Payment and repayments
To apply for the loan, you make a single application at the start of your course. Payments are made in three instalments per year, for each year of the course. The first payment is made at the start of the course once your university confirms you are attending; then you will receive the second and third payments in line with term dates provided by your institution.
The maximum annual amount of the loan is £11,570.
1Reg 14 E(PDDL) Regs; reg 13 E(PDDL)(W) Regs If you do not take out a loan until later in your course (eg, only in your last year), this may mean receiving less than the £27,265 maximum loan overall.
You repay the loan in the same way as a postgraduate loan for a master’s degree (see
here). If you have both a master’s loan and a doctoral loan, you make one monthly repayment for both. However, repayments of your doctoral loan can start in the April after you complete the course or the April four years after you commence your course (whichever comes first) should your income be over the postgraduate loan repayment threshold – currently £21,000.