Student Finance got your head in a spin? Let us put you straight. We'll show you where the money is, how it works, how much you can get and how to get your hands on it.

Are Student Loans really all that bad? Actually, what even is a Student Loan? How will it impact your studies and your future? Is it even worth going to university anymore?

The chat surrounding Student Finance has got a bit out of hand. Get to the facts and you'll find it's all quite straightforward, affordable and accessible!

And facts are what this guide is all about. Yes, Save the Student has campaigned against tuition fees for years, but we're even more passionate about debunking the myths that stop young people following their dreams of going to uni in the UK. 🙂

How to use this guide

You don't have to read everything, or try to digest it all in one go:

• Only got a minute? Get the Student Finance essentials in 30 seconds
• Got 5 minutes? That's enough to get answers to the big questions
• Want it all? Keep reading for juicy details about real costs, hidden funding, and the truth about Student Loans.

Read what you can now and bookmark the page to pick it up later, if you're short of time!

What's in this guide?

• Student Finance in 30 seconds
• Student Finance FAQs
• How to contact Student Finance
• How much does university cost?
• How to pay for university
• Extra sources of funding
• Repaying the Student Loan
• Student Loan small print
• 5 tips for slashing student debt

Student Finance small print varies around the UK. If you're outside of England, see our guides for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, EU countries and other international students. Not a full-time student? Use our guide to part-time Student Finance.

Student Finance in 30 seconds

Credit: ITV Studios

1. Student Finance (funded by the government) allows students from any financial background to go to university.
2. The Student Finance package includes a loan for course fees, plus a means-tested Maintenance Loan or Grant to cover living costs.
3. UK universities can charge up to £9,250 a year in tuition fees, but you'll pay nothing upfront if you're eligible for Student Finance (most students are).
4. You could get extra cash if a health condition, childcare costs or clinical placements leave you out of pocket while studying, or financial support if you're struggling to get by.
5. You or your parents may be expected to chip in for maintenance support (i.e. living costs). You'll need to plan for this!
6. Student Finance has to be paid back, but don't let that put you off! Student Loan repayments work more like a graduate tax, which is far easier to manage after uni.
7. You only make Student Loan repayments once you've left your course AND are earning enough. Repayments vary with your salary, and stop altogether if your income drops too low.
8. Controversially, the Student Loan charges up to 5.6% interest each year until you pay it all back.
9. But crucially, many loans may be written off anyway before they're fully repaid. If you're not a big earner after uni you may only pay back a fraction of what you borrow from Student Finance.
10. For the most part, Student Finance is reserved for UK students, but some exceptions apply.
11. Almost all students can get a bite at funding beyond Student Finance, from bursaries and scholarships to charity and corporate cash.

 While it's not yet clear whether uni classes will still be taught online in September, there's one thing that (unfortunately) is: fees will not be going down. But there is an exception...

Credit: Ana Blazic Pavlovic – Shutterstock

With all the uncertainty around what uni life will be like in the Autumn term, we've all been waiting very eagerly for news on what will happen in September... only, this wasn't quite the news we'd hoped for.

The government has said that tuition fees will not go down for students in September, even if teaching remains online.

Here, we'll look into how this impacts you, and what's expected of unis to justify them charging the maximum amount in tuition fees next year.

Unhappy with how your uni's responded to the coronavirus pandemic? We look at how to complain and potentially seek compensation here.

Universities will charge full tuition fees for online classes

Credit: Yevgen Kravchenko, kamui29, Bell Photography 423 – Shutterstock

The coronavirus outbreak has put a huge strain on everyone in the university sector, both students and staff. In response to this, the government has today (4th May) published a policy statement about its support package for universities and students.

Although rejecting the request from unis for a £2 billion bailout, the support package includes a range of measures to help the higher education sector manage through the impacts of coronavirus.

Along with the measures, it's been revealed that students will still be charged full tuition fees, even if teaching is online.

• Student complaints hit RECORD high last year

But, after this news was covered by the BBC, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan shared their article on Twitter today with the clarification that universities were only expected to charge the full amount of fees if online courses were good enough.

Credit: Michelle Donelan – Twitter

For a lot of students, online teaching has made it so much harder to stay productive and motivated, and keep working to the same standard as before.

If you think there's more your university should be doing to make online teaching as accessible and effective as possible, here's what to do...

What if your online university course isn't good enough?

