The following guidance is for current University of Westminster students. If you're a prospective student, please visit our Funding pages for detailed guidance on University funding.
Undergraduate student funding
Funding for repeat/re-take years
If you're repeating or retaking a year, your Student Finance England (SFE) funding could be affected, depending on whether you've previously repeated a year or suspended mid-way through a year or if you have any attendance on an earlier degree-level course.
For details, visit our repeat-year funding page.
Module retrievers
If you're registered on a full-time course, but take fewer modules than usual in a year because you're repeating part of your full-time course and are required to attend timetabled lectures for the modules you're repeating, you remain registered as a full-time student and you may be eligible for your usual full-time Student Finance England (SFE) funding if you have remaining funding entitlement.
Please visit our Funding for repeat years page for more information.
Assessment only
If you have no timetabled attendance and you're only required to submit an exam or outstanding coursework/dissertation, you may be registered as ‘assessment only – module retriever no attendance’. Usually, no tuition fees are charged when you are registered as ‘assessment only’, and you may not require a tuition fee loan to pay any fees for this year. As an Assessment Only student, you are not eligible for a maintenance loan from SFE if you normally receive this.
Please visit our Funding for repeat years page for more information.
Placement year funding
In most cases your placement year will affect your SFE funding.
Read our Full-time undergraduate placement years page for further details.
How to pay tuition fees
Information about payment methods and fee payment instalment dates is available on the Paying your fees page.
Repaying your student loan
When you start repaying your loan and how much you repay depends on your repayment plan. The repayment plan you’re on depends on when you started your course and what type of course you studied.
If you’re not sure which repayment plan you’re on, you can sign in to your SFE online account to check.
You cannot choose your repayment plan. If you have more than one loan, you could be on different plans.
Repayments start in April, following course completion or following withdrawal from a course. Your repayments are linked to your earnings, not the level of your student loan debt. Interest is added from the day the loans are paid to you. The amount of interest charged is lower while you study but increases when you stop studying and will be based on your earnings.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) manage loan repayments, so you can find out more by visiting the Student Loans Company website.
Postgraduate student funding
Payment and repayment
The loan is not assessed against household income, so there is no income assessment. The loan is paid over one year for a full-time course or divided equally over two years for a part-time course. Instalments are paid three times a year: 33% on the course start date, the next 33% four months later and the final 34% seven months after the course start date.
The payments are made directly to you, not the University. Unlike SFE funding for undergraduate courses, a separate tuition fee loan payment is not paid directly to the University on your behalf, so make sure you're able to pay your course tuition fee using the loan money paid to you or using other additional funds you have secured yourself.
Your loan is repaid after you complete your course and only if you earn above the earnings threshold of £21,000 per year. You will pay back 6% of what you earn above the threshold. The earliest you will start to make repayments is the April after you finish your course.
More information about repaying this loan is available from on the GOV.UK website.
Information about the university payment methods and fee payment instalment dates is available on the Paying your fees page.
Who to contact for help with SFE funding
The Student Advice team at the University can provide tailored advice about your eligibility for SFE funding and can help if things go wrong with the application process and/or liaise with SFE on your behalf.
The Disability Learning Support team can help with issues related to the Disabled Student’s Allowance.
Other funding options
Find out more about other funding options for current students at the University of Westminster.