I'm not here to debate the ethics of using a maintenance loan for that. From a purely financial perspective, the advice is the same to you as it is to anyone else.

Are you happy to part with the money for 3 to 5 years? (If so, you probably don't need the maintenance loan in the first place lol). Can you wait it out even longer if you need to?

If you can't wait that long, don't put it in the stock market. The stock market is great for LONG TERM investments. 2 years really isn't that long.

If you can, CAREFULLY consider putting it in. Do your research. Don't invest into individual stocks (given your lack of experience and the risks) and instead stick to funds. Diversify your portfolio across countries and industries.

It's not quite as easy as just 'stick it into the stock market and make a free £8k in a year or two' which is a bit naive and far from the truth. It's really not that straight forward at all.

It's also really easy to look back at graphs, see patterns and think 'well, if I'd have invested at these points in time and waited 2 years, I'd have been quids in!'. People say it over and over, but past performance is not indicative of future performance. Markets go up and go down, and 2 years is not a lot of time in terms of the market.

It sounds like you've kind of made your mind up already, are determined on doing it and seem pretty confident, so I'm not really sure there's much anyone can say... But I would really research it and don't get caught up in the hype.