2. ? i Adviser Notes Introduction/How much do you know? – Slides 1-5
The information and exercises in this guide will give students an overview of the main areas of
student finance and touch on topics such as money management, budgeting and repayments
which will all be essential in helping ensure a smooth transition into higher education.
Before progressing into the main content, encourage students to answer the set questions on
slides 4-5 to test what they already know about student finance and when they have completed
the guide to go back and see how they got on.
Student Finance England – Slides 6-7
This section provides a brief introduction to who Student Finance England are.
The key messages to get across here are that SFE is part of the wider Student Loans Company
and the funding on offer is government backed, so not the same as a commercial loan and that a
range of support is available to eligible students while they are studying to help with tuition and
living costs.
What finance is available? – Slides 8-18
An overview of the main forms of student finance available including Tuition Fee Loans and
maintenance support. One of the first things to note is that students do need to meet certain
criteria to be eligible for support from SFE. This will be linked to their course, university/college,
previous HE study, their personal circumstances and residency.
Of these, personal eligibility may be one which needs to be further explained. A student is likely
to be personally eligible if:
They’re a UK national who is ‘ordinarily resident’ in England on the first day of the first
academic year of their course.
They’ve been living in the UK for the three years immediately before this date and not
wholly or mainly to get full-time education.
They’ve ‘settled status’ – which means the student can live permanently in the UK without
the Home Office placing any restrictions on how long they can stay.
Students may also be eligible for funding if they hold one of the following residency statuses:
refugee; Humanitarian Protection (HP) (must be as the result of a failed application for asylum),
migrant worker, child of a Swiss national, an EU national or child of a Turkish worker in the UK.
The remainder of the section explains the core elements of student finance in more detail and
Introduces NHS Bursaries and studying at private HEIs which may be relevant to some students.
Quiz question answers – Slides 4-5
Q1 - Loans and grants to help with tuition fees and living costs Q2 – Asap
Q3 – Your income Q4 - £21,000 ?
If required, further information on eligibility for student finance can be found online
at gov.uk/studentfinance or by calling SFE on i

3. A A Adviser Notes Calculator activity – Slide 17
To make the information more relevant to the student they can use the calculator on
gov.uk to get an initial estimate of the support they will be entitled to receive and
make a note of the details in the table provided. A
From this information and exercise students should now know about the range of core finance
available and that regardless of household income (as long as they are eligible) support is there
for their tuition fee and living costs.
If applicable, students should be encouraged to share this information with their parents!
Extra support – Slides 19-21
Students with disabilities, mental-heath conditions or specific learning difficulties, child or adult
dependents need to be made aware of the additional support on offer to them which is what this
section will introduce along with bursaries and scholarships.
Many universities and colleges of HE will offer a range of bursaries and scholarships to their
students which could potentially be worth thousands of pounds. To ensure they do not miss out,
research needs to be done on these early – what they are, how to qualify and how and when to
apply.
Part 2 Applications and beyond; Student finance applications – Slides 24-28
A page of general hints, tips and advice on how and when to apply for student finance. The key
messages to get across are that students need to apply online as soon as possible to ensure
their funding is in place when they start their course, they do not need to have or wait for a
confirmed offer before applying and to ensure that all identity and income evidence required is
supplied.
If you’re helping students register and apply, please ensure they make a note of their
account security details and Customer Reference Number and keep it somewhere safe!
Student loan repayments - Slides 29-31
Ideally, students will be making their university choices based on the course content and
career prospects, although some may be basing their decision on who offers a lower
tuition charge due to the perception of having a lifetime of unmanageable debt.
This may not need to be the case if the student and their key decision makers understand how
the repayment system works, which is what this section will begin to address.
The initial information describes when a student will enter repayment’and their monthly
repayment will be worked out, based on 9% of their income, and no repayments will be
made until their income is over £21,000 a year gross.
Students can use university/college websites and
to see what their choices are offering and note down the details in the boxes provided. A

4. Adviser Notes
The table shows example repayments based on various levels of income, with one left for
students to work out for themselves.
Aside from bringing the monthly repayments into context, the key messages students need to
take from this section are that, repayments will always be linked to what they earn and not
what they have borrowed, if at any stage their income falls to below the threshold their
repayments will be suspended and any loan remaining 30 years after they enter
repayment will be written off.
Interest on your loan – Slide 32
Another area of concern for students and their parents is the interest attached to the loan.
Interest is charged from the day we make the first payment until their loan is paid off in full or
written off.
The interest charged is linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI) and will vary. While studying until
entering repayment, interest will be added at RPI +3%, then moving forward if their income is
£21,000 or under the rate will be RPI only, if it’s between £21,000 and £41,000 it will be RPI
plus up to 3% until their income is over £41,000 when the rate will be RPI +3%.
The site can be used as a point of reference for more
information on loan repayments, interest rates and for students interested in finding out about
how repayments work if they live and work overseas after university.
Managing your money – Slides 33-35
Although for many students starting in higher education will seem a long way off, it will roll
around faster than they think and to prepare themselves for the costs they are going face it’s
important they start thinking about how they are going to manage their money.
One way to do this is to plan a budget listing expenses compared to income, which along with
giving other information on student bank accounts, part-time jobs and NUS extra is what this
section aims to get students thinking about.
Based on an income of £30,000 a year, the amount used to work out their loan repayment would be £9,000 as that is what is earned over £21,000.
A basic way of working out the monthly repayment would be to divide £9,000 by 12 giving £750 and multiply that by 9% giving a monthly payment of £67.50 which would then be rounded down to £67. A
Students can use the budgeting page to get an idea of their likely expenses, and by
using university websites, unistats, push.co.uk and other sites, fill in some of their
costs such as rent, the price of a TV licence or Railcard etc. These can then
be compared with the income estimates from the calculator and bursary exercises. A
Student Checklist – Slide 37
Students can use this as a reminder of the key stages in applying for student finance
and helping ensure their funding is in place when they start their course. A