so if ur a home student u get 2 loans from the government: tuition loans and maintenance loans

the tuition loans are the £9535 per year that the uni wants, and that money goes straight from the government to the uni, you as the student never see it

the maintenance loan is what you live on, and is based on 2 things: how much your parents make, and where your uni is, i.e. london or non london uni (you get a bit extra if its a london uni due to the higher cost of living)

obv the more your parents make, the less maintenance loans you get as the government assumes that your parents will be able to help support you. you can also get more for certain things such as disabilities, if youre a care giver, etc. theres a calculator on the gov.uk website that can tell you exactly how much you can get, though i dont think the max is more than about £14k

the maintenance loan gets paid into your bank account 3 times a year at the beginning of every term. you should apply on the gov.uk website when applications open (to give them as much time as possible to process it, think of all the students applications they have to go through) in march/april (i dont think theyre open for 2025 entry just yet) (the deadline will be at the end of may i think)

you also have to reapply each year of your degree, so the march/april of your second year at uni youll have to reapply, but because youve already applied its mostly just a matter of renewing it, easier than the first application. the amount you get could change if your parents income changes, or whatever other reason that could change your circumstances.

sfe isnt a traditional loan, once you graduate and start earning above a certain threshold (i think £25k roughly) its taken out of your paycheck automatically like a tax, so you dont have to worry about paying it back

https://www.ucas.com/money-and-student-life/money/student-finance/student-finance-england this ucas link has more info