Further to an important national development affecting student funding for programmes delivered predominantly at the weekend, we have developed the following FAQs.
We will update these regularly, so we encourage students to check this webpage for updates.
Page last updated 27/03/2026.
If you are a final-year student and teaching has finished, please refer to the sections: Why has my student loan been blocked?, What will happen now?, and How does this affect me? Once your entitlement has been reassessed, you will receive further guidance from Student Finance England regarding the next steps.
If your programme is delivered either mostly, or entirely, at the weekend, it is considered by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Student Loans Company (SLC), to be a distance-learning programme.
The DfE has advised that previously, our university partners may have incorrectly registered your programme with the SLC, and it had not been identified as a distance-learning programme.
Under SLC rules, students registered on a distance-learning programme do not qualify for a maintenance loan.
The SLC will need reassess all students who are registered on a distance-learning programme.
The SLC will need to identify those students who have been attending programmes delivered predominantly at the weekend, and those students who have been regularly attending programmes delivered during the week (Monday to Friday).
Those students attending a programme delivered predominantly at the weekend, will not qualify for student maintenance funding.
Those students who have been regularly attending programmes delivered during the week (Monday to Friday) may qualify for a student maintenance loan, subject to eligibility.
Because your programme has been incorrectly registered with the SLC, you were not identified as a distance-learning student, and you incorrectly qualified for maintenance loan funding.
The SLC is now seeking to recover all incorrect maintenance payments made, and you will be asked to repay the money.
If you started your programme attending predominantly at the weekend, and you have either transferred to weekday attendance, or intend to transfer to weekday attendance, you will be asked to repay your maintenance loan, for the duration of the time you were registered as attending your programme predominantly at the weekend.
You will be advised by the SLC on suitable re-payment options, including a monthly repayment plan. The SLC may also need you to complete an ‘Income and Expenditure’ form, to enable them to identify suitable and affordable re-payment options.
The SLC has also advised all universities to review and make available their ‘student hardship funds’, where appropriate.
Your university partner will need to re-register all predominantly weekend programmes as distance learning programmes.
Also, our university partner will need to work with you to complete a ‘Change of Circumstances’ form, to register you for either predominantly weekend attendance, or weekday attendance.
If you opt to continue attending a predominantly weekend programme, you will not qualify for a maintenance loan to continue your studies, and you will need to repay all the maintenance loan funding you have previously received, since you first started your programme.
If you opt to transfer to a weekday programme, you may qualify for a maintenance loan to continue your studies (subject to eligibility), but you will still need to repay all the maintenance loan funding you have previously received, since you first started your programme.
Please contact studentservices@ldtraining.ac.uk as your first point of contact for:
- Funding concerns
- Academic questions
- Timetable or delivery changes
- Wellbeing and personal support
At this stage, it is best to wait for further guidance before contacting the Student Loans Company directly.
Your GP is always a good starting point, and further advice and support is available at
- Togetherall: https://account.v2.togetherall.com/join/ck8ed14zit1nc0760io5aknzn
- Samaritans: 116 123 I https://www.samaritans.org/
- Mind: 0300 102 1234 I https://www.mind.org.uk/
- Shout (text only): 85258 I https://giveusashout.org/
- CALM (open 5PM–midnight every day): 0800 58 58 58 I https://www.thecalmzone.net/
- Student Minds: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/
If you feel that you need urgent or emergency help now then further information is available here.
