<P> Student loans and grants in the United Kingdom are primarily provided by the government through the Student Loans Company (SLC), a non-departmental public body . The SLC is responsible for Student Finance England and is a delivery partner of Student Finance Wales and Student Finance NI . The Student Awards Agency for Scotland assesses applications in Scotland . Most undergraduate university students resident in the United Kingdom are eligible for student loans . In addition, some students on teacher training courses may also apply for loans . Student loans are also being rolled out, starting 2016 / 17, to postgraduate students who study a taught Masters, research or Doctoral course . </P> <P> In the years following World War II, most local education authorities (LEAs) paid students' tuition fees and also provided a maintenance grant to help with living costs; this did not have to be repaid . The Education Act 1962 made it a legal obligation for all LEAs to give full time university students a maintenance grant . </P> <P> The SLC was founded for the 1990 / 91 academic year to provide students with additional help towards living costs in the form of low - interest loans . In its first year, the SLC gave loans to 180,200 students This represented a take up rate of 28% of eligible students, with an average loan of £ 390 . </P> <P> In 1997, a report by Sir Ron Dearing recommended that students should contribute to the costs of university education . The Labour government under Tony Blair passed the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 which introduced tuition fees of £ 1,000 to start in the 1998 / 9 academic year . In addition, maintenance grants were replaced with repayable student loans for all but the poorest students . The total loans provided by the SLC increased from £ 941 million in the 1997 / 8 academic year, to £ 1.23 billion in the next year, when tuition fees took effect . </P>

When did student loans start in the uk