Student Loan accounts
When a Student Loan application reaches its final approval stage, a Student Loan account is created. A Student Loan account runs for a period of 52 weeks.
Loan account period
A Student Loan account generally runs for a period of 52 weeks, unless a programme of study that is approved for longer than 52 weeks is applied onto that loan account. Any subsequent Student Loan applications that are received by the student can be loaded onto the same loan account provided this extra period of study does not take the loan account over 52 weeks.
Example one
Initial application
- Start Date 17 January 2013
- End Date 10 June 2013
Subsequent application
- Start Date 1 July 2013
- End Date 13 November 2013
In this example, the subsequent application will be on the same loan account as the initial application. This is because the difference between the earliest start date (17 January 2013) and the latest end date (13 November 2013) is less than 52 weeks.
Example two
Initial application
- Start Date 17 January 2013
- End Date 10 June 2013
Student advises of subsequent study
- Start Date 1 July 2013
- End Date 19 March 2014
In this example, the subsequent study period cannot be put onto the same loan account. This is because the difference between the earliest start date (17 January 2013) and the latest end date (19 March 2014) is greater than 52 weeks. In this situation, the student will need to submit a new application and sign a new Student Loan contract for the study period 1 July 2013 to 19 March 2014.
Loan accounts and Verification of Study (VoS)
This can have an impact when education providers send through a new verification of study to add on a study period. In some cases, this VoS may not apply as that extended end date will take the loan account over 52 weeks in length. In that case, the student will need to submit a new application for that period of study.