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Posted on 21 Jan '25
PhD Loans in England and Wales: 2025 Updates
The UK and Welsh Governments have announced that the maximum doctoral loan amounts in England and Wales will be increased to £30,301 and £29,130 respectively for the 2025-26 academic year. If you’re a new student applying for a programme starting in 2025, you’ll be eligible for the new loan amounts.
The government have also said that the maximum Disabled Students’ Allowance in both countries will be increased, and we’ve pulled all these recent changes together in this blog for you.
PhD student finance applications are now open for 2025-2026
If your doctoral course is starting in the academic year of 2025-26 at a welsh university, you can now apply for funding via Student Finance Wales. For a postgraduate Doctoral course, you could get up to £29,130.
The 2025 English and Welsh doctoral loan amounts
Keeping in line with forecasted inflation, the maximum English doctoral loans will be increased by 3.1% to £30,301 for new students starting a programme in 2025-26.
The Welsh loans are also increasing to £29,130 for students applying to programmes starting on or after 1 August 2025.
These changes are applicable to the English and Welsh loans only. This means you have to be ordinarily resident in England or Wales (you can’t have moved there to study) depending on the loan you're applying for. Unlike at Masters level, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not have a government loan for doctoral students but there is still plenty of funding available out there.
This is the maximum amount you can borrow in both cases. You can choose to borrow less if you like. Since this loan is paid directly to you and there is no separate maintenance payment, you can choose to put it towards your tuition fee or your living cost. You’ll only start repaying the April after you leave your course or the April four years after your course started and only after you earn above a certain threshold.
We’ve got more information on the English and Welsh doctoral loans, payments, repayments and some frequently asked questions in our complete guide.
Increase in Disabled Students’ Allowance
Along with the loans, the maximum Disabled Students’ Allowance for postgraduate students in England will also be increased by 3.1% to £27,783 for 2025-26. In Wales, the maximum DSA will be increased to £34,000
This is the maximum amount a student can receive but most students usually receive less. If you’re studying a part-time course, your DSA will be calculated pro rata.
The DSA is additional help for students with a physical disability, chronic illness, mental health condition or a specific learning disability. You can normally receive DSA alongside other funding, and it does not need to be repaid.
We’ve got more information on the Disabled Students’ Allowance, who qualifies and how to apply for it in our complete guide.
Changes to residency rules in England
Bereaved partners and children of Gurkhas and Hong Kong military veterans discharged before 1997 who’ve been granted indefinite leave to remain or enter will no longer need to meet the three-year residency requirement to apply for an English loan. Instead, they will only need to be ordinarily resident in England on their course start date.
Generally, students have to be ordinarily resident in England and have lived in the UK for three years to be eligible for the English loans. If you’re ordinarily resident elsewhere in the UK, you need to apply to the loan scheme specific to your country of residence.
We’ll keep you updated on any further developments. You can sign up to our newsletters to stay up to date with everything postgraduate funding and more.
If you’d want your funding and postgraduate loan questions answered in person, come and see us at a Postgrad LIVE study fair near you.
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