Instead of being limited to traditional full-time degrees, you’ll have a loan entitlement up to the equivalent of four years of post-18 study, that you can use for different courses at different times.
This means you could:
- study a full degree in one go, or spread your funding across shorter courses, modules or professional training
- upskill or retrain later in life without having to self-fund
- access support for tuition fees and, in many cases, maintenance costs.
The idea is to make higher education and training more flexible, affordable and accessible, so that you can gain the skills you need at different stages of your career.
This also means you can spread your support across both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Learners will be able to apply for LLE as of September 2026 for courses or modules starting in January 2027.
How does repayment work?
Repayment will work the same as with the current student loan system. You will only start repaying your LLE once you earn more than £25,000 a year before tax, equal to £2,083 a month or £480 per week. Repayments will also only be 9% of your gross salary over the threshold, so you won’t be paying on the first £25,000 you earn. Payments will also stop if your salary drops back below the threshold or a 40-year period is passed where the rest of the loan is then cancelled.
For more information about Lifelong Learning Entitlement, please check out the government website.
