GovWire

Watch our film to find out why you shouldnt wait to apply.

Applying for student finance after the deadline

If you havent applied yet or youve just recently applied for your full-time undergraduate student finance, heres what needs to happen to make sure you have some funding in place for when your course starts.

1. Applying for student finance

Its important if you havent already done so to create an account or sign into your online account and apply as soon as possible.

Its quick and easy to apply online - it only takes 30 minutes with your:

• Passport details

• National Insurance number
• UK bank details

You dont 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 dont need to call us to track the progress of your application. Once youve applied for student finance, you can check your online account to:

• Use our application status tracker

• Check Your actions to complete

• Upload evidence

• Reset your password or secret answer

• Update your personal details

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

How to check the status of your application

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

If we need any further information from you, a red banner will appear and your action status will show as incomplete. The banner will stay red until the information has been provided and it will turn green when all your actions have been completed.

3. Well sort out your initial funding

You might not know that everyone qualifies for a minimum amount of funding if they pass all the eligibility checks.

Well assess you quickly without considering your household income so we can make sure you have some funding in place for when you start your course. Well send you a letter confirming your minimum entitlement. You can also check your online account for an update. Youll get the rest of your money as soon as we process the household income details.

4. Well assess the rest of your application

Well then assess the household income details part of your application if youve applied for this this usually takes us 6 to 8 weeks.

If youre 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.

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

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

In order to get your first student finance payment, youll also need to register at your uni or college before your course starts, as we wont be able to pay you until you do. Once youve completed these steps, well contact you a few days before your course starts, confirming your first payment date.

You dont 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

Once weve assessed your household income details, well then send you another letter confirming your full entitlement amount. If youve already received a payment from us, well pay the difference as soon as possible, and your second and third payments will increase too.

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