UK Student Finance
An A-Z of Student Finance

How Your Income Is Assessed

All students who qualify for student finance are entitled to a basic amount of financial help. However, the total amount of grants and Student Loan for Maintenance you can receive is based on your household income. Student Loans for Fees are not subject to any assessment of household income.

The rules on how household income assessment works are complicated and this is only a guide. Your local authority can help with individual queries.

Why Your Income Is Assessd

All eligible students are entitled to a basic amount of financial help. However, the total amount of grants and Student Loan for Maintenance you can receive is based on your household income (students from other European Union (EU) countries can only get help with tuition fees, although there are some exceptions).

If you live with your parents, a spouse or a partner, they may be asked to contribute towards supporting you as a student.

If you or other relevant members of your household do not supply information about household income, you may not receive all the help available.

However, Student Loans for Fees are not subject to any assessment of household income.

How Does It Work?

Your local authority will ask you to supply details about how much income you, your parents or your partner have earned in the previous financial year.

Certain allowances and deductions are then made, for example for other dependent children or pension contributions. The resulting amount is referred to as your ‘household income’ or ‘residual income’ and is used to decide how much financial help you need from the government to supplement that contribution.

Whose income you will have to count will depend on whether you are classed as a ‘dependent’ or ‘independent’ student.

Dependent Student

Generally, you will be classed as a dependent student if you are under 25 at the beginning of the academic year and are financially dependent on one or both of your parents (even if you don’t live with them).

If you are a dependent student, your local authority will take into account:

·        the income of any adults in your household including resident parents, step parents, civil partners or live-in partners (including one of the same sex if you started your course in 2005/2006 or later)

·        your own income (this includes non-earned income such as interest from savings, but not casual or part-time earnings during your course)

Independent Student

Generally, you will be classed as independent if you:

·        have care of a child (or children)

·        are 25 or over before your course starts

·        are married or in a civil partnership

·        have supported yourself for at least three years before your course starts

or:

·        have no living parents

If you are an independent student, your local authority will take into account your income and that of any spouse or live-in partner (including same sex) in the same way as for dependent students.

Household Contribution

Once your local authority has assessed your household income and made any necessary adjustments for allowances, it will use the resulting income figure (known as ‘residual income’) to work out how much your household should contribute financially and how much financial help you should receive in addition to that.

Both the household contribution and the levels of financial help will also vary depending on whether you start your course before or after September 2006 and on whether you:

·        study in London or elsewhere

·        live at home

·        are in your final year of studying

If you are from a lower income household, you may get the maximum amount of financial help available.

If you are from a higher income household, you may not be entitled to a grant, but will still be able to get around 75 per cent of the Student Loan for Maintenance. Your parents, spouse or partner may therefore be asked to make a bigger contribution towards financing your studies.
 

 

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