Support your child or partner's student finance application

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Give details of your household income

You may be asked for information about your household income if your child or partner has applied for student finance in England.

Your information will be used to work out if your child or partner can get extra money on top of the Tuition Fee Loan and the basic Maintenance Loan.

If you do not share information about your household income, your child or partner will only get the minimum amount of student finance.

There’s a different process if your child or partner is applying in Scotland, applying in Wales or applying in Northern Ireland.

Create an account or sign in

After your child or partner applies, you’ll get an email from Student Finance England (SFE) within 24 hours.

You’ll need to wait for the email before you create a student finance account or sign in. You cannot use the same account as your child or partner.

If you’ve had student finance or supported an application before, you’ll need to sign in to your student finance account. You can reset your login details if you’ve forgotten them.

What information you’ll need

You’ll be asked for your National Insurance number once you’ve signed in.

SFE will use this to get information about your income from the previous tax year from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

You’ll also need to say if you have:

  • paid into private pensions 
  • made additional voluntary contributions
  • children (other than the student) who depend on you financially

If you do not have a National Insurance number, you’ll need to complete a form and provide evidence to show how much you earned.

If your income has gone down by at least 15% since the relevant tax year, you can apply for a current year income assessment instead. You must still give details of the year SFE has asked you about.

What happens next

SFE will write to your child or partner when all your information has been confirmed. They cannot share details of the loan with you without your child or partner’s consent.

If your information is still being processed when your child or partner starts their course, they’ll still get the Tuition Fee Loan and the basic Maintenance Loan (if they’re eligible).

Supporting a continuing student

Your child or partner needs to apply for student finance each year.

When they apply, you’ll get an email within 24 hours. The email will have a link to sign in to your account, where you must give:

  • your marital status
  • any changes to the information you provided the previous year
  • details of any private pensions, additional voluntary contributions and other child dependants

If you gave income details for the current tax year

You can use the same income details that you provided last year.

If your income has dropped by at least 15% again, you can send in a new current tax year income assessment form.