While it is, of course, debatable what qualifies as "good quality", Michelle Donelan's tweet is super important to keep in mind. If your course is still taught online in September and you aren't satisfied with the teaching, it could be worth complaining in case you're entitled to compensation.

If you do decide to complain, here's an overview of the steps we'd recommend taking:

1. Raise your complaint with your university and follow the formal complaints process.
2. If you're unhappy with the uni's response, you can then bring the complaint to the OIA if you're in England or Wales, the SPSO in Scotland or NIPSO in Northern Ireland – these are ombudsman services that can handle the complaint.
3. The ombudsman will decide whether they think your complaint is justified and if there's more the uni can do beyond what they'd suggested to you after your initial complaint.
4. Then, if they think you should receive compensation, or if the uni should take any actions in response to your complaint, they will make recommendations as they see appropriate.

Coronavirus hasn't been the only thing impacting uni life in the last year. If you're also thinking about complaining about the UCU lecturer strikes, we have plenty of advice on that too.

Key measures announced in the support package

While we can't go through all of the measures announced as part of the support package here, we've picked out three key points:

• Total of £46 million in funding for higher education providers for student hardship funds, mental health support and to support access and participation plans in universities.
• Continued focus from the government on employing key workers (e.g. nurses and doctors).
• Changes to the Clearing process so that students will be suggested alternative options based on achievements, course interest and other preferences.

Is the government's university support package fair?

Credit: fizkes – Shutterstock

It's undeniably important for unis to receive the help they need to get through this period of economic uncertainty.

But, it must still be asked: is it fair for students to pay up to £9,250 a year if they aren't receiving teaching in person, accessing libraries or using the full range of facilities they originally signed up for?

 Last year, an ombudsman received the most student complaints they've ever had. Here's an overview of the complaints, plus info on how to complain to uni (and maybe get compensation!).

Credit: Koldunov – Shutterstock

Let's face it – it's not been the easiest couple of years for students.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak turned uni life upside down, the UCU strikes have been causing a fair amount of disruption to teaching and classes since 2018.

So, it's perhaps no wonder that 2019 saw the highest ever number of student complaints to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA). Students in England and Wales can approach the OIA after complaining to their university, if they've not been happy with the uni's response.

Here's a rundown of some of the key info from OIA's report, along with advice at the end for anyone thinking of making a complaint about their university – particularly about its response to the current pandemic.

Thinking of complaining about the UCU lecturer strikes? Our guide will talk you through it.

Student complaints in England and Wales in 2019

Credit: Atanas Bezov - Shutterstock

Today, a new report has been published by the OIA about the complaints they received last year. In 2019, the OIA received 2,371 complaints, up by 21% from the 1,967 complaints they'd received in 2018.

• How to complain and get compensation from your university

While the numbers of complaints are still pretty small compared to the overall student body, they give an interesting insight into the kinds of things students are making complaints about, and how much they're getting in compensation as a result...

Not from England or Wales? Students in Scotland can bring complaints to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), and in Northern Ireland, contact the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO).

How much compensation did students get?

When the OIA closes complaints, they categorise them as either Justified, Partly Justified, Not Justified, Settled, Not Eligible, or Withdrawn. For complaints that they think are Justified or Partly Justified, they'll often recommend that the student receives a certain amount of compensation from their university.

In 2019, there was a total of £745,388 recommended and/or offered to students through settlements after OIA looked into complaints.

23 students were awarded compensation of £5,000 or more, and the highest single recommendation was just over £53,000.

In the case of the recommendation of around £53,000, this was for a student who complained about their PhD studies – the money included a refund of some of their fees and expenses, as well as compensation for distress and inconvenience.

What were student complaints about?

Credit: GaudiLab – Shutterstock

Among the complaints in 2019, 50 were related to industrial action from 2018. Complaints about 2019's strikes will be reviewed in 2020, and we are very interested to see how the numbers of complaints will compare.

Here are the categories of complaints that the OIA closed in 2019, ranked from most to least common:

1. Academic appeals – 48%
2. Service issues – 29% (complaints about the strikes are included in this category)
3. Financial – 5%
4. Disciplinary matters (academic) – 4%
5. Equality law / human rights – 4%
6. Welfare / non-course service issues – 4%
7. Disciplinary matters (non-academic) – 3%
8. Fitness to practice – 2%
9. Not categorised – 1%.

Find out how one grad got £61K in compensation over a university complaint.

Which courses had the most complaints?

