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Guidance: Understanding student living costs

Student Loans Company

January 26
16:36 2024

Students studying at university or college can have different living costs depending on where and what they will be studying, their lifestyle and any financial commitments they might have.

Student Space offer advice and support to all, including information on where to find extra funding to help with your living costs and budgeting tools. Why not check out their guidance on how to create a budget to find out what your living costs at university or college might add up to?

If youre unsure about what additional costs may be involved as a result of your studies, you should ask your university or college for more information. Examples could include:

  • accommodation costs such as rent

  • travel

  • course materials

  • food and drink

  • utilities such as gas and electricity bills

Find out what Student Finance you could get as a minimum and maximum in the 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 academic years.

What you could get as a minimum

Student Finance England (SFE) provide a Maintenance Loan to help you with your living costs. All eligible students can get the basic non-income assessed minimum amount of Maintenance Loan to help with these costs. The minimum amount you can get is:

Living arrangements 2023 to 2024 academic year 2024 to 2025 academic year
Living with your parents 3,597 3,790
Living away from your parents, outside London 4,524 4,767
Living away from your parents, in London 6,308 6,647

Most students can get a higher amount of Maintenance Loan by providing details of their household income.

What you could get as a maximum

If you apply for student finance based on your household income then you may be entitled to even more Maintenance Loan to help with your living costs.

For example, full-time undergraduate students with a household income of 25,000 or less would get the maximum additional Maintenance Loan. Students with a household income above 25,000 would get a lower amount of loan based on their household income.

The tables show some examples of what the difference is between the maximum Maintenance Loan and the amount you could get based on your household income.

2024 to 2025 academic year

Living with your parents

Household Income Maximum Maintenance Loan Amount available to you Difference from maximum
up to 25,000 8,610 8,610 0
45,000 8,610 5,716 2,894
58,307 8,610 3,790 (only eligible for minimum amount) 4,820

Living away from your parents, outside London

Household Income Maximum Maintenance Loan Amount available to you Difference from maximum
up to 25,000 10,227 10,227 0
45,000 10,227 7,304 2,923
62,347 10,227 4,767 (only eligible for minimum amount) 5,460

2023 to 2024 academic year

Living with your parents

Household Income Maximum Maintenance Loan Amount available to you Difference from maximum
up to 25,000 8,400 8,400 0
45,000 8,400 5,576 2,824
58,291 8,400 3,698 (only eligible for minimum amount) 4,702

Living away from your parents, outside London

Household Income Maximum Maintenance Loan Amount available to you Difference from maximum
up to 25,000 9,978 9,978 0
45,000 9,978 7,125 2,853
62,343 9,978 4,651 (only eligible for minimum amount) 5,327

There are different rates for students living in London and for other circumstances such as if there are other students living in your household, youre in your final year of your studies or if you get benefits. Use the student finance calculator to get an estimate on the amount of Maintenance Loan available to you based on your specific circumstances.

For some students even the maximum amount of Maintenance Loan may not be enough to cover all their living costs.

Making up the difference

Students are expected to make up the difference between the Maintenance Loan amount available to them and their total living costs.

Financial support may be provided by the students parents or partner. But there are several other sources of funding available for students who dont have access to household support, or for students who need more funding because even the maximum Maintenance Loan available isnt enough. These could be:

  • part-time employment

  • savings

  • university bursaries and scholarships

  • Local Authority support such as the Higher Education Bursary

You can find more information about some of the alternative sources of funding and guidance on how to budget for university our cost of living page.

Published 18 January 2022
Last updated 26 January 2024 +show all updates
  1. Added 2024 to 2025 and 2023 to 2024 academic year information

  2. Changed partner organisation from Discover Uni to Student Space.

  3. First published.

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