The quick answer
If your home is in England and you've lived in the UK for the 3 years before your course starts, you can usually get full student finance (a Tuition Fee Loan plus a Maintenance Loan for living costs) if you are a British or Irish citizen, have indefinite leave to remain, or have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. Refugees, people with humanitarian protection and people on the three Ukraine schemes are also listed for full support. Pre-settled status usually gets you the Tuition Fee Loan only, unless you qualify another way, most often as an EEA or Swiss worker or their family member. That's the short version from the Student Finance England guide for 2026 to 2027.
Everything below applies to students whose home is in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own funding bodies with their own rules.
I'm writing this because the same questions come up in almost every first call we have with adults living in Birmingham and across the UK. People assume they can't get funding because of their passport, or assume they can because a friend did. Both are often wrong. Your status matters, but so do where you've lived, how long for, and what you've studied before.
What full support actually means
For the 2026 to 2027 academic year, a new full-time student can borrow up to £9,790 a year in Tuition Fee Loan, paid straight to the university. The Maintenance Loan for living costs goes up to £9,118 if you live with your parents, £10,830 if you live away from home outside London, and £14,135 in London. Those are maximums; the amount you get depends on household income.
"Tuition fee only" means the course fees are covered but you get nothing for living costs. For a working adult that can still be enough, but it changes how you plan.
Eligibility by status
| Your status | What you can usually get | The condition that matters most |
|---|---|---|
| British citizen | Full support | England is your home and you've lived in the UK for 3 years |
| Irish citizen | Full support | Same 3-year rule as UK nationals |
| Indefinite leave to remain | Full support | Assessed as settled; 3-year rule applies |
| EU Settled Status | Full support | 3 years in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man |
| EU Pre-Settled Status | Tuition Fee Loan only, unless you qualify another way | 3 years in the UK, EEA, Switzerland or overseas territories |
| Pre-Settled and working (EEA or Swiss worker) | Full support | You or your family member count as a worker |
| Refugee or humanitarian protection | Full support | You or the family member you rely on hold the status |
| Ukraine schemes | Full support | Leave under one of the three listed schemes |
Source for every row: the 2026 to 2027 assessment guide. Here's what sits behind each one.
British and Irish citizens
GOV.UK's eligibility page is clear: UK nationals, Irish citizens and people with settled status can get both loans if their home is in England and they've been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years before the first academic year. Holidays and other temporary absences don't break that.
The 3-year rule is the one British citizens forget. If you've spent the last two years working in Dubai, being British doesn't automatically get you full support on the day you come back. More on that in our page for British citizens going back to study.
Indefinite leave to remain
ILR is also known as settlement: there is no longer any time limit on your stay. For student finance, that puts you in the "settled status" group, so you're usually assessed like a British citizen.
Two things to know. First, the rule as written is about how long you've lived in the UK before your course starts, not how long you've held ILR, so check your dates rather than your grant letter. Second, a couple of ILR routes are named separately in the guidance (indefinite leave as a bereaved partner, and as a victim of domestic violence or abuse). See our ILR student finance page for what we check with you.
EU Settled Status
Settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme gives full support if you meet the 3-year residence rule in the UK and Islands. One trap: if part of those 3 years was spent in a British overseas territory or in Ireland, the guide moves you into the tuition-fee-only group. Our EU Settled Status page covers this.
EU Pre-Settled Status
This is where most of the confusion sits, and where getting the facts right is worth real money.
On pre-settled status alone, you can usually get the Tuition Fee Loan only, provided you've lived in the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or the overseas territories for the 3 years before your course. No Maintenance Loan.
But the same guide lists several routes to full support that pre-settled holders can use:
- you are an EEA or Swiss worker, or the family member of one, with settled or pre-settled status
- you are the child of a Swiss national with settled or pre-settled status
- you are the family member of a UK national, with extra residence and date conditions
- you are the child of a Turkish worker
For these routes the 3 years can be spent in the UK, the EEA, Gibraltar or Switzerland. If you work in the UK, even part time, it is worth checking whether you count as a worker before you accept "fees only". Student Finance England decides that on your evidence. Our Pre-Settled Status page explains what we look at.
Refugees and humanitarian protection
Refugee status, humanitarian protection, stateless status, and the family members of people who hold them, are all listed for full support. So are the Afghan schemes (ARAP, ACRS and the Afghanistan Response Route), Calais leave and section 67 leave.
On residence, I'll be honest about where the official pages stop. For the Ukraine and Afghan routes, the Department for Education's home fee status guidance says you don't need 3 years: you need to have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands since your leave was granted. For refugee status, the live GOV.UK pages I checked list it as a route to full support but don't spell out the residence test. Don't assume either way; run your details through the official eligibility checker or talk to us. More on our refugee status page.
Ukraine schemes
Leave under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, for you or a family member, is listed for full support. As above, the 3-year rule is replaced by residence since your leave was granted. The thing to watch is your leave's end date against the length of your course. See our Ukraine scheme page.
None of the above?
If you're a non-UK national who has lived here a long time, there's a long-residence route: under 18 with at least 7 years in the UK, or 18 or over with at least 20 years or half your life here, plus 3 years' ordinary residence with Home Office leave throughout. If your status isn't covered anywhere above, the GOV.UK checker is the quickest way to find out where you stand.
Previous study and age: the two rules changing in 2027
Status isn't the only gate. For courses starting before 1 January 2027, student finance is usually only for your first higher education qualification, even if you paid for an earlier course yourself. There are exceptions, such as topping up an HND or foundation degree, and some healthcare courses. There's no upper age limit for the Tuition Fee Loan, though if you're 60 or over the Maintenance Loan is limited.
For most courses starting on or after 1 January 2027, funding moves to the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, and two things change:
- Previous study no longer shuts you out. You may be eligible even if you've studied before at the same or a lower level. There's a usual total Tuition Fee Loan limit of £39,160, and any government tuition funding you've had before is deducted from it.
- There's an age limit. You must be under 60 on the first day of your course to get a Tuition Fee Loan. If you're 60 or over, you may be able to get a loan for living costs.
The residence split stays broadly the same on the new system: UK and Irish nationals and people with settled status get full support with 3 years' residence, and pre-settled status is listed as tuition fee only.
My view: if you already have a degree and have been told you can't get funding again, a January 2027 or later start could change that answer. If you're close to 60, the opposite is true, and starting before January 2027 may matter.
What to do next
- Work out which status row above is yours, and count your last 3 years of addresses honestly, including time abroad.
- Check the start date of the course you want. Before or after 1 January 2027 changes which rules apply.
- Run your details through the official eligibility checker.
- Gather your evidence: passport or eVisa share code, the date your status was granted, past addresses and, for the worker route, payslips and contracts.
Student Finance England makes the final decision, not us and not the university. What we do is check your status, residence and previous study before you apply, help you pick a course with a January, May or September start, and sit with you by screen-share while you fill in the student finance application. Start with our UK home student guide, or send us your details and we'll tell you honestly what's possible.