Answers · UK 2025/26

What is the difference between a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan?

A tuition fee loan is paid directly to your university to cover course fees (up to roughly £9,535 a year for 2026/27) and never touches your bank account. A maintenance loan is paid directly to you in termly instalments to cover living costs such as rent and food, and the amount depends on household income and where you study.

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Student finance in England is split into two separate loans that work very differently, even though both are repaid together through the same Plan 5 system. **Tuition fee loan** The tuition fee loan covers your course fees and is paid directly by the Student Loans Company (SLC) to your university or college, not to you. Full-time undergraduate fees are typically around £9,535 a year for 2026/27 at most English universities, and almost all eligible students can borrow the full amount regardless of household income, because it is not means-tested in the way the maintenance loan is. **Maintenance loan** The maintenance loan is intended to help with living costs -- rent, food, books, travel -- and is paid directly into your own bank account in three instalments across the academic year (usually at the start of each term). Unlike the tuition fee loan, the maintenance loan amount IS means-tested against household income, and also depends on where you live while studying (away from home in London gets the highest amount, living at home with parents gets the lowest). **Worked example** Aisha starts university in September 2026 studying away from home outside London. Her tuition fee loan of £9,535 is paid straight to her university across the year and she never sees this money. Her household income assessment means she qualifies for a maintenance loan of around £8,400 for the year, paid to her in three instalments of roughly £2,800 each in September, January and April, which she uses for rent and living costs. **Why the distinction matters for repayment** Both loans are combined into a single total balance and repaid together once you are earning above the Plan 5 repayment threshold (£25,000 a year for 2026/27), at 9% of income above that threshold -- there is no separate repayment stream for fees versus maintenance, so from a repayment perspective the split does not matter. It matters mainly for cash flow while you are studying: the fee loan protects you from ever needing to find tuition money yourself, while the maintenance loan is the actual money you have to budget with day to day. **Can you take less than the full amount?** You can choose to borrow less than the maximum maintenance loan you are entitled to (for example if parents or savings cover some living costs), which reduces your eventual debt and interest, but most students cannot reduce the tuition fee loan unless they pay fees upfront themselves, which is unusual. **Practical tip** Apply for both loans together through the same Student Finance application well before your course starts, and check the maintenance loan household income assessment early, since a change in parental income between application and the start of term can change the amount you are awarded.