It is now that time of year again when students have to apply for their student finance ahead of the next academic year. This article will help to guide both new and current students through the process of submitting their application. New students have to submit their application by 21st May and students who are returning to university need to submit their application by 30th June. These deadlines must be kept to, as authorities are very strict about late applications. In the past there have been situations where students have not been allowed to attend classes because they failed to meet their deadlines.

Student Finance is provided by the government and offers financial help for students throughout their time at university. Funding is offered in three different ways; the maintenance grant, the maintenance loan and the tuition fee loan.

Unlike the maintenance grant, both the tuition fee loan and the maintenance loan do need to be repaid once your annual income exceeds 15,000.

All students can receive the maintenance loan and the size of the loan differs depending on each student’s circumstances. The size of the loan will depend on circumstances such as where you live, how much you receive through the maintenance grant and your annual household income. The maximum amount you can receive is 6,928.

Tuition fee loans are another type of student funding that everyone is entitled to. They are paid directly to your university and at the moment the maximum fees are 3,375 for 2011/12 but these are going up and will soon be as much as 9,000 for 2012/13.

Please go to our Student Finance Calculator to work out exactly how much money you could receive for the next academic year. You can then go to our Student Money Saver Budget Calculator, which will help you to budget your finances throughout the year, in order to avoid ending up with a massive overdraft.

Don’t waste any more time and apply now for what you are entitled to.

StudentMoneySaver.com helps students save money by giving them impartial advice on topics related to student finance. Get to know how to manage your student loan, find the best student offers and discover which brands that got student discounts.