The Department for Education continues to meet with the NUS and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies to discuss this issue. FOSIS is a national umbrella organisation representing Muslim students and Islamic societies at UK universities.

Interest-free overdraft facility

Most UK banks offer student accounts for undergraduates who have a maintenance loan. These accounts are interest free, up to a specified limit, depending on your credit history. The bank may want evidence of your maintenance loan before you can open an account.

You may want to use online comparison tools to identify banks that offer the most generous interest-free overdraft facilities.

Student loans

Undergraduate students

The UK government offers eligible undergraduate students a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan for each year of study. The interest rates charged on these loans will depend on the loan plan the student is on.

Postgraduate students

The UK government offers loans to eligible taught and research postgraduate students. These loans are a contribution towards tuition fees and/or living costs. Read more about postgraduate master's loans and PhD loans. The current interest rate charged on postgraduate loans can be viewed on the UK government website.

Possible consequences of not taking out loans for studies

It is important to understand that if you decide for faith reasons not to take a loan for your studies, this may have an effect on your eligibility for other sources of funding. You would need to find alternative funding such as family, friends or savings to cover the cost of your education.

Some factors you may wish to consider are:

• Financial Assistance Fund
  • The University of Bristol has a Financial assistance fund to help students facing financial hardship. If you are a home undergraduate student who is eligible for UK government Student Finance, you can only apply to the Financial Assistance Fund if you have taken your full maintenance loan entitlement.
  • Similarly, if you are a home postgraduate student, you must have made provision to pay your tuition fees and basic living costs and would be expected to have taken out the full loan you are eligible to receive from Student Finance before applying to the fund.
  • If you have not taken out the full loan from the UK Government due to religious reasons, you will still be able to apply to the Financial Assistance Fund if you are in hardship.
• University of Bristol Bursary
  • To determine your eligibility for the University of Bristol Bursary, we will need confirmation of your household income, which is assessed by your regional government funding provider, eg Student Finance England. This means that you and your family must consent to be means-tested for the government loans, and provide details of your household income.
  • You may not ultimately wish to take out any loans that you are eligible to receive. However, unless you agree to be means-tested by your regional domiciled government funding provider, we cannot determine your household income. Consequently, we will not be able to determine if you are eligible for the main non-repayable University of Bristol Bursary.
• Other University bursaries and scholarships
  • Several other University bursaries and scholarships, especially those designed to support students from a widening participation background, will use household income information to help determine who is eligible for the scholarship/bursary. Without information on your household income, your chances of being awarded one of these bursaries or scholarships may be reduced.
• Welfare benefits
  • If you are entitled to claim welfare benefits as a student, the office assessing your benefit claim will assume you have taken your UK government student finance loan entitlement and will reduce your benefit entitlement accordingly.
• Other UK government student finance
  • Some elements of government Student Finance are not repayable and depend on your personal circumstances. These include supplementary grants for dependants or disability-related course costs. If you are assessed for support by Student Finance Wales you may qualify for a non-repayable maintenance grant. You might wish to discuss possible options with the Money Advice and Funding team.

Sharia-compliant financing

The UK government has been exploring the possibility of an alternative finance system available alongside traditional student loans that will avoid the payment of interest but results in identical repayments to the conventional system. This funding would be Sharia (Shariah, Shari’ ah) compliant and overseen by a Sharia advisory committee.

A public consultation ended in 2014 which has resulted in an agreement to offer an alternative finance product. This 'Takaful' product has received preliminary approval from Al Rayan Bank's Sharia supervisory committee. More information on the current progress of this alternative student finance product can be found in 'Fulfilling our potential Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice' [PDF 2,197KB]. 

Some financial institutions have Sharia-compliant financial services. They guarantee that money held in these accounts is not invested in industries such as gambling, alcohol or weapons manufacture.

Trusts and charities

If you are a Muslim student, you may be eligible for some additional financial help from the National Zakat Foundation. Further information can be found on the National Zakat Foundation website.