How long can you get a loan for?

Goldwing1

My daughter is in year 12 and wants to become a Vet which is a five year course.

Yesterday she was told that you could only get a student loan for a maximum of four years - this was at a school presentation by someone (If I remember correctly) from Portsmouth University.

Is that correct?

silvercar

You get a loan for the length of your course. If you drop out and start another course, you get an extra year in total.

Goldwing1

Thank you. I'm getting more confused now though. My daughter (and I) understood that she had to apply for the loan each year? This seems to be confirmed by the Government website at https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance

silvercar

Goldwing1 wrote: »

Thank you. I'm getting more confused now though. My daughter (and I) understood that she had to apply for the loan each year? This seems to be confirmed by the Government website at https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance

You reapply each year for the loan, but the total number of years that you can get a loan for is limited by the length of your course (plus one year if things go wrong and you change degrees).

Example. If you leave your first degree attempt during the second year of university and then sometime later start a new degree that is 4 years long, you are entitled to a student loan for the 4 years of your new course, less the 2 years you already had, plus 1 year. That would be 4-2+1=3. As your new course is 4 years long you would be expected to self fund for the first year and then be eligible for loans for the remaining 3 years.

silvercar

If you apply for a 5 year course and get funding for it, you get student loan for all 5 years. simples. Though you do reapply each year.

Goldwing1

silvercar wrote: »

You reapply each year for the loan, but the total number of years that you can get a loan for is limited by the length of your course (plus one year if things go wrong and you change degrees).

Example. If you leave your first degree attempt during the second year of university and then sometime later start a new degree that is 4 years long, you are entitled to a student loan for the 4 years of your new course, less the 2 years you already had, plus 1 year. That would be 4-2+1=3. As your new course is 4 years long you would be expected to self fund for the first year and then be eligible for loans for the remaining 3 years.

That helps. Many thanks.

Taiko

Disgusted that Portsmouth University of all places got this wrong, as I trained their staff on this many years back when I worked in Student Finance!

It's always length of the course plus one year for fee loans, and maintenance loan in all years.

Goldwing1

Taiko wrote: »

Disgusted that Portsmouth University of all places got this wrong, as I trained their staff on this many years back when I worked in Student Finance!

It's always length of the course plus one year for fee loans, and maintenance loan in all years.

Whoops, sorry.

I think the confusion creeps in because the Vet courses are five, instead of the more usual three years. We've also noted that her school is geared for a January application deadline whereas the deadline for vet courses is the previous October (October 2020 vs January 2021).