Postgraduate Doctoral Loan

You can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if you're studying full-time, part-time or via distance learning (online).

Your course must:

• be a full, standalone doctoral course (not a top-up course)
• have started on or after 1 August 2018
• last between three to eight academic years

If more than one university delivers your course and one is overseas, you’ll still be eligible for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan so long as:

• the UK university is the lead institution
• you spend at least 50% of your study time over the whole course in the UK

Integrated doctorals

You can apply for a loan if your doctoral programme includes an integrated Masters degree even if you already have a Masters degree. However, you must register for a full doctoral degree; you will not be able to apply for a separate Postgraduate Master’s Loan.

Distance learning

To qualify for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan for distance learning, you’ll need to be living in England on the first day of the first academic year of your course.

You’ll also need to live in:

• England for the whole of your course, if you’re an EU national
• the UK for the whole of your course, if you’re not an EU national

This usually does not apply if you’re:

• serving in the armed forces
• a spouse or civil partner of a serving member of the armed forces
• a dependent parent living with a serving member of the armed forces

You must be under 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course.

The academic year is a period of 12 months starting on:

• 1 September, if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
• 1 January, if your course starts between 1 January and 31 March
• 1 April, if your course starts between 1 April and 30 June
• 1 July, if your course starts between 1 July and 31 July

You can apply for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if all of the following are true:

• you’re a UK national or Irish citizen or have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or indefinite leave to remain so there are no restrictions on how long you can stay
• you normally live in England
• you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of the first academic year of your course (apart from temporary absences such as holidays)

If you’ve been living in Ireland or a British overseas territory, you do not need to normally live in England. You can apply for the loan if you attend your course in England or do distance learning in England.

You might also be eligible if you’re a UK national (or family member of a UK national) and you’ve been living in the UK, the EU, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein for the past 3 years. To be eligible, you must have either:

• returned to the UK on or after 1 January 2018 and by 31 December 2020 after living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
• been living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein on 31 December 2020

If you’re an EU national or a family member of an EU national

You may be eligible if you’re an EU national, or a family member of an EU national, and all the following apply:

• you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (no restrictions on how long you can stay)
• you’ve normally lived in the UK, the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or overseas territories for the past 3 years (this is also known as being ‘ordinarily resident’)
• you’ll be studying at a university in England

You could also be eligible if you’re:

• the child of a Swiss national and you and your parent have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• a migrant worker from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status, or a family member of a migrant worker where both have settled or pre-settled status
• a resident of Gibraltar who is a UK or EU national, or their family member
• an EU national and have pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and lived in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the past 3 years

Student finance for EU, Swiss, Norwegian, Icelandic or Liechtenstein nationals from August 2021

If you started a course on or after 1 August 2021, you usually need to have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get student finance.

You need to have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. The deadline to apply was 30 June 2021. If you’re joining family members in the UK who have settled status, you can apply for student finance before you have been granted pre-settled status.

Irish citizens do not need to apply for a visa or to the EU Settlement Scheme. They can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme if they wish to - for example, to apply on behalf of a child.

If you have a different residency status

You may also be eligible if your residency status is one of the following:

• refugee (including family members)
• humanitarian protection (including family members)
• child of a Turkish worker who has permission to stay in the UK - you and your Turkish worker parent must have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020
• a stateless person (including family members)
• an unaccompanied child granted ‘Section 67 leave’ under the Dubs Amendment
• a child who is under the protection of someone granted ‘Section 67 leave’, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as the person responsible for them (known as ‘leave in line’)
• granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain
• a child of someone granted ‘Calais leave’ to remain, who is also allowed to stay in the UK for the same period of time as their parent (known as ‘leave in line’)
• you’ve been given settled status but not under the EU Settlement Scheme
• you, your parent or step-parent have been granted settlement (‘indefinite leave to enter’ or ‘indefinite leave to remain’) as a victim of domestic violence
• you, your parent or step-parent have been granted settlement (‘indefinite leave to enter’ or ‘indefinite leave to remain’) as a bereaved partner
• you or your family member have been granted leave under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizen’s Resettlement Scheme (ACRS)
• you or your family member have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme
• you’re a person of Chagossian descent and have British citizenship

If you’re a non-UK national and have lived in the UK for a certain number of years

You could also be eligible if you’re not a UK national and are either:

• under 18 and have lived in the UK for at least 7 years
• 18 or over and have lived in the UK for at least 20 years (or at least half of your life)

Both the following must also apply:

• you’ve been living in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 3 years in a row before the first day of the first academic year of your course
• you had permission to enter or stay in the UK for those 3 years

You apply directly to Student Finance England (SFE) for the Doctoral Loan. You can find out more via the Postgraduate Doctoral Loans website.

• We recommend that you apply for a place on your course at the University of Birmingham prior to applying for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.

• You will need to know your course name, start date and the duration of your course in order to apply. Please use our programme list to select the correct subject/course name on the Doctoral Loan application form.

• The deadline to apply is nine months after the first day of the last year of your course.

