Suspending or withdrawing from your studies

Taking a break or withdrawing from full-time undergraduate courses

If you’re thinking about suspending or withdrawing, you need to speak to your uni or college. They’ll give you advice and help you make the best decision.

If you decide to suspend or withdraw from your studies, it’s really important to let Student Finance England know – you can do this through Webchat in your online account. Also let your uni or college know your decision as soon as possible. This minimises the risk of you being overpaid your student finance.

What happens when you suspend or withdraw from your course?

• Once your uni or college lets Student Finance England know you’ve suspended or withdrawn, they’ll reassess your student finance based on the number of days you attended your course and will contact you about your new student finance entitlement.
• They’ll stop any future payments to you or your uni or college (until you return to your studies if you're suspending).
• Depending on the date you suspend or withdraw, and when your uni or college lets Student Finance England know, you may be overpaid.

During your suspension

You may be able to get some student finance during your suspension period, for example, if you’re experiencing financial hardship, or you suspended due to a caring responsibility or illness.

You usually need to send Student Finance England evidence, such as bank statements or a letter from your uni or college. Each case is assessed on an individual basis.

If you’ve suspended on health grounds, you’ll get full student finance for 60 days after you suspend. You don’t need to do anything, as your uni or college should let Student Finance England know. You may be eligible to get Disabled Students' Allowance.

Repaying your student loan

You’ll be responsible for repaying any Tuition Fee Loan that Student Finance England has paid to your uni or college, and your Maintenance Loan. 

If you've been overpaid

If you’ve been overpaid after suspending or withdrawing, Student Finance England will contact you to let you know how to repay this amount. 

How much Tuition Fee Loan will you need to repay?

The amount you’ll need to repay depends on the date you suspended or withdrew from your course. Your uni or college will have their own fee charging policy, so speak to them about this.

For more information, go to gov.uk to see how to repay your loan if you suspend or leave your course.

If you return to university or college

If you suspended

If you suspend and return to your studies in the same academic year, your uni or college will let Student Finance England know, and they’ll reassess your student finance. If you return in a new academic year, you should reapply for student finance as normal.

If you withdrew

If you withdrew in your first year, you should be able to get full funding to study another course. If you left your course in your second year or later, you may have to cover some or all of the cost of your tuition fees yourself, if you return to study. You’ll usually still be able to get a Maintenance Loan for any self-funded years of study.

How does Student Finance England work this out?

As a general rule, you can get a Tuition Fee Loan for the full length of your course, plus one extra year if needed. The number of years you can get funding for is usually calculated as length of current course + one year – years of previous study.

You might be able to get an extra year of tuition fee support if you withdrew because of reasons outside your control, such as bereavement or illness. 

How to apply

As soon as you’ve applied for student finance, you should upload evidence of your personal reasons for repeating a year or leaving your course. It’s vital you upload a cover letter which contains your Customer Reference Number (CRN), and explains the situation and how it affected your studies.

Examples of evidence you can upload to prove these personal reasons include:

• a letter on headed paper from a professional person, such as a doctor or a social worker, who can confirm the situation
• a letter on headed paper from someone at your university or college, who can confirm your situation and when you left the course
• copies of birth or death certificates

Visit GOV.UK website for help uploading your documents.

It can take six to eight weeks to review your evidence. Once they've made a decision, Student Finance England will contact you to let you know the outcome of your application.

Taking a break or withdrawing from your postgraduate studies

• As soon as you've told them, Student Finance England will stop your Postgraduate Loan payments. If you get paid anything after this, you may be asked to repay it straightaway, so it’s important you contact them and let your university know as soon as you leave your course.
• If your university has agreed you can take a break from your course, your payments will start again when you return. However, if you take a break for two years or more during your course, you’ll only get further payments if you can show you have compelling personal reasons, such as illness or bereavement.
• If you withdraw from your course completely, Student Finance England will stop any further payments.

Repeating a year

You can’t usually get funding to repeat a year, unless you have compelling personal reasons.

If you’ve been paid too much

Usually, Student Finance England will just take the amount from any future payments you’re due. If you’re not due any future payments, they’ll contact you about alternative ways to repay.

If you haven’t been overpaid, you’ll need to repay your loan:

• How to repay your Postgraduate Master's Loan
• How to repay your Postgraduate Doctoral Loan