All eligible English students will be able to take out a maintenance loan to help with living costs. The maximum loan available for students studying in London (ie. at LSE) and living away from home is £10, 702. If you study outside London or if you live at home while you study, the maximum loan value is £6,609.

There are two elements to the maintenance loan: a guaranteed loan and an income assessed loan.

Guaranteed loan: Up to £5,330 to study in London.

The Income Assessed loan: The Remiaining amount up to £10,702. The chart below is taken from information provided by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and assumes a partental contribution. Your parent cannot be made to pay this so you may need to supplement your loan with an LSE Bursary or by working part time.

The maintenance loan does have to be repaid.

Income assessed maintenance loan breakdown
Household Income	Loan Amount (per year)	Expected Parental Contribution (per year)
£10,000	£10,702	£0
£15,000	£10,702	£0
£20,000	£10,702	£0
£25,000	£10,702	£0
£30,000	£10,702	£600
£35,000	£9,503	£1,199
£40,000	£8,903	£1,799
£45,000	£8,304	£2,398
£50,000	£7,704	£2,998
£55,000	£7,105	£3,597
£60,000	£6,505	£4,197
£65,000	£5,906	£4,796
£69,802+	£5,330	£5,372

Applying

You should apply for both of your loans (maintenance and tuition fee) in the Spring before you start University. Student Finance usually announces a date in March when applications open and a deadline in May by which you should submit your application. You should check out the gov.uk website for further details.

You and your family will need to complete a PN1 form which asks for a range of financial information about you and the household in which you live. It is this financial information which Student Finance uses to assess you. The information submitted on the application form allows Student Finance to calculate the 'household residual income' [see section below]. Unless you opt out, your chosen university can then access this financial information so that they can assess your eligibility for their own bursaries. In the case of LSE, this means that you will not have to apply separately for our package of financial support [see section on LSE financial support for further information.]

Household residual income

This is effectively the household income BEFORE tax and AFTER any pension contributions or allowances for dependant children.

For all those dependent students (i.e. not independent) then the income assessment is based on your combined parents' income – though if you have substantial savings/investments of your own generating income they will be taken into account.

If your parents are divorced or separated then they will assess the income of the parent you live with most of the time (if that's not clear cut, it's at the discretion of Student Finance England) – if that parent remarries or has a cohabiting partner, their joint income will then be assessed.

Disabled Students' Allowance

Students with a disability may be entitled to a Disabled Students' Allowance, which is designed to help with the costs incurred in attending a course as a direct result of a student's disability.

More information about the Disabled Students' Allowance

Students with children or other dependants

Students with children may be eligible for the Parents Learning Allowance and help with the cost of childcare. Students who have an adult who depends on them may also be eligible for an Adult Dependants' Grant. Further information is available in the gov.uk Childcare Grant and Other Support for Student Parents in Higher Education Guide.

You should also refer to LSE Discretionary Bursaries.

Home EU students

EU students can access a Tuition Fee Loan on a similar basis as UK students. The only assistance normally available to EU students from the UK Government is in respect of tuition fees. LSE Bursaries are available to assist Home EU students with their living costs.

Please note that the LSE EU Bursary is open to LSE students only. LSE does not provide bursaries for students at other institutions.

Visit gov.uk student finance for more information

Please note that EU students cannot currently use the Student Finance online account service. Although EU students can access the online account service, any changes made online will NOT be reflected within Student Finance's systems. EU students must call the relevant call centre if they wish to make changes to their application.

Payment of Loans and Bursaries

If you have taken out a Tuition Fee Loan to pay your tuition fee, this money will be automatically transferred to your tuition fee account in October. There is nothing you need do to ensure this takes place.

All Student Support for maintenance will be paid by electronic transfer directly into your bank/building society account. It is therefore essential that Student Finance have the correct details of your bank/building society account in order to make the payment. This information is required well in advance of your programme start date.

LSE needs to confirm that you are a registered student before your loan or bursary will be released to you. The Registry team will submit a bulk confirmation of student attendance to Student Finance. The first instalment of your loan entitlement will then be paid into your bank/building society account within 5 working days.

If you have applied for student support, please make sure that you register (new students) or re-register (continuing students) for the new academic year before this date, otherwise your payment will be delayed.

If you have registered and haven't received your money within 5 working days of the published payment date, or have any questions about this process, please contact the Student Finance helpline on 0845 026 2019. If you are informed by Student Finance that they are still awaiting confirmation of your attendance from the School, please contact LSE Registry at registry@lse.ac.uk.

The subsequent two instalments will be released shortly after the start of the Lent and Summer Terms.

If you applied through Student Finance England you can access your record, check the position of your application, and download copies of any letters sent to you online. You will need your customer service no. and password to do this.
More information about Managing your Student Finance account

If you are experiencing any problems with receiving your loan (or grant for students who started their programme prior to 2016) then please contact the Financial Support Office, who can make Short Term Loans in cases where support has been approved but not yet paid. If the problem relates to your registration status, you will be referred to the Registry team.

Student Finance: guides and advice

Follow Student Finance England on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SFEngland and/or Twitter - http://twitter.com/sf_england for updates and reminders about the student finance process.

Scam emails

Students are urged to remain vigilant and not to disclose any personal or bank details in response to email requests which look like they are from either Student Finance England or its parent company, the Student Loans Company.

Student Finance England will never email you asking you to confirm your login, user or bank account details. This kind of fraudulent email is known as 'phishing', and will take you to a fake website. Phishing scams are common at the three main instalment payment dates in September, January and April.

If you get an email asking you to follow a link to the Student Finance England website to confirm your account details, you should forward it to security@slc.co.uk then delete it.

Anyone who has already given their details should change their account password as soon as possible and contact the Student Finance England security team. By forwarding the email, you can help Student Finance England to protect you and others who may be affected.

For advice on using online services safely visit www.getsafeonline.org

LSE Access Fund

LSE has funds available to provide help for low income UK students who may need extra financial support during their course and to stay in higher education.

More specifically the funds:

can meet particular costs which are not already being met from other grants;
can help if students are in financial hardship;
can provide emergency payments for unexpected financial crises; and
can help students who may be considering giving up their course because of financial problems.

Only currently registered LSE students can make an application to the LSE Access Fund. More information about In-course financial support (internal access only).

gov.uk - student funding