“How much maintenance loan will I get?” is one of the most searched student finance questions in England, and one of the hardest to answer with a single figure — because there is no single figure. Your maintenance loan is worked out from your circumstances: where you will live while you study, how much your household earns, and whether your course and study pattern qualify. Two students on the same course can receive amounts thousands of pounds apart, and both can be correct. This guide explains how the amount is decided for Student Finance England in 2026/27, works through a real example, and shows you how to produce a sensible planning estimate for your own situation.
One warning before the numbers: everything in this guide, and every calculator on the internet, produces an estimate. Your actual entitlement is set by Student Finance England when it assesses your application, and that assessment is the final word. Use the figures here to plan a budget, not to sign a tenancy agreement you can only afford if the estimate turns out to be exact.
The maximums and minimums for 2026/27
For full-time undergraduates in England in 2026/27, the maintenance loan has a maximum and a guaranteed minimum for each living arrangement. If you live at home with your parents while you study, the maximum is £9,118 and the minimum is £4,013. If you live away from home outside London, the maximum is £10,830 and the minimum is £5,048. If you live away from home in London, the maximum is £14,135 and the minimum is £7,039, reflecting the higher cost of living in the capital.
Every eligible full-time student can receive at least the minimum for their living arrangement, regardless of household income — that part is not means-tested. The portion between the minimum and the maximum is means-tested: it depends on your household income. Students from households with an income of £25,000 or below receive the full maximum. Above that level, the loan reduces gradually as household income rises, until only the minimum remains. Where you land between the two figures is therefore a question of arithmetic, which the next sections work through.
To get a first estimate for your own circumstances, enter your living arrangement and household income into our free maintenance loan calculator, which applies the 2026/27 England figures and the taper explained below. Then read on, because understanding why the figure is what it is will help you spot the situations where a simple calculator cannot capture your case.
The three things that decide your amount
The first factor is your living arrangement, because it sets which maximum and minimum apply to you. Living at home carries the lowest rates, on the assumption that your housing costs are lower. Living away from home outside London sits in the middle, and living away in London carries the highest rates. Your arrangement is judged on where you actually live during term time, so a student who moves into halls is assessed as living away from home even if their family home is nearby, while a student who stays in the family home is assessed at the at-home rate even if they contribute towards household costs.
The second factor is household income. For most students under 25, this means the income of the parents they live with, or the parent they live with most plus that parent’s partner. It is normally assessed on a past tax year rather than on what the household earns today, which matters if earnings have recently changed — there is a route for that, covered below. Household income is what moves you down from the maximum towards the minimum.
The third factor is your course and study pattern. The figures in this guide are for full-time undergraduate courses. Part-time students are assessed differently, on course intensity — how much of a full-time course you are studying each year — and some courses and study arrangements fall outside the standard rules altogether. Postgraduate funding works on an entirely separate system. If your situation is not a standard full-time undergraduate one, treat the figures here as background only and check your specific position when you apply. If you have not applied yet, our guide to how to apply for student finance walks through the application process step by step.
How the taper works, with a worked example
Once household income rises above £25,000, the loan comes down by roughly £1 for every £6.40 to £6.50 of household income above that threshold. The exact rate differs slightly depending on your living arrangement, which is why a range is quoted rather than one figure. The reduction continues until the loan reaches the guaranteed minimum for your arrangement, after which higher income makes no further difference.
Here is the arithmetic in practice. Take a student living away from home outside London, with a household income of £40,000. That income is £15,000 above the £25,000 threshold. Applying the taper — roughly £1 of loan lost for every £6.45 or so of that excess — gives a reduction of about £2,318. Taken from the maximum of £10,830, that leaves an estimated maintenance loan of about £8,512 for the year. Treat that figure as what it is: an estimate produced by the taper, not a quote. Student Finance England’s own assessment of that application is what the student would actually receive, and small differences in how income is assessed can move the final figure.
