At the time of writing (Mar 2004) student loans are provided by the Student Loans Company. The amount of loan that you're entitled to (as well as the amount of fees that you're expected to pay) will be decided by your Local Education Authority (LEA). For the most part, the decisions that they take on what you're entitled to will be based on your parents' income.

It's best to apply for an assessment as soon as you receive an offer from a university. You can apply at a later stage but you'd be wise to apply at the earliest possible opportunity as the authorities will be inundated by requests - best to get to the front of the queue!

The LEA will decide how much you should pay in tuition fees and will pay the balance direct to your university. They will also decide how much of a loan you're entitled to and will inform the Student Loans Company (SLC) of that amount. The SLC will generally then send your cheque to the university that you'll be attending, where you will be able to collect it when you register.

You should note that the initial cheque that you are given will not be for the full amount of your loan - you will be paid on a termly basis and will thus receive the loan amount in instalments.

You will be expected to repay your student loan from the April after you graduate, although this will only be the case if you are earning a certain amount of money. At the current time, the minimum amount that you would need to earn before starting to make repayments would be £10,000 (correct at the time of writing).