I'm at step 0 of the flowchart preparing for my next year and potentially beyond as I'm weighing up the costs of going straight into work vs a PhD.

I'm going into my final year of my undergrad degree. I'm classed as an independent student so historically I've gotten around £4200 for a loan, and £3700 as a grant. This year I can apply for a higher loan of £9200, and as I'm eligible for the grant, I imagine I'll get the grant and the loan difference, so in total that'll be: £5500 loan and £3700 grant

This is on top of a £3000 bursary from the university and a £5000 scholarship (crazy I know, I'm unbelievably lucky - unfortunately this has been the case annually for most of my degree yet I don't have much to show for it but that's another story).

My question is should I take the higher loan and possibly get an extra £1300~ on top of what I normally get? I won't have any issue with emergency funds, I'm just wondering if it's worth getting that extra amount and putting it into an ISA or something like Vanguard, I don't have any money in either of those except 1p in a Help-to-Buy ISA just to get it started. Thanks