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The value of student maintenance support

This page is a short summary of the full PDF report which includes much more detail and background. The accompanying spreadsheet gives long-term data on maximum support levels.

Changes in maintenance support for full-time students from 2016/17

• Maintenance grants ended for new students in 2016/17. All maintenance support for new students has been in loans since then. The maximum value of support for students living away from home outside London was increased by around 10% in 2016/17.
• The maximum value of support increased slightly in real terms over the following five years before substantial falls in 2022/23 and 2023/24. It has broadly maintained its real value since then.
• The household income level at which a student qualifies for the maximum level of support has remained unchanged in cash terms since 2008 at £25,000.
• The government will reintroduce maintenance grants in 2028/29 for students from low income households studying certain subjects. These will be worth up to £1,000 or around 80% less than their 2015/16 level in real terms.

This paper looks at the value of the support for student maintenance over time, how the amount of support currently available varies by household income and evidence on the adequacy of maintenance support. Some of these older statistics refer to England and Wales, although devolution of student finance means that figures from 2006/07 cover England only.

The data and analysis in this paper are for full-time undergraduate students.

Key trends in the real value of the maximum maintenance support package over time

Pre-1990: Grant based system

• A gradual real reduction in real grant levels during the 1960s
• A partial reverse in this cut in the late 1970s before some relatively small real cuts in the early 1980s

Sources: see accompanying spreadsheet

1990s and 2000s: Introduction and expansion of loans

• Maintenance loans introduced in 1990/91 which initially increased the value of the overall support package and gradually replaced grants over time.
• The total value of support increased gradually each year during the 1990s and up to 2003/04.
• Grants reintroduced in 2004/05 and increased in 2006/07, both resulting in jumps in the maximum value of support

2010s: Student finance reformed and grants ended

• The 2012 higher education reforms increased the size of the support package for new students. Subsequent freezes or below inflation increases in grant and/or loan rates meant real values fell in the following few years.
• Loans replace grants for new students from 2016/17. Increases in the maximum loan amounts in the same year took the value to what was then its highest level in real terms.
• Maximum loan amounts increased gradually between 2016/17 and 2021/22.

2020s: Cost of living crisis

• Inflation was much higher in 2022/23 and 2023/24 than the cash increase in maximum support levels. This led to real cuts in support of 7% in 2022/23 and 4% in 2023/24.
• The maximum support in 2023/24 was around £1,200 less than in 2021/22 in September 2025 prices (adjusted by CPI inflation).
• This cut, at 10% over two years, was larger than any real cuts seen in student support going back to the early 1960s.
• Maximum loan amounts are increased by the Government in line with forecast inflation, but differences between forecast and actual inflation are not ‘corrected’ in later years.

There were only very small changes in the real level of support in 2024/25 and 2025/26 and little real change is expected in the 2026/27.

In January 2023 the IFS said that because the forecasting errors in the previous two years had not been corrected the maximum support amounts will be around £1,500 less in the future. This cut is now effectively baked into future support. It said that the way that forecast inflation is used to uprate maintenance loans “..is not a sensible policy” and “The government’s framing of this announcement as a ‘cost of living boost for students’ is at best highly misleading”.

While the maximum value of support increased up to 2021/22 in real terms there was still concern that it was not enough to cover student living costs, particularly due to increases in the cost of accommodation. The real cuts since then make it more likely that students will not be able to cover their living costs without additional financial help.

How does the support package vary by household income?

It is only students from the poorest households who qualify for the maximum level of maintenance support, so they face the greatest impact of any changes in the overall amount available.

The real level of household income at which support starts to be reduced has fallen over time. This means that the maximum support package is only available at lower real household income levels. It also means that in higher income households parents of dependent students need to make larger contributions to bring support levels up to the maximum. Parental contributions are not made explicit in student finance material and there is a fear that this means that some students do not receive the support they need.

Local data

Levels of maintenance support in England is different for those studying inside and outside London.  These are set out in the full PDF report. There are no further geographical breakdowns.

The Student Loans Company publishes the number and total value of maintenance loans by higher education provider in Student support for higher education in England (supplementary tables). This data can be uaed to calculate average maintanance loan by provider.

Further information

The briefing paper Student support for undergraduates across the UK in 2025/26 outlines the student support systems for undergraduate higher education students in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. It sets out the amount of funding that students may receive and references recent debates and developments in HE funding across the UK.

The following Library publications give more information about changes in this sector:

• Financial support for higher education students
• Students and the rising cost of living
• Student support for the over 60s
• The Post-18 Education and Funding Review: Government conclusion
• Higher education finances and funding in England
• Higher education student numbers
• Student loan statistics
• Abolition of maintenance grants in England from 2016/17
• Changes to higher education funding and student support from 2012/13

The aim of this briefing paper is to look at trends in the level of support for maintenance, not specific eligibility criteria or additional grants/allowances for different groups of students. Details of these for students from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at:

• gov.uk/student-finance
• studentfinancewales.co.uk
• saas.gov.uk
• studentfinanceni.co.uk

More detail on loan and grant levels in England, income thresholds and variations by where the student lives, studies etc. are included in the policy documents on the Student Loans Company’s website.