Government support

If you are a UK student, you will be eligible to access a loan from the UK government for the full amount of your course fees, regardless of the level of your household income, and do not need to pay anything upfront.

In addition to course fee support, you can also apply for funding towards your living costs, and the amount available to you will vary according to where you are from in the UK.  You will be able to access a basic maintenance loan towards your living costs regardless of your household income level and if you are from a lower-income household you will also be eligible to access additional maintenance support.

You should apply to your regional funding agency (see below) before the end of the Easter holidays to ensure that funding is in place for the start of your course, and should remember to apply to be means tested, if appropriate.

What does it mean to be ‘means tested’ or ‘financially assessed’?

If you want to be considered for additional maintenance support, you will need to complete a financial assessment as part of your application to your funding agency in order to calculate your household income. Although much of this process is automated, you may need to provide financial information to support your assessment.

What is household income and how is it calculated?

Your household income is made up of your income plus that of the people who live with you, such as your parents/step-parent/partner. Household income is assessed based on gross taxable income for the last full tax year. If you are starting your course in 2027, information from the 2025/26 tax year will be used.

The regional funding agency figures below may be subject to inflationary changes in future years.  Any UK government loans that you take out will need to be repaid after you leave your course.

Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE)

Students from England starting new courses in the 2027/28 academic year will apply for student finance through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).

Alternative Student Finance

Alternative student finance is a planned student finance product for undergraduate students in England who cannot use traditional interest-bearing student loans because of their faith or conscience. Designed to be compatible with Islamic finance principles, this student finance product will be independently certified for Sharia compliance. Students will receive the same level of financial support as those using conventional student finance and will make income-based repayments after leaving their studies equivalent to traditional student loan repayments. Students applying for support via alternative student finance will not suffer any detriment nor experience any advantage through choosing to access student support via this route. 

The UK government have advised that alternative student finance will be available as soon as possible after the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) however they are yet to confirm a definite date for the launch of this product. 

In the meantime, guidance on how eligible students can receive a household income assessment from Student Finance in order to be assessed for a bursary from Oxford without taking out a student finance loan can be found on our Household income assessment for bursary purposes only webpage.