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Household income assessment

The rules on how household income assessment works are complicated, and this page is only a general guide.

For more detailed information - or if you have questions about your individual circumstances - see the section below on ‘Full-time students: finding out more about income assessment’.

Income assessment - why it's important

All eligible students are entitled to a basic amount of financial help. However, the total amount available through grants and the Student Loan for Maintenance is based on your household income.

In general, students from other European Union (EU) countries can only get help with tuition fees - though there are some exceptions.

If you live with your parents, a spouse or a partner, they may be asked to contribute towards supporting you as a student.

If you - or other members of your household - don’t supply information about your household income, you may not receive all the help you would otherwise get.

However, if you’re eligible for the Student Loan for Tuition Fees, you’ll get it whatever your household income - it isn’t based on any assessment.

To check that you and your course are eligible for financial help, see 'Do you qualify for student finance?'

• Do you qualify for student finance?

How does income assessment work?

Your local authority will ask you to supply details of income for your household from the previous financial year.

Certain allowances and deductions are then made - for example, for dependent children. The amount left after these deductions is called your 'household income' or 'residual income', and is used to decide how much financial help you’re entitled to.

Whose income will be counted?

Local authorities will always count your own income. This will include non-earned income, such as interest from savings, but not casual or part-time earnings during your course.

They may also count income from your parents or partner. Whose income they take into account will depend on whether you are classed as a 'dependent' or 'independent' student.

The information below tells you what’s usually taken into account when classifying students - but it doesn’t cover all circumstances. See the section below on ‘Full-time students: finding out more about income assessment’ for more detailed guidance.

Dependent students

Generally, you’ll be classed as a dependent student if you’re under 25 on the first day of the academic year for which you’re applying for support and are financially dependent on one or both of your parents (even if you don't live with them).

If you’re a dependent student, your local authority will take into account the income of your parents or adoptive parents on top of your own income.

If your parents are divorced or separated and you started your course in or after September 2004, the local authority will assess the income of just one your parents, rather than both - whichever one seems appropriate to them in the circumstances. They will ignore income from your other parent, but will take into account the income of any spouse, civil partner or live-in partner of the parent they decide to assess (including a partner of the same sex if you started your course in September 2005 or later).

Independent students

The lists below aren’t exhaustive, but they provide a general guide to when you’ll be classed as an independent student.

You’ll usually be classed as independent if any of the following apply to you on the first day of the academic year for which you’re applying for support:

• you have care of a child or young person under the age of 18
• you are aged 25 or over
• you have no living parents

Generally speaking, you’ll also be classed as independent if either of the following applies to you before the first day of the academic year for which you’re applying for support:

• you are, or have been, married or in a civil partnership
• you have supported yourself for at least three years

If you are an independent student, your local authority will only take into account your income and that of your partner.

This can mean your spouse, civil partner or:

• if you started your course in or after September 2001, any live-in partner of the opposite sex
• if you started your course in or after September 2005 and you’re 25 or over on the first day of the academic year for which you’re applying for support, any live-in partner of the same sex

Household income - how it affects financial help

Your local authority will use your 'residual income' to work out how much your household is expected to contribute to supporting you while you’re studying, and how much financial help you’re entitled to.

The level of financial help you can get will depend on whether you:

• study in London or elsewhere
• live at home
• are in the final year of your course
  

If your household income is below a certain level, you’ll get the full Student Loan for Maintenance together with a grant to help with living costs.

If you’re from a higher income household it’s assumed that your parents, spouse or partner will make more of a contribution to supporting you while you’re studying - but you’ll still be able to get at least 75 per cent of the maximum Student Loan for Maintenance.

Full-times students who started in or after September 2006

Follow the links below to get a better idea of the help available through Student Loans and grants.

• Student Loans
• Maintenance Grant: help with living costs

Part-time students and students who started before September 2006

The help available is different if you’re studying part-time or you’re a full-time student who started before September 2006 - and there’s a different system of income assessment for part-time students.

• Student finance after your first year: started before September 2006?
• Student finance: part-time students

Full-time students: finding out more about income assessment

To find our more about how full-time students are assessed for 2007/2008, see ‘Higher Education Student Finance: how you are assessed and paid’.

If you have any questions about whether you’ll be classified as dependent or independent, ask your local authority. For some students, the Student Loans Company handles applications. If this applies to you, you should ask the Student Loans Company instead.

The link below will let you find contact details for your local authority - or tell you if you need to contact the Student Loans Company.

• Download Higher Education Student Finance: how you are assessed and paid 2008/2009 (PDF, 1577K)
• Download Higher Education Student Finance: how you are assessed and paid 2007/2008 (PDF, 216K)
• Contact your local authority (student finance applications) Opens new window

More useful links

• Student finance: not from England
• Students from other EU countries
• Financially supporting a student