Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loans
Overview
- a Tuition Fee Loan is available to cover course costs – if you take one out, you don’t have to pay your course costs upfront
- a Maintenance Loan is available to help with living costs
- it doesn’t matter if you already have a student loan – you can still apply for both these loans to support your teacher training
- you will only start making repayments when you earn over the threshold
- if you have a student loan already, taking out a further loan for your teacher training will not see your monthly repayments increase
To find out more about the other support available to fund your training, visit the funding my training page.
To find out about loans for undergraduate teacher training, visit the loans for undergraduate teacher training page.
In detail
Tuition Fee Loan
- full cost of course fees of up to £9,250
When you start your non-salaried teacher training, you won’t have to pay the cost of tuition fees up front. You can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan to cover the full cost of your course, which is paid directly to your training provider from Student Finance England. Tuition Fee Loans aren't means tested, so regardless of your household income you should be able to claim the full amount for your course fees.
Maintenance Loan
- up to £12,010 Maintenance Loan for living costs
All eligible trainees will qualify for at least the minimum loan amount for their living costs, regardless of household income. If you’re on a full-time teacher training course and live in London this will be £5,981. Outside of London it will be £4,289 or £3,410 if you're living at home.
You can use the student finance calculator to estimate Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loans and extra funding that may be available, for instance Parents’ Learning Allowance or Childcare Grants. Please note the calculator is for trainees intending to train in 2020/21.
How to apply
Once you’ve accepted your place on a non-salaried teacher training course, you can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan and a Maintenance Loan via Student Finance England (SFE).
Loan repayments
Your loan repayments depend on how much you earn – not on how much you have borrowed.
- If you've no previous student loans and take one out for your teacher training course, you'll only start repaying when your salary exceeds £26,575.
- If you already have a student loan from 2012 or later and take out a further loan for your teacher training, you'll only start repaying when your salary exceeds £26,575 – and your repayments will not increase if you take out a new loan for teacher training.
- If you took out a student loan before 2012 and/or have a post-graduate loan, you will only start making repayments when you are earning above the pre 2012 repayment threshold (£19,390) or post-graduate repayment threshold (£21,000) – and your repayments will not increase if you take out a new loan for teacher training.
The table below shows your monthly repayments if you've no previous student loan or if you have a loan taken out from 2012 or later. If you have a student loan from before 2012, your monthly repayments will be different from the below.
| Annual income before tax | Monthly repayment |
| Up to £26,575 | £0 |
| £27,000 | £4 |
| £30,000 | £26 |
| £35,000 | £64 |
| £40,000 | £101 |
Eligibility
Tuition fees and any other financial support you might receive will depend on your status as a home, EU/EEA or overseas student. Find out more information on GOV.UK.
Residents of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will need to apply for this support via your country’s student finance body (Student Finance Wales, Student Awards Agency Scotland or Student Finance NI).