Turning 18

Student Allowance

If you're 16 or 17, there's extra criteria you need to meet to get Student Allowance. Once you turn 18, you'll no longer need to meet this criteria.

If you applied for a Student Allowance before your 18th birthday and:

• were declined because you didn't meet the extra criteria, we'll reassess you now that you're 18
• your application is waiting for evidence - what we need from you may have changed.

What you need to do

Already applied

You don't need to do anything right away. We'll send you a letter telling you if we need any other evidence to support your application.

If you're eligible, we'll pay you from when you turn 18. However, if you want to be paid from before your 18th birthday, you'll need to provide the evidence we've asked for that shows you meet the extra criteria.

New application

If you haven't applied for a Student Allowance and now want to do so, you can do this online.

Student Loan

Once you turn 18, you can sign your own Student Loan contract to get a loan. Your parent no longer needs to sign it with you.

What you need to do

If you've already applied for a Student Loan and we've:

• accepted your contract, you don't need to do anything.
• haven't accepted your contract, we'll send you a new one to sign in the post.

Once you've signed the contract, you can log in to Connect and upload it to us.

If you haven't yet applied for a Student Loan, and now want to do so, you can do this online.