• You must be a UK national, or have settled status with the UK, AND have been resident in the UK for three years before the first day of the academic year of your course (please note this date is 1 September, 1 January, 1 April or 1 July whichever precedes the actual start date of the course)
• You must most recently have been resident in England and you must not have moved there from elsewhere in the UK and Islands solely for the purposes of attending the course
• If you move straight from an undergraduate course to a postgraduate course you must apply to the original awarding authority. For example, if Student Finance Wales funded your undergraduate course you must apply to them for postgraduate funding, not Student Finance England. 
• Postgraduate Masters education provision is a devolved matter for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and therefore those who are ordinarily resident in the Devolved Administrations may be eligible for different loans - see below:
• Non-UK EU students with settled and pre-settled status may be eligible for the loan - please contact Student Finance England for clarification.
• Eligibility for the amount of loan will not be based on a means test
• If you already hold a Masters (or higher) level qualification you will not be eligible for the loan
• If you have already studied on an undergraduate integrated Masters course, or a Postgraduate Masters course you may not be eligible for the Masters Loan
• You must be under 60 years of age on the first day of the academic year of the course (eg if you start in September this date will be 1 September)

Full time courses

• Full time Masters courses are usually one year long, but can be over two years, eg Master of Social Work
• If you are studying on a one year course you will receive the loan amount in three instalments during the academic year
• The first instalment will be released when the University confirms your registration to the Student Loans Company; within 3 weeks of you being fully registered on your course
• The second and third instalments will be paid on or just after the start of Term 2 and Term 3. Please check your payment notification from Student Finance
• If your full time course is over two years the loan will be paid in six instalments over the two years
• The University has to confirm your Registration to the SLC to release the payments to you in a similar way as for undergraduates. However, we also have to verify that the course information held by the SLC matches with the course you have commenced at the University, as well as other data checks. If these additional checks are incorrect the University is unable to confirm your registration until they have been amended.

Part time courses

• If you are studying part time over 2 years, you will receive 50% of the loan in year one (in three instalments) and 50% of the loan in year two (in three instalments)
• If you are studying part time over 4 years (where the full time course takes 2 years), you will receive 25% of the loan in year one (in three instalments) and 25% of the loan in subsequent years (each year paid in three instalments) 
• If you are taking a part time course over 3 years (only allowed where there is no full time equivalent course) payments wil be made over the 3 years
• You can apply for the loan up to 9 months from the first day of the final year of your course

The loans offered and the eligiblity criteria are different to those from Student Finance England

Student Finance Wales

Student Awards Agency for Scotland

Student Finance Northern Ireland