Rank	Subject area	Number of OIA complaints 2019
1	Business and administrative studies	391
2	Subjects allied to medicine	217
3	Creative arts and design	206
4	Law	188
5	Engineering and technology	151
6	Social studies	138
7	Biological studies	138
8	Psychology	122
9	Medicine and dentistry	120
10	Computer science	106

Can you get compensation from your university over coronavirus?

Credit: Yevgen Kravchenko, kamui29, Bell Photography 423 – Shutterstock

One thing that we know a lot of you will want to know is: can students complain and get compensation over their university's response to the coronavirus pandemic? Well, we asked the OIA to find out...

Sarah Liddell, Head of Leadership Office at the OIA, said:

We understand that this is a very worrying time for everyone and we want to help students and providers to navigate this unprecedented situation.

We have published some information about the coronavirus situation, including FAQs for students.

If you're unhappy with your uni's response to the coronavirus outbreak and wish to complain, Liddell suggests you take these steps:

 It's safe to say: A Level results day 2020 will be like no other. Wondering what you can actually expect on the day? Here's everything we know so far...

Credit: wavebreakmedia – Shutterstock

In a week of huge, short-notice announcements about A Level and SQA results, there's a lot of confusion among students in the UK.

After it was revealed that Higher results in Scotland had seen the pass rate for students from the most deprived backgrounds reduced by 15.2%, compared to a reduction of 6.9% for the most wealthy students, there was, unsurprisingly, a big outcry.

Saying, "I am sorry", Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney announced on 11th August that all downgraded SQA awards would be withdrawn, and students would receive the grades submitted by teachers and lecturers instead.

Despite hopes we might see the same change applied to A Level results, the government has announced a different change. But how helpful will it be, and what are your options moving forwards?

For more tips on how to prepare for A Level results day, check out our in-depth guide.

What to expect on A Level results day 2020

Credit: PJjaruwan – Shutterstock

A Level results day 2020 will be on 13th August – a day that seems to have taken a lifetime to arrive.

One of the biggest questions many students will be asking is what they can expect from their results.

When exams were cancelled and the grades were predicted by teachers instead, we knew that the marks would be moderated and adjusted across the country. What we didn't know, was how much by.

It was revealed by the Guardian earlier in August that 39% of A Level grades were expected to be downgraded from the predictions submitted by schools.

But, it's super important to keep in mind that if you don't get the results you're hoping for, it's really not the end of the world (we promise). You've got plenty of options for your next steps, as we'll explain below.

The 'triple lock' process

Credit: Wanchana Phuangwan – Shutterstock

Late in the evening on 11th August, it was reported that the 'triple lock' process will be introduced for students in England getting their A Level results.

This followed the news from earlier in the day that students in Scotland whose results had been downgraded would receive their teachers' predicted grades instead.

In Northern Ireland and Wales, there have not yet been any similar announced changes, but we'll be sure to update this article if there are. And, keep in mind that there are still plenty of options available to you if you're not happy with your results – see here.

A Level students can appeal to get mock exam results

Here's how the triple lock process works:

1. On A Level results day, you'll receive the grades that have been moderated by exam boards.
2. If you're unhappy with them, and you achieved higher grades in your mock exams, you can ask your school or college to send evidence of your mock result to the exam board. If the appeal's accepted, you would receive the mock result instead.
3. As a third option, you will also be able to take your exams in autumn. If the grade is higher than both the moderated one and the one from your mocks, it can become your new grade.

If you're worried about the cost of taking exams in autumn, the good news is that you should hopefully be able to take them for free.

The government has introduced a support package to help schools with the costs of exams – in return they expect schools and colleges to pay the exam fees for students who were supposed to be taking exams in summer 2020.

Will the triple lock process help A Level students?

Credit: fizkes – Shutterstock

Hopefully, the triple lock process will help you if you don't get the grades you had needed for uni, especially if you were happy with your mock results.

The government argues that it will act as a "safety net" for A Level students.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

Every young person waiting for their results wants to know they have been treated fairly. By ensuring students have the safety net of their mock results, as well as the chance of sitting autumn exams, we are creating a triple lock process to ensure confidence and fairness in the system.

No one wanted to cancel exams – they are the best form of assessment, but the disruption caused by COVID-19 meant they were not possible.
This triple lock system will help provide reassurance to students and ensure they are able to progress with the next stage of their lives.

However, we must admit that we had hoped for much bigger changes, more similar to those made in Scotland which saw 76,000 pupils' grades reversed.

Other student organisations have also expressed concerns with the triple lock process. NUS National President, Larissa Kennedy, said