Financial Support – Higher Education

Fees and Funding

There are two main costs involved in higher education – the tuition fee for your course, and the living costs associated with studying at university level.

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees per year of study are published on each individual course page. For the majority of our students, you will not have to pay your tuition fee up front, as a government Tuition Fee Loan is available from the Student Loans Company to cover your fees in full (this is also true for Access to HE students aged 19+, who also have an Advanced Learning Loan available to cover tuition fees).

The loan is paid directly to the College by the Student Loans Company to cover your fees, and you only start to repay the loan when you are earning over the threshold amount.

This loan is available for both full-time and part-time students (so long as the part-time course does not take more than twice as long to complete as the equivalent full-time course).

Living Costs

If you are a full-time student, then there may be some financial support available to help with living costs such as accommodation and food (if you live away from home to study), travel, and course materials:

For full-time higher education students, a maintenance loan may be available to you in addition to the tuition fee loan, and the amount available will depend on where you live and study and your household income. If you live at home and come to Stoke on Trent College to study, then the amount you can borrow is reduced as you won’t be paying for accommodation. The exact amount of maintenance loan you can apply for will depend upon your household income.

*Subject to change