UK Government financial support

For those starting at LSE in 2020, students ordinarily resident in England and the EU* do not have to pay the tuition fee up front. The UK Government provides students with a tuition fee loan to cover the full cost of the fee for the duration of your undergraduate programme.

*Non-UK EU students are generally eligible to take out a tuition fee loan. The UK Government confirmed that EU undergraduate new entrants in 2020 are eligible for the tuition fee loan will be able to access this loan for the duration of their undergraduate degree programme. Further information can be found on the gov.uk website.

Full details of eligibility criteria for funding.

Find out about interest rates and repaying your loan

All eligible students from England are able to take out a maintenance loan to help with living costs. Students from the EU are not normally eligible for maintenance loans from the UK government, but may be eligible for a Bursary.

Full details of eligibility criteria for funding.

In 2019 the maximum loan available for students studying in London (ie, at LSE) and living away from home is £11,672.

If you study outside London or if you live at home while you study, the maximum loan value is lower. There are two elements to the maintenance loan: a guaranteed loan and an income assessed loan.

Find out about interest rates and repaying your loan

Guaranteed loan

Part of the maintenance loan is available to everyone in 2019, regardless of their parental income. This amounts to £5,654 to study in London.

Income assessed loan

The remainder of the amount you can borrow is means-tested (ie, it depends on your or your parents' household income).

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 (ie, not independent) then the income assessment is based on your combined parents' income – though if you have substantial savings/investments of your own which generate 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). If that parent remarries or has a cohabiting partner, their joint income will then be assessed.

Financial support by household income (2018 figures)

You should apply for both of your loans (maintenance and tuition fee) in the spring before you start University. Student Finance applications open in Spring and will have a deadline in May by which you should submit your application. You should check gov.uk  and slc.co.uk 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 your eligibility for an assessed maintenance loan. The information submitted on the application form allows Student Finance to calculate the 'household residual income' (see the information below).

You can also allow your chosen university to 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 financial support from LSE. This is not the case for EU students, who will have to submit a separate application for the LSE Bursary.

Find out about interest rates and repaying your loan

Updating your Student Finance application

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.

Disabled students from the UK can access DSAs which are grants to help with extra costs you might face as a result of a disability, long-term health condition, mental health condition or specific learning disability like dyslexia.

More information about the Disabled Students' Allowance

Parents' Learning Allowance

You can apply for a Parents' Learning Allowance if you're a full-time undergraduate student with dependent children. This helps with the extra costs associated with being a parent and a student. You don't need to be paying for childcare to be eligible.

Adult Dependants' Grant

You can apply for the Adult Dependants' Grant if you're a full-time UK undergraduate student and you have an adult who depends on you financially. The adult can be a partner or another adults who depends on you financially, but you can't count grown-up children as adult dependants.

Other funding

Childcare Grant and Other Support for Student Parents in Higher Education.

You should also refer to LSE Discretionary 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 maintenance loans 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 and does this via 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 five working days.

If you have applied for a maintenance loan, 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 the Student Services Centre using their online enquiry form here.

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

Find out about interest rates and repaying your loan

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 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
• 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 financial support for current students (internal access only).