Student support for undergraduates across the UK in 2025/26

Higher education is devolved in the UK, which means England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland each have their own funding arrangements and student finance systems.

Tuition fees and student support

In all parts of the UK, students are charged tuition fees and publicly funded loans are available to cover the cost of fees. Scotland is unique in that tuition fees for eligible Scottish students are paid by the Scottish Government.

The different student funding bodies within the UK also provide living cost support in the form of publicly funded maintenance loans, grants, and bursaries. Additional funding may also be available to students depending on their personal circumstances, for example if they have a disability or childcare costs.  

The nature and amount of support students receive is determined by where they normally live, not where they study. To ensure they have applied for everything to which they may be entitled, students should consult the website of their respective student finance body: 

• Student Finance England
• Student Finance Wales
• Student Awards Agency Scotland
• Student Finance NI

Information on eligibility for home fee status and student support is available in the relevant Commons Library casework article for England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. 

Students must reapply for support each year of their course. Students begin to repay any loans when they start earning over a certain amount. Grants and bursaries do not have to be repaid. Information on paying back student loans, the repayment threshold, and the current interest rates can be found at gov.uk, Repaying your student loan.

The following charts and table provide a broad summary of key student support in 2025/26. Please see the relevant section of the briefing for full details of living cost loans, grants, and additional support available in each part of the UK.

Other funding sources

In addition to funding from the respective UK funding bodies, individual universities or colleges may provide scholarships, bursaries, or awards. These funds are allocated based on criteria set by the institution. Commonly used criteria include academic, sporting, or musical achievement; household income; geography; and support for particular subjects.

Information on these awards will be available on the websites of individual universities. Several websites also provide further sources of advice on student finance. These include:

• UCAS, Undergraduate student finance and support
• Save the Student, Student bursary and scholarship sources

The Commons Library casework article Financial support for higher education students also sets out what other support is available to students across the UK to help with their living costs.

How much do students spend on living costs?

The National Student Accommodation Survey 2025, which is a self-selecting survey by Save the Student, found the average UK monthly rent was £563 per month, up from £550 in 2024. A report by the housing charity Unipol and the Higher Education Policy Institute found the average student rent in London in 2024 (£13,595) was more than the maximum student loan for those from England (£13,348). Of those surveyed by Save the Student, 36% said they had thought about dropping out of university due to the cost of rent.

Findings from the Student Money Survey 2024, a self-selecting survey by Save the Student, found 67% of those students surveyed skipped meals at least some of the time, up from 64% in the 2023 survey. However, the proportion of those surveyed who said they used a food bank had halved compared to the previous year’s survey, down from 18% to 9%.

More information on how the rising cost of living has affected students in recent years can be found on the Commons Library website.

Are student support levels sufficient?

In March 2023, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Students published a report on the increasing financial pressures students are facing (PDF). It highlighted how the rising cost of living was disproportionately affecting marginalised and under-participating groups of students, including disabled students, black and minority ethnic students, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, care leavers, and students who are estranged from their families.

The report also highlighted the rise in students working increasing hours in paid employment alongside full-time study in order to support themselves, and the possible consequences for their academic results, mental wellbeing, and graduate employment prospects.

The Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) at Loughborough University calculated in 2024 that, for domestic students studying outside of London who are entitled to the maximum level of maintenance support, there was a shortfall of £8,405 per year between their loan and what the CRSP determined was a socially acceptable standard of living.

Student support levels across the UK in previous academic years

Earlier versions of this briefing setting out student support levels for previous academic years can be found in the archive version of Student support for undergraduates across the UK.

Further reading

The following Commons Library briefings contain statistics and information on student support in the UK:

• Eligibility for home fee status and student support inEngland, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
• The value of student maintenance support
• Tuition fees in England: History, debates, and international comparisons
• Tuition Fee statistics
• Student loan statistics
• Medical, dental, and healthcare students: UK numbers and student support arrangements
• Student support for the over 60s