The Student Loans Company offers a non-means-tested Postgraduate Loan of £12,471 for students starting in 2024-25 (if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024). The loan is a contribution towards the costs of study, and it is therefore at your discretion to use the loan towards fees, maintenance costs or other costs. The loan will be paid directly to you in three instalments during the academic year.
For the latest information on the full eligibility criteria, please see the government's website.
Repaying student loans
The Postgraduate Loan does not need to be repaid until you have finished your course (or withdrawn) and are earning more than £21,000 per year.
The earliest you'll start to repay your loans as a full-time student is the April after you have left your course.
Please refer to the repaying your student loan on the gov.uk website, where you can find an overview of repayments including, which repayment plan you’re on, when you start repaying your loan, how much you reply and how to repay.
Repayments will be made concurrently with any other student loans such as undergraduate loans.
Restrictions and exemptions
The Postgraduate Loan is for students who are:
- studying a full-time or part-time taught (MA, MSc, MEd), research (MPhil or MRes), distance learning or professional master's course (MBA, LLM) (please check course eligibility as not all courses are eligible for the loan – for example, a postgraduate diploma or Master of Architecture is not eligible – see full list below)
- Home* students
- aged under 60 on the first day of the first academic year of the course (1 September 2024 for 2024-25 September start)
*Some EU/EEA students who meet EU Settlement Scheme and residency requirements may also be able to apply. Check out gov.uk for more information or email our Student Money and Accommodation Advice team at smaa@londonmet.ac.uk.
If you already have a postgraduate master's qualification, including an integrated master's qualification, you will not be eligible for the loan.
The following London Met courses are not eligible for the Postgraduate Loan:
- Assessment Only (AO) route to qualified teacher status QTS
- Common Professional Exam GDL
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Adv Dip Pro Dev
- Employment Law and Practice Adv Dip Pro Dev
- Professional Practice in Architecture (RIBA 3) - PG Cert
- Global Human Resource Management PG Dip
- Legal Practice Course PG Dip
- Legal Practice Course Stage 1 PG Dip
- Legal Practice Course Stage 2 PG Dip
- PGCE courses (though undergraduate funding may be available)
- Crime, Policy and Security Prof Doc
- Architecture RIBA 2 MArch* (though undergraduate funding may be available)
- Public-Private Partnerships Adv Dip Pro Dev
- QTS courses (though undergraduate funding may be available)
- Research Degree PhD – a separate Doctoral Loan is available
- Subject Knowledge Enhancement Mathematics
*Students may be eligible for the Postgraduate Loan for a Master’s of Architecture course where they are ineligible for undergraduate support.
How to apply
You will need to apply to Student Finance England for the loan.
At a glance
| Maximum value: |
£12,471 (2024-25 starters - if your course starts on or after 1 August 2024) |
| Open to: |
UK |
| Studying at level: | Postgraduate, including research degrees (not all courses are eligible for the loan – please check with the Student Loans Company) |
| The information on this page applies to students starting courses in these academic years (as indicated): |
2024-25 |