The United Kingdom disbursed £5.7bn in student finance during the first term of the 2026/27 academic year, comprising £3bn in maintenance loans for students and £2.7bn in tuition fee payments to educational institutions.
The Student Loans Company revealed this in a report published on the UK Home Office website on Wednesday.
According to the statement, “the £3bn in maintenance loans was paid directly to students in September, while the £2.7bn in tuition fee payments was released to education providers in October.”
The company said most first-term payments had been made, adding that it was continuing to support students who applied after the deadline and might have initially received only the minimum level of student finance.
“Where a student applied late for funding, we awarded the minimum maintenance loan and their tuition fee loan to ensure they had funding to start their term,” the statement said.
It added that the remaining funding would be paid as a top-up once all the necessary application details had been confirmed.
The company said applications could take up to four weeks to process and encouraged students to apply as early as possible.
It also announced that students starting courses on or after January 1, 2027, would apply for student finance through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement funding scheme.
Applications for the scheme are expected to open by the end of October 2026.
The company noted that the figures were provisional, adding that full-year figures would be published in its Student Support for Higher Education statistical release on November 26, 2026.
