If you are aged 16 or 17 you can study a further education (FE) course:

• full-time at school or college
• while at work

You may be able to get help with the costs of your course, day-to-day living costs, and childcare. Contact your school or local council to find out what’s on offer.

Depending on your circumstances and the subject you’re studying, you may qualify for:

• Learner Support
• Residential Support Scheme
• Care to Learn
• Dance and Drama Awards
• 16 to 19 Bursary Fund
• a loan to help with the costs of a college or training course if you’re 19 or older – called an Advanced Learning Loan

If you are 19 or older, depending on your circumstances and the subject you are studying, you may qualify for a loan to help with the costs of a college or training course – called an Advanced Learning Loan. How much you get depends on:

• the type of course
• your course fees
• the maximum loan available for your course

The minimum loan you can get is £300 and is paid directly to your college or training provider.

Apply online or by post:

• Apply online – you will need to register first.
• Alternatively, visit the Gov.UK website to download an application form and apply by post.

You’ll get a letter confirming your loan – usually within 2 weeks if you apply online (postal applications take longer).

UK demonstrates a higher commitment to offering optimal conditions for study maintaining a rich scheme of student loans. But, if you are a non-EU student it’s unlikely you will find a student loan in UK granted by the governmental authorities.

The only option left to you is the academic institution of your choice. Academic institutions are allowed to establish their own student loan schemes for talented students, including those coming here from other countries than EU countries. For this, we highly suggest you contact your institution and see if they run a student loan scheme on their own and ask what are the terms and conditions.

A second chance for you can be the financial resources in your home country. Often education authorities support students abroad by awarding student loans or similar grants. If there are no funds you can ask private companies to provide funds to study in the UK while giving them something in reward. Commonly, such a reward can be a repayment with an interest rate or an agreement which obligates you to return home after graduation and work in that company for a certain time period.

Scholarships are a good resource for financial aid for international students in UK. There’s a wide range of them and chances are higher you are going to find something suitable. Look at scholarships page for more details –

Scholarships

Aside from the scholarships and student loans, private grants are another alternative resource of financial aid for international students in the UK. Often there are companies or non-governmental organisations that are ready to finance your education in the UK.

You can contact them for these much-coveted funds either in the form of loans or charitable funds. If you take a loan you can sign a certain agreement that defines the time limit within which you must give your money back or the method how this is going to be done.

More often than not, companies are ready to help students in the UK under the condition that they will come back to work for them once they get their complete their course. In such a scenario, it’s a win-win situation for both of you: you get your study in the UK while the company hires an exceptional employee.