Guidance

How to get your first payment if you’re applying late

Follow our key steps on how to get your first payment if you're applying late for student finance.

From:
Student Loans Company
Published
17 August 2021
Last updated
2823 AugustJune 2023 — See all updates

Applies to England

Don’t worry if you missed the full-time undergraduate student finance deadline.

You can still apply and get some money nearin time for the start of your course.

Watch our film to find out why you shouldn’t wait to apply.

Applying for student finance after the deadline

If you haven’t applied yet or you’ve just recently applied for your full-time undergraduate student finance, here’s what needs to happen to make sure you have some funding in place for nearwhen the start of your course.course starts.

1. Applying for student finance

It’s important if you haven’t already done so to create an account or sign into your online account and apply as soon as possible, if you haven’t already.possible.

It’s quick and easy to apply online - it only takes 30 minutes with your:

  • Passport details

  • National Insurance number
  • UK bank details

You don’t need a confirmed place at uni or college to apply, you can apply now and update your details later if you need to.

2. Check your online account

You don’t need to call us to track the progress of your application. Once you’ve applied for student finance, you can usecheck your online account to:

  • viewUse our application status tracker

  • checkCheck ‘Your actions to complete’

  • uploadUpload evidence

  • resetReset your password or secret answer

  • updateUpdate your personal details.details

Watch our step-by-step tutorial on how to check the status of your application!

How to check the status of your application

It’s quick and easy to use your Student Finance account, watch our other ‘How to’ films for step-by-step tutorials.

If we need moreany further information from you, a red banner will appear and your action ‘status’ will show as incomplete. The banner will stay red until you’vethe giveninformation ushas thebeen informationprovided and it will turn green when all your actions have been completed.

3. We’ll sort out your initial funding

If you’reyou gettingreceive less than expected, you don’t need to call us - this is to makeensure sure you getreceive some funding nearfor the start of your course.

Youcourse mayand get a smaller amount to begin with but we’ll update your entitlement and send you a top up payment as soon as we process yourthe household income details.

You canmight checknot yourknow onlinethat accounteveryone qualifies for ana update.

Ifminimum you’reamount eligibleof forfunding extraif help

they pass all the eligibility checks.

IfWe’ll you’reassess eligibleyou forquickly anywithout ofconsidering theyour followinghousehold itincome couldso takewe uscan longermake tosure processyou yourhave application:

Thesestart willyour becourse. awardedWe’ll oncesend we’veyou processeda letter confirming your householdminimum incomeentitlement. details.

You mightcan needalso tocheck self-fundyour thingsonline likeaccount childcarefor atan theupdate. startYou’ll ofget yourthe course.rest Onceof your applicationmoney hasas beensoon approved,as anywe extraprocess fundingthe willhousehold beincome backdated.details.

4. We’ll assess the rest of your application

We’ll then assess the household income details part of your application if you’ve applied for this – this usually takes us 6 to 8 weeks.

If you’re applying for a higher amount of student finance based on your household income, make sure to ask your parents or partner to provide their financial information as soon as possible to avoid delays to your application.

They’ll need to sign into an existing account or create an account to submit their details. They don’t need to upload any evidence, especially not P60s, unless we ask for it - this will delay the application.

You don’t need to call us for an update, we’ll notify you once the application is fully approved and you can also sign in to your online account and track the progress using the application tracker!

5. What you need to do to get your first payment

You’llIn order to get your first student finance payment, you’ll also need to register at your uni or college before your course starts, as we won’t be able to pay you until you do. Once youryou’ve unicompleted orthese collegesteps, tell us you’ve registered, we’ll contact you a few days before your firstcourse paymentstarts, toconfirming letyour youfirst knowpayment it’s on its way.date.

You don’t need to call us to check your payment date, sign in to your online account to view your payment schedule.

6. When your application is fully approved

We’llOnce we’ve assessed your household income details, we’ll then send you another letter confirming your full entitlement amount. If you’ve already received a payment from us, we’ll pay you the difference as soon as possible, and your second and third paymentpayments amounts will beincrease updated too.

For a whole range of student finance information, visit our campaign page and follow us on:

Published 17 August 2021
Last updated 2823 AugustJune 2023 + show all updates

  1. Added information on what happens with extra help if applying late.

  2. Added YouTube film for guidance on applying after the deadline.

  3. Embedded 'Applying after deadline' film

  4. Updated guidance to embed step-by-step tutorial.

  5. Updated guidance to include post-deadline messaging for academic year 2022 to 2023, promoting self-serve via online account.

  6. updated image

  7. Updated summary

  8. First published.

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