Student Finance 

I recently went through DSA for a laptop with software to meet my disability needs. I got taking on a long process, being thrown between StudyTech and DSA and different agents that could never answer my questions. I’m appalled.
Terrible experience, everything was told me to me in drips and drabs and riddles, explained terribly. I got told I could upgrade but I’d pay for the entire device, I questioned it as I knew from other accounts that this wasn’t always the case. Asked for everything to be dumbed down to me - and they never did. I still don’t understand the process. I got told I’d get a phone call to discuss my difficulties with the process, I never did.
I ended up paying more than I should (£300+) and after paying I just got an emailing saying if I chose a different way of sourcing the equipment I can be reimbursed £230! I’m appalled, was this a shake down from StudyTech? I don’t know as nothing was explained to me in its entirety! I feel scammed?
Thank god I’m in my last year of university and never have to deal with the this again.
Asking for help should never be this difficult.

Less stars would be more accurate. The staff are unable to help, the complaints procedure is hidden, we're advised to call them if we have complaints but you can't get through on the phone, the switchboard also advises to go onto a non-existant chat function. Not inclusive to people with learning disability and stress inducing. Spoke to two people, one called Ava and another called Rhianon, they told me to log off and try again tomorrow even tho they were not going to restart my profile or application. What kind of useless advice is this??

POOR COMPANY
This company employs people who have little training they are expected to handle complex queys from student and/or family.
The training that is given to staff is shocking they employ people who either dont speak very good english or dont understand engliish the company you call 99%of the time is TELEPERFORMANCE very few times who actually get to speak to student loans company Teleperformance handle there work and people need to know the truth go look at there reviews extramily poor and high turn over of staff

The website is often down and details cannot be updated even though the correct information is entered.
The telephone helpline is anything but, it is designed to route you out of the call regardless of which options you choose and then automatically disconnects. If you manage to get through to an agent, they may disconnect the call mid-flow as they obviously have call targets to hit.
Basically the message is "Don't try to contact us, we will get rid of you whichever way we can."

My wife is training to be a teacher. Had a cancer operation last September and began to train in November. Due to a lack of support she has to extend. She deferred, obviously, and this was agreed. It took ages to get her a placement to complete her training and this is going very well. Student Finance will not process the extra top up loan that was agreed. Now, despite her going to school and teaching every day, both Student Finance and TESS are demanding either £8,000.00 or £8500.00 or both. So unclear. My wife is vulnerable and is getting on with things despite the growing panic, despondency, and fear for her future. We're overdrawn at the bank as we'd planned on the small top up to get us through to QTS. She has followed the training schedule as agreed to the letter and now is in a Kafkaesque nightmare. This is someone praised for her empathy and teaching skills, but all of this will be wasted when this horrible and soulless machine burns us both out. We're mature adults, so I can only sympathise with young people having to deal with such an inhumane process. This has been going on since July. No one helps and the call center is just not fit for purpose. I don't like negative reviews and this is just pointless anyway as they don't respond or care. Shame.

Incompetent, first this lot provide me specific instructions when I telephone them because the website doesn't answer my query, after precisely following those instructions and sending off my application they tell me it's wrong and I need to use another form - the link provided doesn't give me what I need, the attached pdf form is corrupted and so cannot be downloaded and their email refers me back to the useless generic webpage that couldn't help in the first place, whilst the email states it does not accept replies - would a worse service actually be possible? ...not sure.

Casey in the student finance department was absolutely amazing dealing with my complex issue on 4th September 2025 at around 4.30pm went above and beyond in terms of making my life far easier he was also courteous and extremely efficient which was a very nice change of pace. Have called many times and this is the first review I have ever written for any company ever. Shocked at how attentive and invested he was in helping the caller.

Student finance England is literally the most rubbish organisation in the world! I have been trying for years to get my second year finance sort and there la always some sort of road block, I know what too do, I can't afford to pay for it myself. My advice ' DON'T RELY DO IT'

This should be disbanded and really needs reforming, they make students lifes difficult instead of easy with their time frames,wasting time or updating their system.If you seat thinking that your application is progressing you will be disappointed.The government needs to get rid of it and have competent staff which makes students lifes easy not hell.l had to wait for 17 days for an amendment which could only take 1minute even though they had all the information they need.what a joke😣

Offer disability support allowance but their whole system is extremely ableist. Staff aren't trained properly, trying to get blood from a stone would be an easier task than getting support from this.

Needs drastic improvements

One of the worst services I have ever used as part of my student experience. Imagine trying everything in your power to speak to an actual human being on the phone, but to then be fobbed off by an automated answer machine saying they can’t help you and advise that you instead utilise the live chat function. Go to the live chat function, and guess what! even AI can’t help with my queries. Quality of the processes is very poor.

The most stupid inefficient organisation ! In this day and age after login in & asking for a secret answer - to update details is like drawing blood out of a stone . They have to justify taking all that money away from our next gen . More brains in a spoon

The website did not work, my e-mails to them went unanswered, their e-mails to me gave incorrect instructions, and their telephone representative barely spoke English.

