Student loan for the under 17s

valk_scot

Have you spoken to the school and explained that this particular financial straw is probably going to be the one that makes the difference between you being able to continue to send your children to their school and withdrawing them? I bet there's wiggle room if you're upfront about it, especially as they've not given you much time to organise a loan before the kids go back to school. I expect there will be more than one set of parents in your situation as well.

Might be worth looking at other options in your area tbh. Hubby and I decided that we had the choice of sending our kids to fee paying school and not having any holidays, treats or decent food for the entire time period, or sending the kids to our perfectly okay local state school and having a somewhat more relaxed budget at home. Local state school seems to have worked out okay so far, our elder lad just got top marks right across the nine standard grades he took plus he's very happy there.

Zarma

paddyrg wrote: »

You want to borrow money to pay for private schools? At 3% APR or less? Not going to happen I'm afraid.

It is possible by joining the school plan fee scheme at 2.75% but I was hoping to find a cheaper way, possibly 0% interest credit card for 12 months but it seems unlikely now as none of them allows you to pay directly into a bank account and the few who issue cheques charges you a lot more than 2.75%

Zarma

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

Hi,

There isn't such a thing since education is free for under 16s and 16-18 year olds. In any case student loans are taken out by the student not the parents.

Could you pay a full year on a 0% credit card then repay monthly at your normal rate?

That was my thought but I am failing to find a credit card provider who would allow us to pay into the school bank account (the school sadly does not have the facility to take cards payments). Credit card cheques are rare to come by nowadays and expansive.

Zarma

paddyrg wrote: »

IIRC you pay the usual, full APR from day one, no discounted rate, no interest-free period - much like a cash advance.

Sorry, what is IIRC?

Zarma

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Yes - eye watering, though obviously not in the same league as PDLs.

What are PDLs?

Zarma

broad-sword wrote: »

Ask yourself my friend, can you really afford private school fees in the first place?

The answer to your question is yes but I want to limit all the extras as much as I can. On one hand, we get charged 3% more for paying by standing order. On the other hand, we could receive a 3% discount by paying all the fees upfront. Hence why I am trying to find a way. Repaying isn't the problem, it is having all of the funds at once which is causing us a headache.

Zarma

valk_scot wrote: »

Have you spoken to the school and explained that this particular financial straw is probably going to be the one that makes the difference between you being able to continue to send your children to their school and withdrawing them? I bet there's wiggle room if you're upfront about it, especially as they've not given you much time to organise a loan before the kids go back to school. I expect there will be more than one set of parents in your situation as well.

Might be worth looking at other options in your area tbh. Hubby and I decided that we had the choice of sending our kids to fee paying school and not having any holidays, treats or decent food for the entire time period, or sending the kids to our perfectly okay local state school and having a somewhat more relaxed budget at home. Local state school seems to have worked out okay so far, our elder lad just got top marks right across the nine standard grades he took plus he's very happy there.

Very interesting remarks Val. Our children have been at their current school for several years and are very happy. In fact, the school has been quite supportive and have allowed us to pay by direct debit at no extra cost. They are running the school as a charity (it took me some time to get my head round this) so the fees go towards paying the teachers. Anything else needs to be raised by organising events (which we do help towards). Every little helps and for them to have fees paid up front at the beginning of the year means that they can invest and make some money (hence the 3% discount incentive).

With regard to the local state school, as we had no intention on moving and we did not like the school in our catchment area, we turned to private education as we were lucky enough to be able to absorb the costs. Having spent the first few years at the same school as our neighbours children, it is interesting to see how different their appetite towards learning has become as well as their confidence. Obviously, I do not want to generalise and I am sure that your children's school is a good school as are a lot of state schools. We just did not like the one in our area. But perhaps we are going off track as the original topic was more of a financial query as opposed to private school vs state school.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

IIRC - If I Remember Correctly

PDL = Payday lons. << Steer clear.