Understanding Academic Years - GOV.UK

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Guidance Understanding academic years

Information for students to help work out what academic year their course falls under.

From: Student Loans Company Published 7 June 2022 Last updated 4 February 2025 — See all updates Get emails about this page

Contents

1. Your academic year
2. How to work out your academic year
3. Academic year start and end dates
4. Open University

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Your academic year

This is determined by your course start date. If you apply for funding for the wrong academic year, it could delay your student finance.

How to work out your academic year

The academic year which applies to you depends on your course start date.

If your course starts between:	Your academic year is:
1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026	2025 to 2026
1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025	2024 to 2025
1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024	2023 to 2024

Your university or college will be able to confirm your academic year if you don’t know it.

Academic year start and end dates

For the majority of students, each academic year will run from 1 September to 31 August but there are 4 official start dates in each academic year with each lasting 12 months.

You can find the one which applies to you based your course start date.

If your course starts between:	Your academic year will run from:
1 August and 31 December	1 September to 31 August
1 January and 31 March	1 January to 31 December
1 April and 30 June	1 April to 31 March
1 July and 31 July	1 July to 30 June

Your university or college will be able to confirm your course start date if you don’t know it.

Open University

The Open University provides a flexible approach to study with numerous start dates available. Knowing which academic year your course falls under is especially important before you complete and return any forms. If you’re not sure which form to complete, speak to your university or college.

Updates to this page

Published 7 June 2022 Last updated 4 February 2025 + show all updates

1. 4 February 2025

   2022 to 2023 academic year removed. 2025 to 2026 academic year added.

2. 26 January 2024

   Added 2024 to 2025 academic year and removed 2021 to 2022

3. 7 June 2022

   First published.

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