What's on this page?
What's available?
You could get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan of up to:
- £29,390 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024
- £28,673 if you started between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2024
This is to help with your course and living costs while you’re studying, and has to be repaid.
Your loan payments will be spread out across all the academic years of your course. For example, if you’re studying over five years and apply for the maximum loan amount of £29,390, your payments would be £5,878 in each academic year. The loan is paid in three instalments at the start of each term.
You can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan amount in any year of your course, but if you apply after the first year, you might not get the maximum amount.
Disabled Students' Allowance
If you have a disability, including a long-term health condition, mental health condition, or specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, you might be able to get Disabled Students’ Allowance. This doesn’t have to be paid back. You don’t have to be getting a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan to apply.
How to apply
Applications for 2024 to 2025 Postgraduate Doctoral courses are now open! The quickest and easiest way to apply is online at www.gov.uk/studentfinance.
When you apply for student finance, you'll need to agree to Student Finance England's terms and conditions.
You can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan in any year of your course, but you might not get the full amount if you apply after the first year of your course.
To get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, you must apply no more than nine months after the first day of the final academic year of your course.
You don't need to apply each year for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.
If Student Finance England ask you for any evidence, send this as quickly as possible to avoid delays with your application.
Evidence
If you don’t have a UK passport, you may have to send Student Finance England evidence, such as a non-UK passport, or a copy of your UK birth or adoption certificate.
You should send this as quickly as possible to avoid any delay in your application being processed. Remember to include your Customer Reference Number with everything you send them.
In some circumstances, you may be asked to send Student Finance England additional information or evidence, for example, evidence of your previous addresses or documents from the Home Office. They can’t process your application until they have everything they need, so you should send them anything they ask for as soon as possible, so your application isn’t delayed.
Changing your details
If any of your details change after you’ve applied for student finance, don’t worry – you can simply update your application. You can use your online account to make changes to your personal details before or after your course has started. To update any other details, such as your university or course, you need to send Student Finance England a completed postgraduate 'Change of circumstances' form. You can download this from www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan.
What happens next?
Once Student Finance England has assessed your application, they’ll send you a letter confirming how much Postgraduate Doctoral Loan you’re getting. The letter will also show the dates they expect to pay your Postgraduate Doctoral Loan to you. You should keep this letter safe, as your university might ask to see it when you register.
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Nationality and residency
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Age
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Previous study
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Course eligibility
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University eligibility
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Other funding
Repayment
You'll be due to start making repayments either:
- the April after you finish or leave your course
- the April four years after the start of your course, if you’re on a course longer than four years
but only if you're earning over a certain amount of money, which is currently £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month, or £404 a week. You'll be due to start repaying the April after you finish or leave your course, but only if you're earning over a certain amount of money, which is currently £21,000 a year, £1,750 a month, or £404 a week.
Any loan remaining 30 years after you’re due to start making repayments will be cancelled.
You’ll repay 6% of what you earn over the threshold. So if you’re paid monthly and earn £2,500 per month before tax, you’ll repay 6% of the difference between what you earn and the threshold.
For example:
£2,500 - £1,750 = £750
6% of £750 = £45
The table below shows how much you’ll repay towards your loan.
| Yearly income before tax | Monthly income before tax | Monthly repayment |
|---|---|---|
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £0 |
| £22,000 | £1,833 | £4 |
| £23,500 | £1,958 | £12 |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £19 |
| £30,000 | £2,500 | £45 |
A student loan repayment will be taken even if you don’t earn £21,000 in a year, but earn over the weekly or monthly threshold at any time, for example, if you work overtime or get a bonus.
Previous loans
If you’ve had a previous loan from Student Finance England, you’ll continue to repay this loan at the same time. How much you’ll repay depends on when you started your undergraduate course.
Courses that started after 1 September 2012
If you borrowed a loan for your undergraduate course that started after 1 September 2012, you’ll repay 9% of your income above ££27,295 towards that loan, and 6% of your income above £21,000 towards your Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.
If you borrowed a Postgraduate Loan for a master’s course as well as a Doctoral course, the repayment amount due will remain at 6%. This will go towards any loans borrowed for both master’s and Doctoral courses.
The table below shows how much you’ll repay towards your loans.
| Yearly income before tax | Monthly income before tax | Undergraduate loan repayment | Postgraduate loan repayment |
|---|---|---|---|
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £0 | £0 |
| £22,000 | £1,833 | £0 | £4 |
| £23,500 | £1,958 | £0 | £12 |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £0 | £19 |
| £27,000 | £2,250 | £3 | £30 |
Courses that started before September 2012
If you borrowed a loan for your undergraduate course that started before 1 September 2012, you’ll repay 9% of your income above £19,390 towards that loan, and 6% of your income above £21,000 towards your Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.
The table below shows how much you’ll repay towards your loans.
| Yearly income before tax | Monthly income before tax | Undergraduate loan repayment | Postgraduate loan repayment |
|---|---|---|---|
| £19,390 | £1,615 | £0 | £0 |
| £21,000 | £1,750 | £12 | £0 |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £42 | £19 |
| £30,000 | £2,500 | £79 | £45 |
You can find out more about repaying your loans at www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan.