Maintenance loan calculator
See how much maintenance loan you get for 2026/27 from the two things that decide it: household income and where you live while studying.
Rates taken from the official source and last checked on 12 September 2026.
Two numbers decide it
For a dependent student in England, the means test uses household income and where you will live during term. That is the whole assessment. The gov.uk calculator asks about course dates, nationality and childcare before it gets there, and all of those affect eligibility for other support, but the loan amount itself moves on these two inputs alone.
Household income of £25,000 or less gets the full loan: £9,118 living with parents, £10,830 living away outside London, £14,135 living away in London. Above £25,000, the loan falls by £1 for every complete £6.54, £6.47 or £6.36 of extra income respectively, until it reaches a floor.
A worked example
Household income of £45,000, living away from home outside London. That is £20,000 over the threshold. Divide by £6.47, drop the remainder, and the reduction is £3,091. The loan is £10,830 minus £3,091, which is £7,739 a year.
That exact row appears in the government's own entitlement table, which is how this calculator is checked: the formula reproduces every published row to the pound, and if it ever stopped doing so we would treat that as a bug, not a rounding difference.
The minimum nobody can lose
Part of the loan is not means tested at all. However high household income goes, a dependent student in 2026/27 still gets £4,013 at home, £5,048 away outside London, or £7,039 in London. The taper stops when it reaches those floors, which happens at household income of roughly £58,400, £62,400 and £70,100 respectively.
The gap between the minimum and the maximum is, in effect, the contribution the government expects from your household. Nobody sends parents a bill; the expectation is simply built into how much loan you are offered.
What counts as household income
For a dependent student it is the taxable income of the parents you live with, plus a partner of theirs where they have one, from two tax years before the academic year. For 2026/27 that means the 2024 to 2025 tax year. Pension contributions come off before the figure is used, and if income has dropped by 15% or more since then, you can ask for a current year assessment instead.
Independent students, usually those 25 or over, married, or estranged from their parents, are assessed on their own income and a partner's rather than their parents'.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Student finance is devolved and the four systems differ properly, in structure rather than just in figures. This calculator covers Student Finance England only; the figures above will be wrong for the other three. We have a separate calculator for each: the Wales calculator (a fixed total where income moves the grant and loan split), the Scotland calculator (income bands, bursary plus loan) and the Northern Ireland calculator (a grant that substitutes for loan).
Common questions
How much maintenance loan will I get in 2026/27?
At household income up to £25,000, the maximum for where you live: £9,118 with parents, £10,830 away outside London, £14,135 away in London. Above that, £1 comes off for every complete £6.54, £6.47 or £6.36 of extra income respectively, down to the minimum.
What is the minimum maintenance loan?
For 2026/27 in England: £4,013 living at home, £5,048 living away outside London, £7,039 living away in London. This part is not means tested, so it does not shrink further whatever your household earns.
What is the maximum household income for a maintenance loan?
There is no cut-off. The loan stops falling once it reaches the minimum, which happens at household income of roughly £58,400 living at home, £62,400 away outside London, and £70,100 away in London. Beyond those points everyone gets the same minimum amount.
Do I have to pay the maintenance loan back?
Yes, it is a loan rather than a grant, and it goes on the same balance as your tuition fee loan. Repayment starts the April after you leave the course, taken through payroll as a percentage of what you earn above a threshold, and nothing is due while you earn below it.
Is the maintenance loan enough to live on?
Often not on its own. The reduction from the maximum is the contribution the system expects your household to make, and rent in many university cities runs close to the full loan by itself. Universities also run bursaries and hardship funds that do not need repaying, so check what your institution offers before ruling anything out.