Masters Funding: Who? What? When? How?

As you will know, at the start of the year, I applied for my Masters and got accepted shortly afterwards. I had originally anticipated that I would be supported by the trust in which I work for as they have previously paid for either study leave and/or tuition fees. During my job interview, I had expressed my plan to apply for my Masters after receiving my Band 6 promotion. I advised that I would likely commence studies in the following September, and was told I would be supported in doing so and that funding would be available. Unfortunately, after applying, it became clear that this unfortunately was not going to be the case and as such, I have looked into funding for my own Masters. I made sure I had funds available for the tuition fees, should it be required but was hopeful I could also apply for Student Finance. 

Student Finance England states if "you're starting a master's degree, you could get a Postgraduate Master's Loan to help with course fees and living costs. You can get up to: £11,836 if your course starts on or after 1 August 2022".

The applications open slightly later than the undergraduate funding, so I had to wait until the start of May to begin. Once it opened, the application took just a few minutes. It is a lot quicker than undergraduate funding and doesn't factor in financial history. There are some factors for eligibility, but in short, an MSc part-time over 2 years, distance learning course like mine qualifies. 

I quickly received confirmation less than a week later that I qualified for the full amount, which would be split equally over the 2 years and then specified that the loan will be paid in 3 instalments of 33%, 33% and 34% each year. This luckily means that the full tuition fee will be covered, with a small extra amount to cover study materials and potentially reducing work hours to facilitate a better work-life balance for the duration of the course, which is my plan now starting likely in September.