A Level results day 2025: How to apply for a student loan - and is it too late?

• It’s not too late to get a student loan, and prospective students still have months to apply
• But they’re urged to get onto it sooner rather than later to avoid payments arriving late
• There have been a few changes to university fees and maintenance loans this year

For this year’s university hopefuls who may be running a little behind schedule, there’s still time to sort your student loan.

This Thursday (August 14) is A Level results day, where thousands of students across the country will pick up their results envelopes from their school or college – and finally find out how they did in their final exams. Learners will also get the outcome of any conditional university offers they had pending, while others will be tackling the Clearing process to figure out what their next step will be.

But for many of the tertiary courses that may lie in their future, they’ll likely need to take out a student loan. There have been a few small changes this year that students may need to know about too, with the university fee cap going up for the first time in eight years, and the amount they can borrow under maintenance loans rising.

Some young people may have only just decided what they’d like to do after the sixth form, or may still be thinking it over. So how late is too late to apply for a student loan, and how do you actually go about it? Here’s what you need to know:

Is it too late to apply for a student loan – and is there a deadline?

The good news is that it’s not too late to apply, even for students who have only recently decided they might want to apply to university for the upcoming academic year.

In fact, you can apply any time up until 9 months after the start of your course, according to Student Finance. The deadline for courses starting between August and the end of December this year will be May 31, 2026.

However, if you haven’t applied already and want to start university in the coming months, you have missed the official deadline to make sure your funding is in place for the start of your course - so you should get onto it as soon as possible. Official guidance warns that you may get less money than you expect if you apply either very close to the start of your course or after it has begun.

But Student Finance says it will try to make sure you have at least some money, and it will make up any missing payments at a later date once it’s had time to assess your application properly.

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How to apply

The actual application needn’t put you off, as it’s actually a fairly straightforward process. You don’t even need to have a confirmed place at a university before you get started.

Firstly, you should check your eligibility online here. There are two main types of loans; tuition loans which cover university fees, and maintenance loans which help cover living costs while you study. Not every student will necessarily be eligible for a maintenance loan, as it can be dependent on your household income.

Once you’ve determined the loans you want to apply for, you should then create an account on the Student Finance England website. Then you can fill out the handy online form, which takes about 30 minutes. Make sure you have either your passport or a copy of your birth certificate – and if you’re applying for a maintenance loan too, your parents’ (or partner’s, if you live independently) National Insurance Numbers and your household income over the last financial year.

When will you have to start paying it back?

You won’t have to worry about repayments while you’re still studying. These will begin the first April after you graduate or leave your course.

For students starting an undergraduate degree this upcoming academic year, you also won’t have to start paying off your loan until you’re earning at least £25,000 per year, Student Finance says. Once you do, repayments will start being taken out of your pay automatically. If your pay falls below the limit or you lose your job, they’ll then stop automatically.

Your loan will also start accumulating interest from the day you take it out, with the exact amount varying year-to-year based on inflation. But if you’re struggling to pay it off, your student loan will eventually expire. These are written off after 40 years in England.

If you or a young person in your life is getting their A Level results this week, check out some of our other coverage. Here’s what to expect on the day – and here’s some guidance on navigating the Clearing process.