how do you live off student loans if it all goes on rent

Oldernotwiser

kelloggs36 wrote: »

There is no combined bursary and loan, the amount of bursary (or grant whatever you call it) is topped up to the maxium you would get if you took out the loan, so the max for outside of London is just over 4k per year. Her rent alone is £400 p month, so is about the same as her loan as she does not have the option to rent over 10 months - it has to be a year.

I'm sorry but you're completely wrong on this. If you're eligible for the maintenance grant then the maintenance loan is certainly reduced but the total is as I've said. For 2008/9, for a household earning less than £25,000 a student would receive a maintenance loan of £3,365 and a maintenance grant of £2,835, giving a total of £6,200 for a student studying outside London. You can check it on www.direct.gov.uk if you like. In addition to this there'll be a minimum of £300 bursary direct from the university and often more.

lkmc01

i am a full time time with a partner and a 2 year old. I live in halls of resisdence in a family flat. For this I pay £500 a month all bills included and no council tax. We get-

£20,000 before deductions from my partners wages
£2200 tax credits
£18.80 a week child benefit
£4280 next years student loan
£1470 parents learning allowance
£1000 higher education grant
100% childcare costs paid which is £6885 a year
no tution fees to pay

I suppose I should count myself as lucky :rotfl:

Oldernotwiser

The_One_Who wrote: »

No, we don't pay fees in Scotland. I thought the fees were paid straight to the university via a loan though.

No, that's the way it's done in England. In Scotland you pay no fees and are eligible for less maintenance funding; in England you have to take a loan out for the fees but (if on a low income) you can get more maintenance funding.

Oldernotwiser

lkmc01 wrote: »

i am a full time time with a partner and a 2 year old. I live in halls of resisdence in a family flat. For this I pay £500 a month all bills included and no council tax. We get-

£20,000 before deductions from my partners wages
£2200 tax credits
£18.80 a week child benefit
£4280 next years student loan
£1470 parents learning allowance
£1000 higher education grant
100% childcare costs paid which is £6885 a year
no tution fees to pay

I suppose I should count myself as lucky :rotfl:

I don't know whether your last remark was intended to be sarcastic but I do think that you're lucky. Most people would manage very easily on this. (I'm not saying that it should be any less, by the way.)

The_One_Who

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

No, that's the way it's done in England. In Scotland you pay no fees and are eligible for less maintenance funding; in England you have to take a loan out for the fees but (if on a low income) you can get more maintenance funding.

To be honest, I'd rather get more maintenance funding but have to pay fees.

Oldernotwiser

The_One_Who wrote: »

To be honest, I'd rather get more maintenance funding but have to pay fees.

Fair enough; study at an English university and you'll get your wish! Quite simple really.

kelloggs36

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm sorry but you're completely wrong on this. If you're eligible for the maintenance grant then the maintenance loan is certainly reduced but the total is as I've said. For 2008/9, for a household earning less than £25,000 a student would receive a maintenance loan of £3,365 and a maintenance grant of £2,835, giving a total of £6,200 for a student studying outside London. You can check it on www.direct.gov.uk if you like. In addition to this there'll be a minimum of £300 bursary direct from the university and often more.

Clearly not if only a partial grant is given. my daughter should be entitled to the maximum loan, but it is reduced due to the partial grant that she gets. She therefore gets no more than the maximum loan.

Oldernotwiser

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Clearly not if only a partial grant is given. my daughter should be entitled to the maximum loan, but it is reduced due to the partial grant that she gets. She therefore gets no more than the maximum loan.

I'm glad you realise the true situation now. However, your first post, which talked about your being a student yourself, "the poorest families" not getting this extra support and the loan being reduced "pound for pound", was seriously misleading. It's only when the grant is £1260 that the loan is reduced pound for pound and for that to be the case the family income would need to be in the region of nearly £40,000 pa - hardly the poorest families! Anybody whose parents' income is above this but who qualifies for a partial grant will receive the same amount (£4,625) but less of it will be a loan and need to be repaid. Anyone whose income is less than £40,000 will receive both the grant and the loan (although reduced) and will be considerably better off.

The_One_Who

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Fair enough; study at an English university and you'll get your wish! Quite simple really.

Sadly not. If I studied in England SAAS would pay tuition to the amount of that in Scotland and I would need to cover the rest (unsure if I would get a different loan for this) and maximum living costs would still be £4,500.

asb23uk

I personally feel the system of Student loans is flawed. I myself am about to start my second year and i receive the minimum 75% loan of around 3400, last year of which all had to go on rent and this year i will have around 300 left over after rent. This despite my parents having a combined income of 80-100k. Their salaries mean i get no grants or bursarys whatsoever.

I have 3 younger brothers and sisters who obviously have to be paid for by my parents along with a slightly larger house because of our family size and two cars due to my parents jobs which all need to be paid for. Thus i understand my parents saying they cant afford to pay for my university years.

This means i have to work every hour of my holidays each year to pay for my university year ahead. I dont mind this as I don't want to have a part time job as i have seen friends struggle balancing part time work and uni work -ultimately I feel to the detriment of their grades. This is something i would urge all students to consider when looking for term time work. It DOES affect your social and university work lifes. I would consider myself an outgoing person and I don't think i should have to change my personality of enjoying myself and constanly worrying about how much i spend to get by each year.

It annoys me somewhat that students from less fortunate backgrounds and lower income parents get more money over the year than i do? They manage to live comfortably, going out several times a week, working casually if at all over summer holidays and going on vacations simply because the government deems them to deserve more money because of their family background. Why should parents who earn more have to subsidise their children's university life because they earn more money?? I feel all students should get the same amount regardless so everyone is on an even keel.

I feel a lot of people on these boards who are not students maybe do not fully understand the pressures of student life and living with other students as there is a lot of pressure to fit in especially in the first months when socialising is everything. Having to be financially careful should not have to be a hinderence until you are settled. Budgets go out of the window until 2 months in. Food for students should not have to be comparable to that of a third world country standard and common misconceptions that this is acceptable for a student is wrong!! I have friends who get more loan and bursarys than others and they live like relative royalty to other students who are in my kind of situation.

I read posts saying to look at how much accommodation costs before applying and selecting a universtiy to study at, when its my view that the aim of uni is to get a good degree and ultimately job you enjoy, and so the costs involved should not matter as much as the course and uni living. I would say i live comfortably enough but dont have the funds to allow 'treats' for myself over the year such as regular new clothing and days out etc which i accept as i dont work part time. I just wanted to give a view of the other side of the coin to student loans and funding!!

I apologise for this rant in advance hehe