a further education vocational, technical or professional course at Level 3, 4, 5 or 6 from September 2023, you may qualify for an Advanced Learner Loan to help you pay your course fees.

• You won’t have to pay any course fees up front.
• There’s no credit check and household income isn’t taken into account.
• There’s no upper age limit.
• Loan repayments are linked to what you earn when you have finished your course, not how much you borrowed.
• Interest rates are low.
• Loan repayments will be taken directly from your wage, so you won’t have to worry about making separate loan repayments.
• After 40 years, any remaining loan debt is wiped!
• Student Finance England will ‘write off’ any outstanding Advanced Learner Loan balances you owe for an Access to HE course once you complete a higher education course. This means you do not have to repay it. The higher education course must be eligible for student finance.
• Repayments for Advanced Learner Loans start the April after you complete or withdraw from your course.
• You pay back your loan (plus interest) when you finish your course and earn more than £27,295 a year. Your repayments will stop if your income drops below £27,295 a year.
• Your annual repayment amount will be 9% of any income you earn over £27,295.
• You pay interest from the time your first payment is made until you pay your loan back in full.
• Click here to see who qualifies and to apply.

NB: You’ll have to pay back any money that’s been paid to your college or training provider (plus interest) if you leave or change your course after 2 weeks or more. The interest rate will be the rate of inflation. You must have been living in the UK for 3 years before starting your course and be a UK national or have ‘settled status’ to apply.

Access to Higher Education (HE) Diplomas & Advanced Learner Loans 

Don’t forget if you take out a loan to complete an Access to HE course and then progress to and complete a Student Finance England funded degree/Higher Education course, the outstanding balance of your Loan will be written off!

Advanced Learner Loan Bursary Fund

This Bursary Fund is designed to help vulnerable students who have taken out an Advanced Learner Loan, and who are experiencing financial hardship, parents who may need help towards their childcare and those with learning difficulties or disabilities. All applications are assessed to find those students who are most in need of help. Application are made online by clicking ‘Apply Now’ below.

Who could get help?

• Anyone who is enrolled onto a Further Education course, Level 3 or higher
• Have successfully secured an Advanced Learner Loan

And

• Is on a low income
• Have been ordinarily resident in the British Isles or European Union for purposes other than education for the past three years.

What could I get help with?

• Travel to College
• Books
• College trips