Guidance for students going through Clearing
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-19)

Whether you go through Clearing after getting your exam results or you’ve not yet applied for university or college, you need to make sure your student finance is sorted.

If you’ve not applied for student finance yet

If you’re thinking of going to uni or college this year, you should apply for student finance as soon as possible. It’s easy to apply and only takes around 30 minutes. Just use your first choice of course, you can change your application later if you need to.

Apply now! (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)

If you apply late your money might be late. Find out more about applying late (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-get-your-first-payment-if-youre-applying-late).

If you’re applying for a higher amount of student finance that’s based on your household income (https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance/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.

Your funding

Once you submit your application, we may give you the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan while we process your household income details. This is to make sure you get some money for the start of your course.

Once we’ve processed your household income details, you’ll get the rest of your money as soon as possible after your course starts

Find out the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan:

*Maximum amount of Maintenance Loan is based on the household income for the academic year 2025 to 2026.

Use our student finance calculator (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator) to find out how much you could be entitled to for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. There are different rates if you spend a year of a UK course studying abroad.

When will I get paid?

To pay your Maintenance Loan, we’ll need:
- confirmation of registration from your university or college
- your National Insurance number
- valid UK bank details
Your Maintenance Loan will be paid in 3 instalments, one at the start of each term.

Example

Olivia is studying at Newcastle University and living in student accommodation. She applied too late for her student finance to be based on her household income before the start of her course. She’s been awarded the minimum Maintenance Loan of £4,917, which means her first payment of 33% is £1,641.

After 4 weeks Olivia applied, her household income details were processed. Now she qualifies for an additional Maintenance Loan of £3,000. We will pay Olivia the difference of £1,000 which was missed from her first payment. Her second payment will now be £2,641 and third payment will be £2,671 to reflect her new entitlement.

If you’ve already applied for student finance

You won’t need to do anything unless your living location, university, college or course details change.

If your university, college or course changes

If you accept a place at university or college through Clearing, you’ll need to sign in to your student finance account and let us know of any changes. You must do this even if your UCAS application has changed - your student finance application is not linked to UCAS.

Sign in to change your applicaiton (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)

You’ll need to change the university or college on the application as well as your course. You should also tell us the correct tuition fee being charged for your new course. For step by step guidance on how to change your application online check out our ‘how to’ guide (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/student-finance-england-how-to-guide).

If your course has started

You won’t be able to make a change to your uni, college or course details online.

You’ll need to ask your new uni, college or course provider to let us know of the changes.

Once they let us know, it will take 4 weeks to update your application.

You can track the progress of your application using your online account.

If your living situation changes

It’s important that you update where you’ll be living on your application if it changes, otherwise you might not get the right amount of Maintenance Loan.

You can update your living location through your online account (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login). You’ll be asked to confirm where you will spend most of your time during the academic year under the ‘change your university/college and course’ section.

Check out our tutorial for guidance on how to make changes to your application. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-students-going-through-clearing#making-changes-to-your-application)

Example

Toby applied for student finance to go to his first choice, Manchester University, which meant he would have to move away from home and live in student accommodation. Based on his course and living location he was awarded the maximum Maintenance Loan of £10,544.

On A-level results day Toby did not get the grades he expected and was offered a place at Birmingham University through Clearing, this means Toby will be able to live at home with his parents while he studies.

While Toby updated his university and course details online, he also told us about the change to his living location. After 4 weeks, we reassessed his entitlement and he now qualifies for the maximum Maintenance Loan of £8,887 for living at home.

Making changes to your application

Check out our walk-through film to find out how easy it is to update your student finance application online.

How to change your student finance application (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWepzsByw8w)

For full-time students, sign in to your online account (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login) and follow these easy steps:

Click ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’

Select the application you wish to change

Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, click ‘View and manage your applications’

Click ‘Change your application’ and then click again

Click ‘University/college and course’

Click ‘Submit’ once you’ve entered and confirmed your changes

If you’re unable to make the changes online, you can upload a completed CO1 Form to your online account and we can make these changes for you.

Find more guidance on how to change your application for part-time and tuition fee only funding students (https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-student-finance/change-an-application).

It will take 4 weeks to approve any new applications or changes to existing applications. It’s important to apply or make changes as soon as possible.

After you’ve updated your application

We’ll review your application and let you know if there’s any change to the amount of student finance you’ll be paid.

If your application is based on your household income, make sure your parents or partner give us their income details as soon as possible. Don’t forget, you could also get more student finance if your household income has dropped (https://www.gov.uk/support-child-or-partners-student-finance-application/current-year-income).

If you’ve been awarded the minimum amount of Maintenance Loan to begin with, once your household income has been reviewed, we’ll pay any money owed to you from the start of the course. Payments usually take 3 to 5 working days after your account is updated - you don’t need to wait till your next payment date.

If you’re a parent or partner of someone who’s applying for student finance

You’ll need to support their application with details of your household income so they can get as much student finance as possible. Visit our guide for more information on how to support an application (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-your-child-or-partners-student-finance-application-in-3-easy-steps).

Keep up to date

Keep up to date with all things Clearing by following us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SFEngland), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/studentfinance_england/?hl=en) and X (https://www.X.com/SF_England).