Martin Lewis has sent out an "urgent" reminder to those starting university of higher education in England this September to apply for their living costs loans by this Friday (May 19).

This is to ensure that they guarantee the instalments get paid on time, and is all part of the new student loan system that is about to come into place in England.

In a post on his Twitter account, Lewis wrote: "Urgent. Starting University or Higher Education this September?

"English students starting this year will be on a brand new student loan system and need to apply by THIS FRIDAY to get their living costs loans to be guaranteed to paid on time (it may still be paid on time after this, but there's no guarantee so sooner is safer)

He added a clarification saying: "Tweaked the post slightly to be clearer about what the deadline is (its about the 'guarantee')".

To finish off your application for maintenance loans, you can do so from your Student Finance England account.

What changes are being made to England's student loans system?

Student finance is about to become significantly more expensive in England from September as a new loan repayment plan is about to be introduced.

The new 'Plan 5' student loans will see the yearly repayment threshold lowered and the time increased before it can be written off.

Under current 'Plan 2' specifications, graduates repay 9% of their income above £27,295 a year but this will be lowered to £25,000.

Additionally, graduates with Plan 2 loans have their student debt written off after 30 years but this will now be 40 years for those starting from September.

There is a slight benefit for those starting this year, as current Plan 2 loans are charged annual interest based on the retail prices index (RPI) plus an extra 3%.

However, for the Plan 5 loan, the interest rate will just be based on RPI, removing the extra 3% charge.