Loan for living costs

For autumn term starters, student loans are normally divided over 42 or 43 weeks from the beginning of September to the end of June. During this period, your student loan is taken into account as income in the assessment of IS, income-based JSA, income-related ESA and HB. If your income is too high, you are not eligible for these benefits. However, your student loan is not taken into account from around the end of June to the beginning of September. Because your income decreases in these months (unless you have other income – eg, earnings), you may be able to get benefit during the summer.