Doctoral loan
If you’re paying the Home rate of fees and starting a part-time or full-time MPhil/PhD in 24/25, you may be eligible for a Doctoral Loan worth a maximum of £29,390 to help fund your programme.
The information on this page is about loans available from Student Finance England for the academic year 24/25. Visit the website of the relevant funding body for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Help and guidance
Contact the Student Advice Service if you need help understanding your eligibility for the Doctoral Loan.
The Fees and Scholarships team can help with questions about paying your fees to SOAS and liaising with Student Finance regarding your enrolment and the release of your loan instalment. If you have questions please contact fees@soas.ac.uk.
Eligibility
Your eligibility for the loan depends on your residency, immigration status, age and previous study. You cannot receive the loan if you’re in receipt of certain types of research funding. Refer to GOV.UK for the list of eligibility criteria.
Eligible programmes at SOAS:
- Full-time or part-time Doctoral programmes between 3-6 years duration
Submitting your application
You can apply online or by post when Student Finance England opens for applications. You only need to apply once even though your programme is longer than one year.
Selecting the correct course name
SOAS programmes will not be listed individually in the Student Finance course database, but under generic headings. You must select the generic course title that relates to your specific programme to avoid delays in your application.
| Postdoctoral degree at SOAS | Generic degree title on the Student Finance system | SLC course code |
|---|---|---|
| Three year, full-time PhD degree in any subject | Full-time 3 Year Doctoral Degree in Humanities and Social Science | 589868 |
| Six year, part-time PhD degree in any subject | Part-time 6 Year Doctoral Degree in Humanities and Social Science | 589870 |
Receiving your loan
Your loan payments will be spread out across all the academic years of your course (excluding a writing up year) and paid directly into your bank account in three instalments per academic year. For example, if you’re studying a three year Mphil/Phd and taking out the maximum loan of £29,390, you’ll receive £9,796 in years 1, 2 and 3. This will be paid in three instalments per academic year as listed on your Student Finance schedule of payments.
It’s a contribution towards the cost of your study and you can choose to put this towards your fees or living costs.
Paying your tuition fees
If you’re studying an on-campus programme you’ll be eligible to pay your tuition fees in instalments that align with your loan payments dates (if your annual fees are more than £1,500). Find out about the deadlines to pay fees by and how to make your payments [link to Self-payers page] You can make your tuition fee payments via SOAS Web Payments
Your Doctoral Loan payment may not cover the amount of tuition fees due to be paid, it’s important to budget for this when planning your finances prior to starting the programme:
Repayments and interest
Visit GOV.UK for full details on the interest applied to your loans and when you will start repaying your loan.