Student Loan 2015 Discussion

tyllwyd

I think it would have been easier for people to understand if it had been set up as a tax - we can all see that we start our working lives paying tax at a certain rate, and with certain thresholds, but we don't expect that this will stay the same over our whole working lives and through different governments. Because the student loan is a strange tax/loan hybrid, it is difficult to get your head around the situation that you have a debt of a certain amount, but you can't be sure how long or how much in total you will pay back.

gadgetmind

It's a tax in a dress, wearing lipstick.

How they managed to somehow mate an odious tax with a worrying debt to create something so confusing and depressing can only be attributed to evil genius.

devildog

gadgetmind wrote: »

Daughter has applied for the loan but we're still unsure as to whether to go for it was the interest rate is just so high. However, they allow early repayments, and it does derisk things if she doesn't last the course.

It is a difficult one but I think I have come to the conclusion that if you do need to borrow for tuition and/or maintenance you might as well take the lot because regardless to how much you borrow the same amount will need to be paid back each month once earning over 21K.

If you are in a position to be able to not borrow then all the better.

What i would avoid is borrowing a fraction of the amount because regardless of what you borrow, you will have to pay back the same amount month on month (once earning over 21K)

gadgetmind

devildog wrote: »

If you are in a position to be able to not borrow then all the better.

We/she could just fund it, but she's chosen a very hard education and career path, so borrowing derisks things.

What i would avoid is borrowing a fraction of the amount because regardless of what you borrow, you will have to pay back the same amount month on month (once earning over 21K)

However, you could just pay the whole lot off once you know that your career is on trajectory. In these circumstances, having less to pay off makes sense.

We'll decide year on year based on how things are going both on the course side of things and how various investments are performing.

lisadd

My daughter is off to uni in September and we have done the usual applying for loans, etc. Unfortunately the maintenance loan does not cover her living costs and I was unable to secure a higher loan for her due to the fact that the joint household income exceeded the limit. The problem is that my partner is not my daughters father and they have a tempestuous relationship. He has said he will not contribute to her education and her natural father has never paid child maintenance (don't get me started on that!!) The loans company said they will not just take my wages into account because it has to be a JOINT household income. I tried to explain the issues but they won't have it. Therefore the extra money that she needs will be down to me and my bills are enough that I don't have money left over and also have to cover costs for my 14 year old. Its a dilemma.
So are there ANY other means out there for grants, etc to help out? (She has already secured a small, part time job but this will probably not be much.)

silvercar

lisadd wrote: »

My daughter is off to uni in September and we have done the usual applying for loans, etc. Unfortunately the maintenance loan does not cover her living costs and I was unable to secure a higher loan for her due to the fact that the joint household income exceeded the limit. The problem is that my partner is not my daughters father and they have a tempestuous relationship. He has said he will not contribute to her education and her natural father has never paid child maintenance (don't get me started on that!!) The loans company said they will not just take my wages into account because it has to be a JOINT household income. I tried to explain the issues but they won't have it. Therefore the extra money that she needs will be down to me and my bills are enough that I don't have money left over and also have to cover costs for my 14 year old. Its a dilemma.
So are there ANY other means out there for grants, etc to help out? (She has already secured a small, part time job but this will probably not be much.)

One option is to move more of the joint household expenses onto your new partner - on the grounds that you now have a university student to support and that amount of support is made more necessary by the the said partner's income.

Another, more drastic, option is to separate from the new partner temporarily to get the assessment on your income.

I have a friend who delayed her new partner formally moving in until her child was graduated, for this very reason.

kaja86

Can anyone answer a quick question?

Does the full amount on a P11D count towards the family household income when deciding how much maintenance grant someone gets?
(i.e. Mother 10k income+Father 20K income +P11D 5k..does that make a household income of 35k or is only part/none of the P11d included)

Thanks loads :O)

setmefree2

Student loans: pay off early or let them run their course?

How can parents help with the cost of their children's university education?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/9511667/Student-loans-pay-off-early-or-let-them-run-their-course.html

bobbthefrog

I applied to Derby University Online. This is a fully online course, I don't have to attend campus at all.

When I applied in April the 2011/2012 fees were £380 per module. The course includes 9 modules over 3 years.

However I received an email on Friday saying that each module now is £720. Almost double! I complained and soon received an email from a supervisor saying they emailed me in July to tell me about this. I didn't get ANY email in July apart from on asking me to "like" Derby Uni on Facebook.

Do I have grounds to complain, and get a reduction in fee's to the level it was when I was accepted?

Helix

bobbthefrog wrote: »

I applied to Derby University Online. This is a fully online course, I don't have to attend campus at all.

When I applied in April the 2011/2012 fees were £380 per module. The course includes 9 modules over 3 years.

However I received an email on Friday saying that each module now is £720. Almost double! I complained and soon received an email from a supervisor saying they emailed me in July to tell me about this. I didn't get ANY email in July apart from on asking me to "like" Derby Uni on Facebook.

Do I have grounds to complain, and get a reduction in fee's to the level it was when I was accepted?

2011/12 fees would have been last academic year. This academic year is 2012/13, so really you should have checked what the fees would be. Especially with all the changes this year.