Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students have applied to Student Finance England for (a) tuition fee loans and (b) maintenance grants for the 2020/21 academic year.

Student Finance England processes applications for student financial support for English domiciled students studying in the UK and EU-domiciled students studying in England. Eligible full-time and part-time undergraduate students can apply for up-front tuition fee loans to meet the full costs of their tuition. Eligible students attending full-time courses and part-time degree and equivalent level courses can also apply for partially means-tested loans towards their living costs. Maintenance grants are only available in 2020/21 for small numbers of continuing full-time students who started their courses before 2016/17.

Applications for student support for full-time students opened in mid-February, and for part-time students in mid-June. As of 18 June 2020, Student Loan Company had processed 742,000 applications to Student Finance England for undergraduate tuition fee loans, 716,000 for maintenance loans, and 800 for maintenance grants for the 2020/21 academic year.

Students can apply for student finance up to nine months after the commencement of their course each academic year. This means that application numbers are likely to continue to rise as we approach the start of the 2020/21 academic year and for a period beyond that.