• You only need to apply once for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, even if your course is longer than one year. Student Finance England will contact you before the next year of your course starts to tell you how much you’ll get.

Please note: our standard full-time doctoral programmes are normally three years in duration. However, many programmes will be listed on the SFE website with a course length of four years. This is because the course length is defined as the maximum period of registration for that particular course, which includes the three years of full-time supervised study plus one thesis awaited year.

• There is no minimum loan amount that can be requested. The total requested can be altered up to one month before the end of the course.

• The money will be paid directly to you. It will be your responsibility to pay your tuition fees. Information on paying your tuition fees can be found here.

• Payments will be made in three instalments of 33%, 33% and 34% each academic year. You will receive the first payment after your course start date, once we have confirmed that you have registered. After your application has been approved by the Student Loans Company (SLC) you will be sent a letter by them with your payment dates, or you can check them in your online account.

• As with undergraduate support, students will need to provide both valid UK bank details and a National Insurance Number (NINO) in their own name.

• You only need to apply once for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, even if your course is longer than one year. Student Finance England will contact you before the next year of your course starts to tell you how much you’ll get.

• The interest rate charged is normally the Retail Price Index plus 3%.

• Repayments will begin to be due either the first April after you leave your course, or April four years after the course started (whichever is sooner).

• The repayment threshold will be £21,000 before tax and other deductions.

• The repayment amount will be 6% of income above the relevant threshold.

• Repayments will be made concurrently with any other student loan repayments due. If you are repaying both an undergraduate and a postgraduate loan you will have a 15% (undergraduate 9% + postgraduate 6%) total deduction taken from your salary above the repayment threshold. If you have taken out both a Postgraduate Masters Loan and a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan then these will be combined into one Postgraduate Loan repayment of 6%, so the total will not be more than 15% even if you have all three (Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral) loans.

• Any outstanding balance will be written off after the 30th anniversary the repayments became due.

• Repeat years of study will not be funded unless you have exceptional circumstances as determined by the SLC.

• Further funding is not available where the course is not completed in the specified length.

• Students can suspend and resume their course by taking a Leave of Absence. No payments are made during the suspension period unless the Leave of Absence is on medical grounds.

You can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan in any year of your course. But if you apply after your first year, you might not get the maximum amount.

You can get up to:

• £29,390 if your course started between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025
• £28,673 if your course started between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2024

You will not be able to get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if:

• you’ve received or will receive Research Council funding (for example, studentships, stipends, scholarships and tuition fee support)
• you’re already getting a social work bursary
• you’re already getting an Educational Psychology bursary and your course starts on or after 1 August 2020
• you’re eligible to apply for an NHS bursary (even if you’re not receiving it)
• you’re already getting payments from Student Finance England for another course that you’re studying
• you’ve received a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan before - unless you left your course due to illness, bereavement or another serious personal reason
• you already have a doctoral degree, or a qualification that’s equivalent or higher
• you’re receiving a doctorate by publication
• you’re behind in repayments for any previous loans from the Student Loans Company

You can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if you're studying full-time, part-time or via distance learning (online).

Your course must:

• be a full, standalone doctoral course (not a top-up course)
• have started on or after 1 August 2018
• last between three to eight academic years

If more than one university delivers your course and one is overseas, you’ll still be eligible for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan so long as:

• the UK university is the lead institution
• at least 50% of the teaching and supervision is provided in the UK

Integrated doctorals

You can apply for a loan if your doctoral programme includes an integrated Masters degree even if you already have a Masters degree.

Distance learning

If you’re studying by distance learning, you’ll need to be living both:

• in Wales on the first day of the first academic year of your course
• in the UK for the duration of your course

This usually does not apply if you’re:

• serving in the armed forces
• under 25 and the child or step-child of a serving member of the armed forces
• a spouse or civil partner of a serving member of the armed forces
• a dependent parent living with a serving member of the armed forces

EU nationals must be living in Wales for the duration of their course.

You must be under 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course.

The academic year is a period of 12 months starting on:

• 1 September, if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
• 1 January, if your course starts between 1 January and 31 March
• 1 April, if your course starts between 1 April and 30 June
• 1 July, if your course starts between 1 July and 31 July

You can apply for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if all of the following are true:

• you’re a UK national or Irish citizen or have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or indefinite leave to remain so there are no restrictions on how long you can stay
• you normally live in Wales

If you have been living in the UK, Islands or Ireland, or the specified British Overseas Territories for the three years before the start of your first academic year, you could get funding to study a course in Wales.

An EU national or family member of an EU national

You could get this funding if you:

• have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or you’ve made a valid application to the EU Settlement Scheme and have temporary protection, as evidenced by a Certificate of Application
• are studying in Wales
• have been living in the UK, the EEA, Switzerland or the Overseas Territories for the three years before the first day of the first academic year of your course.

Irish citizens do not need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme but would need to be living in the UK by 31 December 2020 to get funding under this category.

