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If your household income has decreased 15% or more since the previous tax year you could be entitled to more Student Finance.
This page will cover the following information:
- Student Finance and the household income assessment
- If your household income has gone down since the assessed tax year
- Is it worth doing a CYI assessment?
- How to do a CYI assessment
- If you have problems with the CYI assessment
Student Finance and the household income assessment
If you are financially dependent on your parents, Student Finance will use your parents' income to determine how much funding you can receive. If you're married, in a civil partnership or over 25 and living with your partner, Student Finance will use your partner's income in the same way. The amount of income they have will determine how much funding you can get.
When you apply for your loans, Student Finance will ask for the household income during the tax year that ended the year before the academic year starts. For example:
| Funding in academic year | Is based on income during the tax year |
|---|---|
| 2020/21 | April 2018 - April 2019 |
| 2021/22 | April 2019 - April 2020 |
| 2022/23 | April 2020 - April 2021 |
If your household income has gone down since the assessed tax year
If your household income has fallen by 15% since the tax year being assessed, you can ask for a current year income assessment (CYI). This requires your parents or partner to submit their predicted earnings for current tax year and send updates to Student Finance throughout the year.
If your parents or partner do this it's important that they are as accurate as possible when estimating their income. If they underestimate and you are paid too much, SLC may request money to be paid back or deduct any overpayment from payments in future.
Once your parents or partner have requested a CYI assessment, you will remain on the CYI assesment system for the remainder of your course. i.e. your parents or partner will have to send predicted earnings each year of your study and you cannot return to the old system.
Is it worth doing a CYI assessment?
The household income threshold for receiving the maxmimum amount of maintenance loan is £25,000 per year. Hence, if your household income was £25,000 or under in the previous tax year, doing the CYI assessment will not make you eligible for any more maintenance loan.
The UCL Undergraduate Bursary provides additional funding to students with a household income below £42,875 per year. The bursary has four bands and those with a household income below £16,000 per year receive the maximum bursary. If a CYI assessment would move you between bands you could be entitled to a larger bursary award.
Other parts of Student Finance such as the Childcare Grant, Parents' Learning Allowance and the Adult Dependents' Grant are also based on household income. If you have child or adult dependents, doing a CYI assessment could also award you an increase in these grants.
How to do a CYI assessment
Student Finance have a special page explaining the CYI assessment and how to apply here. Please read to get the full information.
You will need to complete a normal application to Student Finance first, with your parents or partner submitting their income for previous tax year.
They can then submit the CYI assessment form to Student Finance. They will re-calculate your funding based on the current tax year.