It's a disgrace to deal with student finance. Least helpful and very difficult to reach. They are apparently verifying my national insurance number with the department of work and pensions. Most of the students in my class are struggling to get a response from Student finance. I have made a complaint to my local mp about their attitude and delay and still await response. Very disappointed and let down by student finance England.

I spoke with Casey today who was very polite, spoke clearly and listened to my concerns. He made a clear effort to make certain I understood what was being discussed and he made something I find very challenging more manageable. 5 out 5 and my genuine thanks.

I spoke to a member of staff today named Casey re my course and specific dates. From the onset, they were pleasant and agreed to send a referral through to the assessment team for me whilst I was on the phone. Casey was extremely polite and most helpful and I was exceptionally pleased with their service. Thx Casey : ) !!

For 6 years I was refused funding even though evidence was provided on each occasion.

They advised Me to fill in the wrong forms on more than one occasion and stated my specialists evidence wasn't enough as it didn't stipulate how my condition affects my day to day life , which shoukd be obvious by the name of it.
Over an hour on the phone only to be told they sent my evidence to the wrong department and they require further info from my GP

You d and round in circles till eventually u give up on support you are legally entitelled to

My health conditions have worsened due to taking jobs which were unsuitable and unsustainable as a direct result of their incompetence

Honestly have felt like crying because of this department year after year.

Placing a complaint this year snd raising this with the MP and parliament as its absolutely disgusting that studying is impacted to such an extent that I nearly had to quit at one point due to my financial situation !

Anyone else is suffering the fake incompetence, hypocrisy, abuse and neglect of this racist people who takes months if ever to put a sharing code to check pre settle and settle status and do their job? The fact that is a GOV department says everything about England how they really are. Nearly all at the very least.

WHERE TO START!?

This is a branch of the government, so I can't give SFE any leeway. This company is absolutely appalling. They have made me stressed to the point of being physically sick on several occasions.

They have sent me money by mistake and then demanded it back. They have affirmed loan amounts, and then a month later they have withdrew the offer to "review more evidence". They have told me two directly conflicting things within the same day, which could have cost me £1,300 had I not called to rectify it. They have misdirected money I have sent them by mistake on several occasions. They have littered my parents' house with letters due to a system error. They have missed crucial deadlines on multiple occasions.

I am speaking literally when I say that I am unable to think of a single instance where this company was helpful, and we have shared about 50 phone calls together. Every single time the call was stressful and unpleasant, not to mention the 15-30 minute waiting time.

Note: I put 'Date of experience' in today's date, but the issues I faced were in 2016, 2018 and most prominently in 2024 for my masters' degree. Due to their incompetence, despite them saying I can do the course, and my spending thousands in preparation, now it is becoming likely that they won't fund me for it, as they changed their mind once again to "Review more evidence", and keep pushing back my notification date to the point that now I would be starting my course before I even know if I can pay for it.

If I could rate 0 stars or minus stars I would. I hope this branch gets shut down. It's an absolute mockery of our government.

Has caused me constant stress...

I did an Meng degree, but I could only complete 3 years of the course coming out with a Bachelors degree due to medical health reasons.

Student Finance England agreed to fund my Masters degree at another university for the 1st Semester, but they have now suddenly changed my application saying that I am no longer eligible for funding despite them making me get my previous university to complete a Change of Circumstance Task to prove I have not completed a Masters and upload medical evidence for compelling reasons.

Every time I phone them they need 4-5 days to process the documents. There has been numerous conflicting/ misleading documents stating I was eligible for funding and they sent evidence to the wrong department further delaying my application.

Meanwhile they have been phoning me every day to pay back over £6000 loan while I am trying to study for my degree, which I do not have because I have given the money to the university and now find myself in a impossible situation of somehow having to find the rest of the funds to complete a Masters course.

I reassured the University that student finance would fund me as I was told over the phone that everything would be fine. I have Autism Spectrum Disorder and I have suffered with psychosis caused by stress and they are currently ruining my life. I feel very mislead, we are told all this stuff in education about the importance of Equality and Diversity and yet now here I am in a situation I cannot deal with. They claim that there has been a sudden change to the policy/ legislation caused by the department of education, and there is no one I can speak to. They have not given me any specific information yet on when this change took place.

I am not working at the moment, I will struggle to find employment in future as there will be a large gap in my work history because of an uncompleted masters. I had no prior warning that they would suddenly pull away funding. If I cannot afford to do the degree and I have to drop out they still expect me to pay back over £6000 for a course I could not complete due to ill health and financial difficulty.

I am really at a loss on what to do now. I will seek citizens advice. The error they have made has real life consequences on my life. They should not have funded me in the first place if they were just going to take it away. They have put me in a situation which I am not equipped to deal with as I cannot afford to fund the rest of my Masters and I have a debt of over £6000 that I simply cannot afford to pay back.