Student money: loans and grants
It cannot have escaped your notice that from this year student
finance will be changing. From September 2012 tuition fees will be
increasing, they will now run from £6000 up to a maximum of £9,000
per year. On the bright side, however, by and large a degree is
still worth having - for example a Physics degree would be worth on
average £187,000 more over the course of your lifetime than just A
levels!1
The infamous £9,000 number is the tuition fee loan and it covers
(unsurprisingly) the cost of your education, NOT your living costs.
There are loans for that too and they vary depending on how and
where you live:
- If you don't live at home and study in London the maximum
Maintenance Loan you can have is £7,675 per year;
- Outside London but not living at home, the maximum is £5,500;
and
If you're living at home the maximum is £4,375
Under some circumstances it is possible for you to receive a
grant, which differs from a loan in that it doesn't have to be paid
back. If your family household income is under £25,000 per year
then this grant is £3,250. If your family income lies between
£25,000 and £42,600 then you would be eligible for a partial
grant.
It's probably best that you think of these loans as a kind of
tax starting when your salary rises above £21,000. So, for example,
should your salary be £25,000 (approximately the average starting
salary in engineering2), then you would be paying back
at a rate of 9% of the amount you are earning over £21,000, i.e. 9%
of £4,000. This equates to about £6.92 per week until you pay back
the cost of your degree or until you have had your loan for 30
years, at which point the loan is written off. This is expected to
happen for many students.
Useful resources
These are some student finance resources that we've found
and think are worth a look (bestCourse4me is not responsible for
any of the content on these sites.)
Finance calculators
Student finance calculator
Student finance calculator powered by Moneysavingexpert to help
you gain a rough estimate of how much of your student loan you will
pay back
Student
finance calculator powered by Brightside
Education charity Brightside brings you a tool to help build
your budget for Uni and check your eligabilty for loans and
grants
Information and guides
Guide to student
finance in England 2012 from Independant Taskforce
Independent Taskforce on student finance information provides
useful facts about applying to University and information regarding
grants and bursaries
Student finance animation by Bournemouth
University
Bournemouth University have produced a short film to explain the
new fees system and the repayment scheme
Downloads
Student Guide by Martin S Lewis and
Brightside
Student guide about all things finance related, helping
prospective students understand what a student loan actually
is and what it means in a wider context
Teachers guide to student finance by Martin S
Lewis and Brightside
A guide aimed at helping teachers answer all kinds of student
finance related questions