student-finance.service.gov.uk Reviews 

29-9-25 DISABLED STUDENT. Completed standard SFE paperwork before the start of term for a full time post graduate course at York.
I completed the DSA form at the same time and posted LOTS of evidence of my severe needs before the course started (recorded delivery).
The agreement for general course fees were approved pre-start BUT AS YET THERE HAS BEEN NO AGREEMENT FOR ME TO GET AN ASSESSMENT FOR DSA. This is the start of week 3. I have no additional support in place. Everyone has a copy of my old DSA assessment from 2018. I am going to resend all my evidence again tomorrow morning to SFE just so they cannot say they have no record of my DSA application.
I’m going to update this review on a weekly basis until I get help. The Equality Act 2010!!!!!

hire a bunch of temps every SFE season and don't bother training them or actually making an effort to fix systems which repeatedly make mistakes concerning finances nearly every student in england needs to buy food and pay rent, then have the worst support system in the world to fix any issues. f&cking SFE

Cannot speak with anyone on the helpline , advises to use the Non existing Web chat on your on-line account. Recorded messages and options.
Dehumanising and unhelpful.

So this year for some stupid reason I now have to fill in a form and upload it instead of doing it digitally. OF COURSE THERE ARE PROBLEMS. The form gives errors consistently, and there's no where to sign it digitally. So I try contacting SFE, waste of time as their automated phone service just sends you in circles and then gives you no option to speak to someone because obviously civil servants dont want to talk to you. They then send you to their live chat, which you can find when you log in, only you can't. So I have 4 weeks to apply, but can't.

Absolute joke. I am fuming.

They're a complete joke. They endlessly chase and harass you wanting to see everything in your banks, every transaction and every piece of information they can get. They will never believe you if you say you're unemployed and traveling using previous savings. Even if you have saved for multiple years before traveling. You upload evidence - they want more, so you upload more and they still want more. No amount of evidence is enough for them. If I had the choice again I wouldn't go to uni just so I wouldn't have to deal with these incompetent idiots. Years ago I sent them bank statements that covered months in the post which was tracked and signed for when it arrived. They then said they never got it. I can't wait until the day I never have to deal with them again. The benefit of paying off the loan isn't the extra money - it's a life without having to deal with student finance.

Had my student finance application cancelled as i received an email in April, the email stated if i didn’t submit the necessary documents it would be cancelled in May, they didn’t cancel it until September, which has produced multiple problems for me. if they had either sent me a follow up email, updated my website to say their was an issue or cancelled the application when they said they would, id have no problem right now. awful communication

insufferable.

very poor website , needs multiple needless passwords and secret answers (as fraudsters will obviously want to hack in and pay my kids student fees) - no point ringing the contact number as its just automated telephone hell with zero chance of speaking to a human

locked me out of my account, when tried to change password I used my name and details, and it sent the password login to someone else's phone and email (thinking I was them). when called, the useless phone just gave me the same password reset link which already hasn't worked. Useless corporation, might not be able to attend 3rd year of med school this year. Thanks for all the stress.

They delay all the updates, changed mine instead of my sister’s course details because we have the same surname and doing same course (different years), now both of us have to wait for them to review everything and change our courses with less than a month for classes to start. I do not understand how and why they can be so bad at their job!!

I have had terrible miscommunication issues with SFE for the past three years with people like Kelly and Hazzam (apologies if spelt wrong), and all of them have either given me misinformation, given me wrong forms to fill out, or told me misinformation about my debt. However, Kasan did such a good job and navigated my problem so easily and efficiently. He went straight to the point, and I was only put on hold for less than 5 minutes, unlike others who have left me on hold multiple times for 30 minutes or more. He was kind and stayed on the call when filling out the form just to ensure I was not making any mistakes.

just like the most recent comment...I went to university 15 years ago and cannot log in. The phone numbers are an absolute waste of time, automated and tell you to do it online. you send them a complaint; they will tell you that they read it but reject it and go online. But online; they have the wrong details about me so cannot log in.
Non existent service.

I am trying to help my daughter for her loan application. I went to university 20 years ago and cannot log in. The phone numbers are an absolute waste of time, automated and tell you to do it online. Hopeless example of a government organisation.

This must the least online user friendly service I know. I am attempting to submit information for my sons student loan application and its just nigh impossible. I'm unable to access my account and am taken on an endless Kafkaesque circle of revolving menus.
When i finally got to speak to someone in person they claimed they could not hear me on the phone properly....they refused to call me back to better the line and I was forced into hanging up and starting the whole dispiriting exercise again....... minus point out of 10

I made the mistake and clicked on something which I misread in the first place. As soon as I noticed it, I contacted SFS. They asked me to provide several evidence, a cover letter (twice, because they don't read their own notes) and a Marital form, even though it doesn't make sense to fill it out in my case. Still every time I call them, there is a new case worker and I have to explain all over again and they asked me to provide the same evidence AGAIN. It is all in my file, and they don't even bother to look deeper into it, as my case started a year ago, but no one seemed to care. I have been on it for more than 1 year now and tried my best to help them, but my god, it seems no one is actually doing their job. Now they are asking for childcare funds back after I just finished Uni and I have to start from Zero again. This is the most frustrating company I ever had to deal with.

Rubbish company they come back in a years time and start harassing young British born citizens and civilians for money and your life is put at immediate risk please don’t put yourself in future stress and turmoil by taking their loans

I was impressed with a professional level of help I received from Imran. The information I got from him was useful, clear and answered all of my questions.

Nothing about the process is straight forward. They don't even attempt to explain it to you! None of the forms make any rational sense or are set out in consist manner. The whole system is chaotic any in disarray!

One star seems generous. I have never encountered a system that is so rubbish. I am on day 4 of trying to do a simple application. No one on the phone is any help (they seem nice enough but i couldnt tell you why theyre there). A rubbish, broken system that heaps on massive amounts of stress during an already stressful period and there is nothing you can do about it as they have you backed against the wall.

Just a terrible waste of life going round and round a 'press 1' phone nonsense. Almost impossible to get a human but they know they have you over a barrel if you want your child's education to be financed. All that makes me sad about how the 'working' world is now!