Postgraduate student loans in Northern Ireland

CONTENTS

1. Postgraduate loans in Northern Ireland 2024/25

2. Are you eligible for postgraduate funding from Northern Ireland?

3. Is your course eligible for postgraduate funding?

4. Postgraduate finance for EU and international students

5. How to apply for a postgraduate loan in Northern Ireland

6. Repaying your loan

Postgraduate loans in Northern Ireland 2024/25

If you're a student from Northern Ireland, you could be entitled to a postgraduate tuition fee loan of up to £6,500. Unlike other UK nations, this funding can be used for a postgrad certificate or a top-up master's. However, there's no support for your living costs.

This money is for your whole course. Like your undergraduate tuition fees, the money will be paid directly to your university when you start your course.

If your tuition fees are lower than £6,500, Student Finance NI will only pay what your university charges and you won't get the remaining money. If your course costs more than £6,500, you'll need to pay the difference yourself.

This support isn't based on your income, and you can apply for other financial help from educational trusts or for university scholarships. If you're eligible for the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) grant, it'll be unaffected by your loan.

If you already have an undergraduate loan that's eligible to be repaid, repayments will only be taken if you're earning above the income threshold. Your postgraduate loan doesn't count as income for loan repayments.

Are you eligible for postgraduate funding from Northern Ireland?

To be eligible for postgraduate funding from Northern Ireland, you must:

• Be a UK or Irish citizen or have settled or pre-settled status i.e. with no restriction on how long you can remain in the UK
• Normally live in Northern Ireland
• Have lived in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for the three years before your course begins, in which case you can study anywhere in the UK

After Brexit, residency is complex. Some students who haven't lived in the UK for the required three years before starting their course may only be eligible for a tuition fee loan (i.e. without access to Disabled Student's Allowance). If that's you, then you'll only be able to study in Northern Ireland. Check with Student Finance Northern Ireland for details.

Your personal eligibility also depends on your previous studies and funding:

• It must be your first postgrad loan, unless you had to drop out of a previous course for personal reasons such as illness or bereavement
• You won't get a master's loan if you're behind on payments for a previous student loan

Unlike other UK nations, if you previously self-funded an equivalent or higher-level qualification, you are still eligible for this loan. You can also access this loan if you are over 60 old.

Is your course eligible for postgraduate funding?

To be eligible for master's funding, your course must be:

• A taught or research-based qualification up to master's level
• Provided by an eligible university or college in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland or the Republic of Ireland (unless you are only eligible to study in Northern Ireland)

Postgraduate qualifications can include anything from a from a postgrad certificate (PGCert) or diploma (PGDip) to a master's degree such as an MBA (master of business administration). If you self-funded a lower-level postgrad qualification, you can use the tuition fee support for a 'top-up' master's degree.

Courses that aren't eligible include:

• Postgrad teaching qualifications such as PGCEs and PGDEs (covered by undergraduate loans)
• Master's degrees integrated into an undergraduate course (normally undergraduate loan)
• Master's degrees integrated into a doctoral course. There are no loans for doctoral study from Northern Ireland

Intercalated master's

Some undergraduate courses include an option to complete a separate but related course, known as an ‘intercalated degree'. If you take a postgraduate intercalated degree, you may be eligible for a postgraduate tuition fee loan. However, it could affect your undergraduate funding on your return to your original degree. Check with Student Finance Northern Ireland for details.

Distance learning

There's no restriction on whether courses can be studied by attendance or by distance learning.

Length of course

Whether you study full-time or part-time, your course must be completed in three academic years or less.

Postgraduate finance for EU and international students

After Brexit, EU students are unlikely to be eligible for UK student finance unless they're registered under the UK's EU Settlement Scheme or are an Irish national. See our page on student finance eligibility for details.

International students are also unlikely to qualify for a student loan from Northern Ireland unless they have the right to permanently reside in the UK (e.g. having refugee status). However, there are often scholarships and bursaries for international students studying at postgraduate level, so check what your university has on offer.

How to apply for a postgraduate loan in Northern Ireland

You can apply online or by post to Student Finance Northern Ireland.

The deadline is nine months after the course starts. You must apply again for each year of your course, remembering that courses must be completed in three academic years or less.

You'll need evidence of your identity if you're applying for student finance for the first time, such as a valid passport or a birth/adoption certificate.

The money is paid directly to the university. If your postgraduate course lasts longer than a year, the loan will be split across the duration of the course.

Repaying your loan

This loan plan is on Plan 1, the same terms as an undergraduate loan taken out with Student Finance NI. If you've already taken out student finance, your new loan will be added to the amount you owe. You'll then make a single repayment each month to pay off the combined debt.

Student loans in Northern Ireland are eligible for repayment when your income is over £24,990 (that's £2,082 a month or £480 per week). This student loan repayment threshold changes each year in April.

You'll repay 9% of your income above this threshold.

For example, if your salary is £30,000 you earn £5,010 more than the Plan 1 annual threshold. You'll repay 9% of this – a monthly payment of around £38. If you have an undergraduate and a postgraduate Plan 1 loan, you don't pay any more than this. Instead the amount you pay is split between repayments for both loans.

You're eligible to begin repayments the April after your course ends, but only once your earnings are above the income threshold. Repayments can be taken if you exceed the monthly or weekly threshold at any time (for example, if you got a bonus or worked overtime). 

The loan itself will be subject to interest. This may change, as interest is based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) or the Bank of England interest rate plus 1%, whichever is lower. 

After 25 years, if you haven't paid off your loan in full, the remaining amount will be written off.