For the first time in almost a decade, university students in England will soon be able to receive maintenance grants again. The announcement, confirmed by the government on September 29, 2025, marks a major reversal of policy and is being hailed as a lifeline for students from lower-income households who’ve been hit the hardest by the cost-of-living crisis.
The new grants are set to replace part of the maintenance loan system that’s been in place since 2016, when then-Chancellor George Osborne scrapped non-repayable support in favour of loans. It was a decision that left many young people starting their working lives tens of thousands of pounds in debt. Now, the government says the new model will give students “the help they need, without the pressure of paying it back.”
According to the Department for Education, the grants will be targeted at undergraduates from households earning below £30,000 a year, with funding expected to cover everyday costs such as food, transport, and rent. The decision is part of a broader pledge to make higher education more accessible, after years of warnings that financial barriers were driving poorer students away from university.
The long road back
The return of grants is as political as it is practical. When the government scrapped maintenance grants in 2016, ministers argued that loans would be fairer because graduates repay only once they earn enough. But critics, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the change disproportionately hurt low-income students, who were forced to borrow more and ended up with the same or higher levels of debt as their better-off peers.
In the years since, participation rates among disadvantaged students have stagnated. Data from the Office for Students shows that while overall university entry numbers rose, the proportion from poorer backgrounds remained stubbornly low. Campaigners say the reintroduction of grants acknowledges that loans alone cannot level the playing field.
Dr. Gill Wyness from University College London’s Centre for Education Policy recently told The Guardian that maintenance grants “made a measurable difference” to access and retention before they were removed, noting that “students with less to worry about financially are more likely to complete their degrees.” That sentiment has been echoed by university leaders across the country, who have warned that spiralling living costs, particularly rent and food prices, have pushed students to breaking point.
The decision comes at a time when university life has become far more expensive than most young people anticipated. Research by the National Union of Students found that three in four students are now worried about being able to afford essentials, and one in three has considered dropping out altogether. Even with part-time jobs, many report struggling to meet rent and energy costs.
Grant funding won’t fix that overnight, but it will help the most vulnerable students keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Ministers have framed the change as part of a wider effort to “remove financial stress from education,” suggesting future reviews might look again at interest rates on student loans and bursary schemes for postgraduate study.
Universities, meanwhile, are being asked to ensure the money is distributed fairly and that students understand their entitlement. Some have already begun reviewing their hardship and bursary schemes to align with the new rules, while student unions are calling for more transparency in how eligibility is assessed.
The economics behind the policy
Restoring grants won’t be cheap. The Treasury estimates the annual cost will run into hundreds of millions of pounds once the scheme is fully operational. But proponents argue that the social return will far outweigh the initial spend. The Sutton Trust has long campaigned for their return, calling it “a vital investment in social mobility” and pointing out that the UK remains one of the few developed nations to rely so heavily on loans for maintenance costs.
The think tank argues that student debt deters bright applicants from poorer families, particularly those considering longer or more expensive degrees in science, medicine, or engineering. They also highlight that graduates from low-income backgrounds often take longer to repay their loans because they tend to enter lower-paid professions. Grants, in contrast, offer direct help without decades of repayments hanging over them.
For the policy to work, take-up will need to be high, not just among those who would have gone to university anyway, but among students who might otherwise have stayed away. Experts say success should be measured not only in enrolment figures but in retention, attainment, and wellbeing. Universities will be under pressure to show that the grants genuinely improve outcomes and don’t simply replace other forms of institutional aid.
The first phase of the programme will roll out next year, with priority given to students in full-time undergraduate courses. There are plans to expand eligibility later, potentially covering part-time learners and those retraining later in life. The government says more details will be confirmed before the end of the academic year.
Education campaigners have cautiously welcomed the move, but they’re also warning against complacency. The Universities UK group described the change as “a step in the right direction,” while urging ministers to pair it with further reforms to ensure no student is priced out of higher education.
A turning point for access
For now, the return of grants feels like a rare moment of consensus in British education policy. After years of austerity, freezes and fee hikes, few disagree that the system had grown unbalanced. The UK’s model has long been an outlier compared to many European countries, where a mix of grants, bursaries and free tuition keep higher education within reach for most citizens.
Reintroducing maintenance grants won’t erase debt or undo years of financial strain, but it restores something that was lost: a sense that the state still has a stake in who gets to learn and who doesn’t. For thousands of students preparing to apply for 2026 entry, that signal matters as much as the money itself.