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Maintenance Grant: rates if you started before September 2008
If you started your course in 2006/2007 or 2007/2008, this page will help you work out how much you could get through the Maintenance Grant or Special Support Grant. It also gives you an idea of the total help you could get with living costs through the Maintenance Grant and Student Loan for Maintenance combined.
Will you get the full grant?
The maximum grant available is £2,906 for 2009/2010.
Working out how much you’ll get for 2009/2010
| Household income | Amount of grant |
|---|---|
| Up to £18,360 | Full grant - £2,906 |
| £20,000 | £2,627 |
| £25,000 | £1,773 |
| £30,000 | £1,057 |
| £35,000 | £518 |
| £39,333 | £50 |
| More than £39,333 | No grant |
Maintenance Grant: effect on other financial help
If you’re getting a higher level of Maintenance Grant, it’s assumed that you won’t need to borrow as much through the Student Loan for Maintenance. To reflect this, some of the Maintenance Grant is paid instead of the Student Loan for Maintenance.
If you qualify for £1,292 or more through the Maintenance Grant for 2009/2010, the amount you can borrow through your loan will be reduced by £1,292.
This means that if you come from a lower income household, you’ll have less to repay when you finish studying and start work.
The table below shows some example figures to give you an idea of how much help you could get towards accommodation and other living costs through the Maintenance Grant and Student Loan for Maintenance.
Figures based on a student who started before September 2008, living away from home and studying outside London in 2009/2010
| Household income | Maintenance Grant | Student Loan for Maintenance | Total for 2009/2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £18,360 | £2,906 | £3,453 | £6,359 |
| £20,000 | £2,627 | £3,453 | £6,080 |
| £25,000 | £1,773 | £3,453 | £5,226 |
| £30,000 | £1,057 | £3,688 | £4,745 |
| £39,333 | £50 | £4,695 | £4,745 |
| £40,000 | No grant | £4,723 | £4,723 |
Unless it’s reduced because of what you’re entitled to through the Maintenance Grant, you’ll be able to get 75 per cent of the maximum Student Loan for Maintenance available to you - no matter what your household income is. Whether you get the remaining 25 per cent depends on an ‘income assessment’.
See ‘Applying for student finance’ for more on income assessment.
Special Support Grant: effect on other financial help
Unlike the Maintenance Grant, the Special Support Grant doesn’t reduce the amount you can borrow through the Student Loan for Maintenance. If your household income is £39,796 or under for 2009/2010, you will be eligible for the full Student Loan for Maintenance - irrespective of how much you get through the Special Support Grant.
Any money you get through the Special Support Grant won’t be counted as income when working out your entitlement to benefits or tax credits.
Back to ‘Finance after your first year: full-time students who started from September 2006’
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