Congratulations! If you are an adult living in England who has not been to university, from 2025 you are entitled (via the Lifelong Learning Entitlement) to around £37,000 of government-backed fee loans to support access to short university courses you can access at any time of your life (well, before the age of 60).
For those of you who have been to university in the UK already your allocation – which is nominally worth the same as four years of full-time undergraduate study – is reduced pro-rata (with different, lower rates for years on placement or studying abroad).
These deductions will be made based on the actual fee loans you have taken out (for those who studied undergraduate courses after 2012) or the amount of time you studied (for those who studied before 2012).
Did you pay off loans for £3,000(ish) fees (between 2004 and 2021), or £1,000(ish) fees (between 1998 and 2004)? Don’t worry, the government have decided that it doesn’t matter.
