Undergraduate Funding
The decision to study a degree is an investment into your future, there are various means of support available to you in order to help fund your tuition fees and living costs. You can apply for funding from the Spring before your course starts.
All the information on tuition fees and maintenance loans pertains to students who are applying to Student Finance England (SFE) for their funding. This is because the majority of undergraduates who come to study at Suffolk will have SFE as their funding body.
Please see the drop down headings below for the package of support that may be available to you as a student.
UK/EU undergraduate students starting their first degree, either on a full or part-time basis will likely be able to receive a tuition fee loan to pay their tuition fees, this is the fee advertised in the course information. The tuition fee loan has no age limit and is not means-tested. There are a number of factors in assessing your eligibility for funding; being eligible for a tuition fee loan may open up further eligibility for a maintenance loan.
A key starting point for assessing your eligibility for funding is your residency status. It is important to check with Student Finance if you have any concerns about your residency status and student funding. In most circumstances you need to meet the residency criteria by the beginning of the academic year in which you commence your course in order to be eligible for funding for the remainder of your studies.
Please note - residency status can be complicated, applying in good time will allow Student Finance to assess your eligibility before the start of the academic year and before you commit to a course. For the purpose of Student Finance, the academic year commences on 1 September for students starting their course in September/October, and on 1 January for students starting their course in January/February.
If you have studied before, or already hold a degree or equivalent level qualification (even if you didn't take a loan at the time) it may limit your eligibility for further undergraduate funding. Some courses are eligible for funding as a second degree such as some pre-registration healthcare courses. Again, applying early will enable your funding eligibility to be checked in good time.
- Check your general eligibility and apply for Student Finance here
- More information on undergraduate tuition fees at the University of Suffolk
For more information and to use a student loan estimator or repayment calculator, take a look at Blackbullion.
There are a range of loans and grants available to full-time and part-time UK undergraduate students.
After applying for a Tuition Fee Loan, the next step for students is to apply for a Maintenance Loan. Your eligibility to apply for a Maintenance Loan, as with a Tuition Fee Loan, depends on various factors - with residency status and previous study being key points to consider. Take a look here to see if you qualify.
You could be eligible to receive a maintenance loan of up to:
Full-Time Undergraduate |
2020/2021 |
| Living in the parental home | £7747 |
| Living away from home | £9203 |
Check your eligibility, how much is available and apply for Student Finance
If you, as the student, have any dependants or caring responsibilities you could be eligible to receive additional funding in the form of grants, which do not need to paid back up to the value of :
Full-Time Undergraduate |
2020/2021 |
| Parent Learning Allowance | £1766 |
| Adult Dependant Grant | £3094 |
| Childcare Grant (not direct to student) | 85% of costs (up to a maximum) |
See here for more detailed information on additional grants
Students who can show that they have a disability, mental health condition or learning difficulty that affects their ability to study may be eligible for Disabled Student Allowances (DSA). DSA is an additional source of funding to help with costs incurred when accessing study, for example, 1-1 specialist study skills tuition. This is not paid direct to the student. For more information on DSA's speak to the Disability and Wellbeing Team or take a look at our webpages.
Students aged 60 or above
For those students who are aged 60 at the start of the academic year and commenced a full time undergraduate course after the 1 August 2016, there is a means assessed loan for living costs that you may be eligible for. This loan still has to be repaid if you reach the repayment threshold. The Department for Work and Pensions should disregard this loan as income when assessing your eligibility for benefits.
Distance Learning Students
Students studying a course through distance learning could be eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan, but do not ordinarily qualify to receive a Maintenance Loan or any of the targeted grants - this is because students are not in attendance.
You may eligible to apply for a Maintenance Loan if you are unable to attend a course due to a disability.
Distance learning students are also able to access DSA's if required.
For more information and to use a student loan estimator or repayment calculator, take a look at Blackbullion.
The U.K. government has announced that European students applying to universities in England in the 20/21 academic year will be still eligible for student loans and tuition fees at the same rate as domestic i.e. “home” students.
In May 2019 the Universities Minister, Chris Skidmore, said that undergraduates from EU countries commencing studies at English universities from September 2020 will be charged the same yearly tuition fees as home students and will have access to the same government-backed student loans for the duration of their degree course (subject to meeting the usual eligibility criteria).
Both the Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loan's do have to be repaid, but not until you have graduated and are earning above a certain income. The threshold at which you start repaying depends upon when you started your course. From the start of the new tax year 2020/2021, and for courses that started after 1 September 2012 you start repaying your maintenance loan once you start earning £26,575 per year.
However, if you leave your course early you may be asked to repay some of the Maintenance Loan earlier. For example if you are a September starter and you leave your course at some point during the following January, you may have already received the second instalment of your Maintenance Loan – which is usually paid at the beginning of January. You will likely go in to ‘overpayment’ for some of the maintenance loan for that academic term and would be asked to arrange repayment of the amount overpaid.
If you take time out during your course, you may also go into overpayment. This can be complex, so please get in touch with the team for some advice.
Any balance left unpaid after 30 years will be written off.
More information on student loan repayments can be found here.
Click to view the Bursaries and scholarships that are available to University of Suffolk students.
Financial Support Fund
Universities that charge higher fees are required to put aside some of the fees funding to support students who may be experiencing financial difficulties. These funds are often referred to as Access Funds and are set out in the University Access and Participation plan, which has approval from the Office for Students.
The University of Suffolk funds are administered through the Financial Support Fund (FSF).
The FSF is assessed primarily in accordance with the national guidelines set out by the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA).
The University of Suffolk, like other universities, also has local polices that assist to adapt the fund to some of the specific needs of the University of Suffolk students and the disciplines that they are studying. The main fund opens in October of each year. Once you are a student at the University of Suffolk you can find out more about making an application to the fund by visiting the MySuffolk pages or speaking to the Infozone in the first instance.
Healthcare Students - Learning Support Fund
The Learning Support Fund is now made up of 6 elements, some of these elements are yet to have full information released. You can click each element title to be shown the full details as per the Learning Support Fund website.
The additional funding support is available to new and current pre-registration students on nursing, midwifery and some allied health professional courses from September 2020. Eligible student's returning for their second and third years on these course will also be able to apply. Students will still access funding from the Student Loans Company for tuition and maintenance loans.
To be eligible for the Learning Support Fund you must also meet Student Finance England's course related and residency criteria.
For more information on the Learning Support Fund, take a look at the Healthcare Funding page.
US Department of Veteran Affairs
If you are an American citizen or a dependent and plan on receiving funding from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), please email admissions@uos.ac.uk with your name, contact details and course of study, so we can ensure your course is registered with the VA.
MOD’s Enhanced Learning Credits Scheme
We are an approved provider of Higher Education courses for the Ministry of Defences Enhanced Learning Credits Scheme (ELC), a scheme which provides financial assistance to members of the Armed Forces. The University Provider ID is 3033 . To check if you may be eligible for funding through this scheme, please visit the Enhanced Learning Credits website.