Version 1.0 - Last Updated: 25 Oct 2023

Higher education short courses

Student eligibility


HE Short Course Loans are available for:

  • students domiciled in England
  • EU nationals

They must be studying short courses in England and meet residency criteria.

The short courses trial will run from 1 September 2022 until 31 August 2025. Courses can last up to 12 months within this period and must finish on or before 31 August 2025.

The main messages for students are:

  • there is no upper or lower age limit
  • they can get up to 4 HE Short Course Loans
  • they can take up to 4 courses either on their own with gaps between them, one after the other, or at the same time
  • they must apply for their tuition fee loan before the end of the course for which they are applying
  • they can get tuition fee support to repeat a short course
  • if they repeat, they’ll use another one of their 4 short course loans
  • no maintenance support is available to students on short courses

Students will start repaying HE Short Course Loans at the start of the tax year after the course end date. This is the end date you’ve set for the course.

The statutory repayment due date (SRDD) will be set independently for each individual short course the student takes.

The earliest a HE Short Course Loan can enter repayment is 6 April 2023.


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