Student Finance England – ‘How to’ guide
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-13)

This guide will provide you with answers to the most common questions that undergraduate students are currently asking us.

Check our current timescales page (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sfe-current-application-timescales) to find out when to expect an update on your application or on information you’ve sent!

Checking the status of your application

Once you’ve applied, you’ll want to keep up to date with the progress of your application.

Visit our guidance page for more information on checking the status of your application (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/checking-the-status-of-your-student-finance-application).

Change your university, college or course details

You may need to update your university, college or course details if you change your mind about where or what you want to study, or if your circumstances change. Follow these steps if the start date for the course you initially applied for has not passed yet:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’
- Select the application you wish to change
- Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, select ‘View and manage your applications’
- Select ‘Change your application’
- Select ‘University/college and course’
If the course you initially applied for has already started, you’ll need to ask your university or college to send us a request to update your university, college or course details on your application.

It will take 4 weeks to approve any changes to your application, so it’s important to make any changes straight away. To ensure we can process your changes as quickly as possible, we ask you do not contact us during this time.

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

For more information, visit our updating your student finance details page (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/updating-your-personal-details).

Change how much Maintenance Loan you’ve requested

After you’ve applied for student finance, you may want to change the amount of Maintenance Loan you’ve asked for. You should be able to do this in your online account (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login) up until one month before the end of the academic year (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-academic-years).

You should follow these steps:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’
- Select the application you wish to change
- Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, select ‘View and manage your applications’
- Select ‘Change your application’
- Select ‘Loan amount(s)’
It will take 4 weeks to process any changes.

If you’re unable to change your loan request amount online, you’ll need to compete and submit a Loan Request Form instead. You’ll be able to get this from your online account.

If you’re asked to upload evidence for your student finance application

You should only upload evidence to your online account if we’ve asked you to do so and only upload your documents once. If you upload evidence we haven’t asked for, or we get more than one copy of the same thing, it could delay your application.

If you need to send us more than one document, it can help to upload these together. This means we can review all of your evidence at the same time and process your application quicker.

Follow these steps to upload evidence to your account:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’
- Select the application you wish to upload evidence for
- Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, select ‘Upload supporting evidence’
- Follow the instructions to upload a file from your computer or mobile phone, the file cannot be larger than 16MB
If you’ve uploaded evidence and ‘your actions to complete’ don’t update, it doesn’t mean we don’t have your documents. Once we’ve checked what you’ve sent, we’ll update your actions list.

You don’t need to contact us to check that we’ve got your documents, if we need anything else, we’ll be in touch.

How to upload evidence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_JvzAlga4s)

For more information, visit our evidence page (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-students-parents-and-partners-providing-evidence-to-support-a-student-finance-application).

Cancel a student finance application

You may need to cancel your application if you’ve changed your mind about going to university or college, or if you’ve accidentally completed the wrong type of application.

To cancel your application, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’
- Select the application you wish to cancel
- Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, select ‘View and manage your applications’
- Select ‘Cancel your application’
- Select ‘Cancel your application’ again to confirm
If you’ve already registered on your course and want to cancel your student finance application, you’ll need to contact your university or college to do this for you.

Registering on your course

You need to register/enrol on your course at the start of your first term each year, otherwise we won’t be able to send you any payments!

Check your university or college’s website or contact a member of staff who works there for information on how to register or enrol on your course. Usually, you can do this online without having to visit your university or college.

Paying your tuition fees

Your Tuition Fee Loan is paid directly to your university or college in three instalments during the academic year.

We cannot make any tuition fee payments to them until they have confirmed that you’re attending your course. They will automatically send this information to us after your course has started.

If you’re studying on a distance learning course, your university or college will usually confirm your attendance two weeks after the course start date. As a result, it can take 3 to 4 weeks for your Tuition Fee Loan to be paid.

If your university or college have confirmed your attendance in error, they should send us an update confirming the error and correct the details on your application. This will not affect your future entitlement to student finance.

You do not need to contact us to confirm your attendance.

Update your bank details in your online account

It’s important to keep your bank details up to date to make sure you get your payments at the start of each term. A few points to remember before updating them:
- we can only make payments to a UK bank or building society account
- the account must be in your own name – we cannot make payments into third party accounts under any circumstance
- if you’re expecting a payment - we require 4 working days’ notice to change your bank details so that the payment is made to your new bank account. Any changes made within this time will not take effect before the payment is due
It’s quick and easy to update them online when you need to, just follow these steps:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Your personal details’ from the menu at the top of the page
- Next to ‘Bank account details’, select ‘Change’
- Confirm your old bank or building society details for security
- Enter your new bank or building society account details
Check your payment schedule and amounts

To help you budget and prepare for your next payment, it will help to know how much and when you’re getting paid. You can check this in your online account, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’
- Select the application for the payments you wish to check
- Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, select ‘View your payments’
How to check your payment schedule (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t7j5c_Rl8s)

For more information, visit our payment page (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/getting-your-first-student-finance-payment).

Support a student finance application with your household income details

If your child or partner has applied for extra Maintenance Loan, we’ll email you to ask for details of your household income. We’ll use this to work out how much student finance they can get.

Follow the instructions in the email to give us your details.

If you don’t receive an email, or you’re supporting more than one student, follow these steps to give us your details:
- Sign in or create an online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login).
- Select ‘Undergraduate student finance applications’.
- Choose the academic year you’re giving your details for.
- Under the heading ‘Start something else’, select ‘Support a student’s application for student finance’.
- Scroll down and select ‘Support an application for student finance’.
- Type in your child or partner’s details so we can link you to their application.
Get more information on providing your household income details (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-your-child-or-partners-student-finance-application-in-3-easy-steps).

If you’re asked to upload evidence to support a student finance application

After you’ve provided details about your household income, we may contact you to ask for evidence. If this happens, you can upload the evidence to us through your online account. Follow these steps if we request evidence from you:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Under the heading ‘Manage your student finance’, select ‘Upload supporting evidence’
- Select ‘Upload evidence’
- Follow the instructions to upload a file from your computer or mobile phone, the file cannot be larger than 16MB
Keep in mind, you should only send evidence to us if we’ve asked you to do so, otherwise it could delay the student’s application!

How to upload evidence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_JvzAlga4s)

Visit our guidance page for more information on supporting an application (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-your-child-or-partners-student-finance-application-in-3-easy-steps).

Find out who can get student finance, how much you can get and how to apply

Visit www.gov.uk/student-finance (http://www.gov.uk/student-finance) for information on:
- who can get student finance
- how much you can get
- extra funding available for students with a disability or dependants
- how to apply
For further information on student finance, visit studentfinance.campaign.gov.uk/ (https://studentfinance.campaign.gov.uk/).

Reset your log in details

If it’s been a while since you signed in to your online account, you may have forgotten some details. Don’t worry, you can reset or recover these details quickly and easily online:
- Visit www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select the green ‘Start now’ button
- Select ‘Forgotten your email address or CRN?’ or ‘Forgotten your password?’
- Then just follow the instructions to recover or reset your details
How to reset your password and secret answer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh9b59PsbvI)

Update your contact details

It’s important you keep your contact details such as your email address and mobile number up to date in case we need to get in touch with important information about your account. It’s quick and easy to update this through your online account, just follow these steps:
- Sign in to your online account at www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login)
- Select ‘Your personal details’ from the menu at the top of the page
- Select ‘Change’ next to whichever details you wish to update
- Enter your new contact details and select ‘Continue’
How to update your personal details (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV-_1Eq1JdE)

For more information, visit our updating your student finance details guidance page (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/updating-your-personal-details).