Students: Cost of Living
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support university students with the cost of living.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government recognises the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has had on students.
The government has therefore announced that maximum loans for living costs will increase by 3.1% for the 2025/26 academic year. A 3.1% increase is in line with forecast inflation based on the Retail Prices Index Excluding Mortgage (RPIX) inflation index.
We continue to provide means-tested non-repayable grants to low-income full-time students with children and adults who are financially dependent on them.
In addition, students with disabilities can apply for non-means tested disabled students’ allowance to support additional disability-related study costs. For the 2025/26 academic year, maximum dependants’ grants and disabled students’ allowance are being increased by 3.1%.
Students undertaking nursing, midwifery and allied health profession courses also qualify for additional non-repayable grant support through the NHS Learning Support Fund.
The department aims to publish our plans for higher education reform as part of the Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy White paper in the summer, and work with the sector and the Office for Students to deliver the change that the country needs.
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