You may also be eligible if you’re a UK national (or family member of a UK national) or an Irish citizen who either:

• returned to the UK on or after 1 January 2018 and by 31 December 2020 after living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
• was living in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein on 31 December 2020 and has been living in the UK, the EU, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein for the past 3 years

Funding is also available to family members of UK nationals where the family member was living in the UK and Islands for the three years before the first day of the first academic year of the course.

You can apply for funding if you’ve been living in the UK, Overseas Territories, the EEA or Switzerland for the past 3 years and you have one of the following:

• pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you’re the family member of a person of Northern Ireland
• Resident status in Gibraltar as an EU national or family member, or a UK national or family member
• are a migrant worker from the EEA or Switzerland (including family members) with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• are a child of a Swiss national and you and your parent have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme

You can also apply for funding if you:

• are a child of a Turkish worker and your Turkish worker parent/step-parent has been granted extended leave to remain in the UK, both you and your Turkish worker parent/step-parent need to have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020
• have settled status not granted under the EU Settlement Scheme
• are under humanitarian protection (or have family under humanitarian protection)
• have been granted leave to remain on the grounds of family or private life, or you’re a family member of someone granted leave to remain on the grounds of family or private life, and you have been living in the UK and Islands for at least 3 years before the first day of the first academic year of your course
• have been granted discretionary leave, as a result of failed asylum or where no application for asylum has been made, or you’re a family member of someone who has
• are a stateless person or a family member of a stateless person
• have been granted leave to remain under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, or you’re a child of somebody granted leave to remain under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016
• are a refugee (or have any family who are a refugee)
• have been granted ‘indefinite leave to enter or remain’ in the UK as a victim of domestic violence or abuse or you’re a child of someone who has been
• have been granted ‘Calais leave’ in the UK, or a dependent child of someone who has
• have been granted ‘indefinite leave to enter or remain’ in the UK as a Bereaved Partner or you’re the child of someone who has been
• or your family member have been granted leave under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizen’s Resettlement Scheme (ARCS)
• or your family member have been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme
• are a person of Chagossian descent and have British citizenship

You cannot get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if:

• you’ve already had a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan
• you already have a Doctoral degree, or a qualification that’s equivalent or higher level

You might be able to get funding if you failed to complete your previous course because of a compelling personal reason. Examples of compelling personal reasons are illness or bereavement, but circumstances can be reviewed on a case by case basis. You’ll need to provide evidence of this.

You apply directly to Student Finance Wales for the Doctoral Loan. You can find out more via Student Finance Wales' Postgraduate Doctoral Loans website.

• We recommend that you apply for a place on your course at the University of Birmingham prior to applying for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.

• You will need to know your course name, start date and the duration of your course in order to apply. Please use our programme list to select the correct subject/course name on the Doctoral Loan application form.

• The deadline to apply is nine months after the first day of the last year of your course.

• You only need to apply once for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, even if your course is longer than one year. Student Finance England will contact you before the next year of your course starts to tell you how much you’ll get.

Please note: our standard full-time doctoral programmes are normally three years in duration. However, many programmes will be listed on the SFE website with a course length of four years. This is because the course length is defined as the maximum period of registration for that particular course, which includes the three years of full-time supervised study plus one thesis awaited year.

• There is no minimum loan amount that can be requested. The total requested can be altered up to one month before the end of the course.

• The money will be paid directly to you. It will be your responsibility to pay your tuition fees. Information on paying your tuition fees can be found here.

• Payments will be made in three instalments of 33%, 33% and 34% each academic year. You will receive the first payment after your course start date, once we have confirmed that you have registered. After your application has been approved by the Student Finance Wales, you will be sent a letter by them with your payment dates, or you can check them in your online account.

• As with undergraduate support, students will need to provide both valid UK bank details and a National Insurance Number (NINO) in their own name.

• You only need to apply once for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, even if your course is longer than one year. Student Finance Wales will contact you before the next year of your course starts to tell you how much you’ll get.

• The interest rate charged is normally the Retail Price Index plus 3%.

• Repayments will begin to be due either the first April after you leave your course, or April four years after the course started (whichever is sooner).

• The repayment threshold will be £21,000 before tax and other deductions.

• The repayment amount will be 6% of income above the relevant threshold.

• Repayments will be made concurrently with any other student loan repayments due. If you are repaying both an undergraduate and a postgraduate loan you will have a 15% (undergraduate 9% + postgraduate 6%) total deduction taken from your salary above the repayment threshold. If you have taken out both a Postgraduate Masters Loan and a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan then these will be combined into one Postgraduate Loan repayment of 6%, so the total will not be more than 15% even if you have all three (Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral) loans.

• Any outstanding balance will be written off after the 30th anniversary the repayments became due.

You can apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan in any year of your course. But if you apply after your first year, you might not get the maximum amount.

You cannot get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if you’re getting a social work bursary (opens in a new tab).

This includes any equivalent schemes in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

You also cannot get a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if you:

• receive, or are being paid, an NHS Bursary (opens in a new tab)
• are studying at Cardiff University and getting an Educational Psychology Bursary
• are in receipt of an allowance, bursary or award made by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) towards your postgraduate doctoral course.