Student Finance during your Placement Year

You’ve landed your dream placement, found a place to live and are ready to embark on a year’s worth of priceless work experience.

It’s an exciting time, but it can also be super scary. It’ll likely be your first time being fully financially independent while living on your own and working a full-time job. Daunting thing to think about, especially while there’s a cost-of-living crisis.

Did you know you can actually qualify for a maintenance loan from student finance during your placement year? And it’s more if you’re based in London?

Read on to find out what financial help is available.

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What’s available to me during my placement year?

This depends on your home location. There are various branches of Student Finance across the UK that set their own rules, so not all entitlements are the same. Read below to find out more.

Student Finance England

Students living at home	£2,267
Student placements in London	£4,244
Student placements abroad	£3,022

Student Finance Scotland

You’ll qualify for the same level of student maintenance loan as normal, regardless of whether your placement is full or part-time.

Maintenance loans are means-tested (household income) and are up to £6,000 for young students and up to £8,000 for independent students.

You can use this very handy loan calculator to confirm how much you’ll receive.

Student Finance Wales

You’ll be eligible for a reduced maintenance loan. Here’s the breakdown for 2023/2024.

Students living at home	£4,045
Student placements in London	£6,185
Student placements abroad	£4,855

Scholarships

If you normally receive scholarship or bursary money through your university, you’ll keep receiving this. It’s worth confirming, too.

Some scholarships can be used as a tuition fee waiver for your placement year. If you receive any special support, it’s worth confirming this directly with the provider.

Type B Placements

Some of you might be doing unpaid placements, also known as type B placements. In that case – the amount of loan you’ll receive might be a lot higher. Type B placements are usually unpaid services in the following:

• Hospital or public service laboratory
• Local authority as relates to child health or welfare
• Prison, probation and aftercare services
• Public health functions
• Special Health Authority, NHS Committee Board
• UK Parliament.

It might also be worth speaking to your university financial services to see if they also offer any help for students on placement.

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Worried about the cost-of-living crisis? Here’s some advice on how to manage your finances whilst at university.

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Do I still need to pay tuition fees?

You do indeed. Even though you won’t attend university or classes, a placement year is still very much considered part of your studies. However, the fees you pay will be a lot less.

For the academic year 2023/2024, tuition fees during placement are £1,250 for home and EU students. If you’re an international student, the tuition fee is £2,500.

Attending university for more than 10 weeks? You might need to pay the full tuition fee.

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How do I apply for student finance for my placement year?

The great thing is, you don’t need to do anything out of the usual when applying for placement year student finance.

All you need to do is apply as normal. You’ll have the option to let Student Finance know that you’ll be on a placement year in the early stages of your application. And Bob’s your banker – the clever people at Student Finance will work everything out.

If you’re doing a Type B placement, you’ll need to give Student Finance proof of this.

Make sure to start your application before your placement begins.

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Overall, your placement is an exciting time. You’re about to embark on what could potentially be your forever career. Take everything in and more importantly – enjoy it.

There’s loads of handy placement advice ready for you to get tucked into. They’re a great read. Click below to get started. Good luck!

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