Student loans

About the project

As a student at the University of Bradford, you may be able to borrow money to help with the cost of tuition fees or living expenses.

On this page, we list some of the key loans that are available to you.

Tuition Loan

A Tuition Fee Loan covers the cost of your course and is paid directly to the University.

Maintenance Loan

A Maintenance Loan can contribute to the cost of your living expenses as an undergraduate student.

Master's Loan

A Master's Loan can contribute to the cost of a postgraduate taught degree.

Doctoral Loan

A Doctoral Loan can help cover the cost of your course and living expenses as a PhD student.

Lifelong Learning Entitlement

The current system of Student Finance is changing.

If your course starts after 1 January 2027, you will need to apply for the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).

You’ll need to apply through LLE funding if you study certain courses and modules from Levels 4 to 6 , or some courses from Level 7 . This includes most undergraduate, some postgraduate and further education courses.

What you can get

If you are eligible, you may be able to apply for:

The amount of Tuition Fee Loans and Maintenance Loans you get partly depends on the number of credits you study.

All courses that qualify for funding will be worth a certain number of credits. For example, a year of studying a bachelor’s degree full-time is usually worth 120 credits.

You can apply for Tuition Fee Loans up to a total amount of £39,160. This is the same as around four years of full-time study or 480 credits. Depending on your course, you may be able to get funding for more than four years.

• Tuition Fee Loans to help pay your course tuition fees
• Maintenance Loans to help with your living costs

How you’ll repay

Any student loans you borrow need to be paid back, but not until you’ve finished or left your course, and you earn over a certain amount.

For courses starting from 1 January 2027 , you’ll start repaying your loans when you earn over £25,000 a year.

Your loans will be written off 40 years after the April when you’re first due to repay.

You do not usually need to pay back extra financial help, such as grants, allowances or bursaries.

Interest

You’ll be charged 3.2% interest:

• from the day the first loan payment is made to you or your university, college or training provider
• until your loans are repaid in full or written off

When can you apply?

You can apply from September 2026 for courses that start from January 2027.

You will need to apply for funding for each course you are studying.

If your course is longer than one year, you will need to reapply each year of your course.

For more information, including details about eligibility, visit the GOV.UK student finance webpage .

If you need further advice on this matter, please contact the Student Life Team.

Student Support Fund Loan

The Student Support Fund Loan is provided by the University to help students in certain circumstances.

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