You can run the same calculation for your own household by taking your income, subtracting £25,000, dividing the remainder by roughly 6.45, and subtracting the result from the maximum for your living arrangement — stopping at the minimum if the calculation would take you below it. Or, more simply, let the maintenance loan calculator do the arithmetic for you and show the estimate for each living arrangement side by side, which is useful if you are still deciding between living at home and moving away.
The gap nobody warns you about: the assumed parental contribution
The taper embeds an assumption that catches many families out. When the loan reduces because household income is above £25,000, the system is in effect assuming that parents will make up the difference between the reduced loan and the maximum. Nothing compels parents to pay it, no one checks whether they do, and the student is not told an amount — but the reduction is real, and so is the shortfall if no contribution arrives.
This is the single most common reason students find their loan does not cover their costs. A student on the minimum loan, living away from home, may be receiving several thousand pounds less per year than a student on the maximum in the next room, while paying exactly the same rent. If you are a student, have the conversation with your parents early, with the estimate in front of you, so everyone can see the size of the expected contribution. If you are a parent, understand that the reduced figure is not Student Finance England judging that your child needs less money; it is the system assuming you will bridge the gap. Planning for that gap — through parental support, part-time work, savings, or choosing lower-cost accommodation — is far easier in the summer before term than in the second week of it.
If household income has dropped: current-year assessment
Because household income is normally assessed on a past tax year, the figure used can badly misrepresent a family’s present position. A parent may have retired, been made redundant, reduced their hours, or lost a business since that tax year. If your household income has fallen, you can ask to be assessed on the current tax year instead. There is a threshold for how far income must have dropped for this route to apply, and you will need to provide estimates first and evidence later, with the assessment adjusted if the final confirmed income differs from the estimate.
If your family’s income has genuinely fallen, this route is worth taking: being assessed on an old, higher income can reduce your loan by a large amount for reasons that no longer reflect your life. Apply in good time, because the current-year route involves extra forms and extra checking, and keep the evidence of the change — employment documents, accounts, or pension statements — ready to supply.
Independent students, instalments, and planning with your estimate
Some students are assessed on their own income rather than their parents’. Independent status generally applies if you are 25 or over, married or in a civil partnership, have a child, have supported yourself financially for a qualifying period, or are estranged from your parents or have no living parents. If you are independent, the household income in the calculation is yours (and your partner’s, if you have one), which for many mature students means the full maximum. The evidence requirements are stricter, so start gathering documents early if this is your route.
However much you receive, the loan is paid in three termly instalments, arriving at the start of each term once your university has confirmed your attendance. That pattern shapes your budgeting: a large payment lands, rent for the term often leaves immediately, and the remainder has to last until the next instalment. A workable approach is to divide what is left after rent by the number of weeks in the term and treat that as a weekly budget, rather than spending term by term and hoping. Build your first budget from your estimated loan, then rebuild it the moment your actual entitlement letter arrives, because the assessed figure — not the estimate — is the one your bank balance will follow.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum maintenance loan in England in 2026/27? For full-time undergraduates: £9,118 if you live at home, £10,830 if you live away from home outside London, and £14,135 if you live away from home in London. The full maximum is paid at household incomes of £25,000 or below.
Is any of the maintenance loan guaranteed regardless of income? Yes. Every eligible full-time student can receive at least the minimum for their living arrangement: £4,013 living at home, £5,048 away outside London, and £7,039 away in London. Only the amount above the minimum is means-tested.
How much does the loan fall as household income rises? Above £25,000, it reduces by roughly £1 for every £6.40–£6.50 of household income over the threshold — the exact rate varies slightly by living arrangement — until it reaches the guaranteed minimum.
When is the maintenance loan paid? In three termly instalments across the academic year, at the start of each term, once your university has confirmed that you have registered and attended.
My parents’ income has dropped since last year. Can that be taken into account? Yes, if the fall is large enough. You can ask to be assessed on current-year income instead of the earlier tax year, providing estimates first and evidence when the tax year ends.
Is the figure from a calculator or guide my final entitlement? No. Guides and calculators produce planning estimates from the published rates and taper. Your entitlement is set only by Student Finance England’s assessment of your actual application, and that assessment is final.