Student Maintenance Loan

Lost_Prophet

Hi,

I have bought a house with my girlfriend who is an undergraduate student. We spoke the other night about her student loan and she is considering getting a maintenance loan to help with payments of the mortgage etc

What we weren't sure of was the impact of this

I was a student under the old scheme and have around £120 a month taken but I only accrued £12,000 of debt. Her debt stands at £25,000 and so would increase if there was the maintenance loan on top of this

How do the monthly repayments work with the increased tuition fees? I understand about her needing to earn over £20k to start repayments but what is the general payment structure like above and beyond £20k? I will strongly advise her not to do it if she will be hit with repayments of £200 a month as her loan could spiral up to £35,000

We can more than manage as we are at the moment but she feels like she wants to contribute more and so this is an option for her

Cheers

Lokolo

9% on anything above £21k. It's the same as the old scheme apart from the threshold is higher.

But she doesn't pay this higher rate unless she is starting a brand new course. Given she is £25k already, it sounds as though she is on the old scheme, and she will continue to unless she has changed courses?

Dunroamin

Repayments will be exactly the same whether she owes £3,000 or £30,000 - in the latter case she would just be repaying for longer.

Lost_Prophet

Thanks for your responses

The loan she has taken is purely course fees which is about 8k a year so its definitely the new scheme

Is it 9% on earnings or on debt as it seems there's conflict views between the two posts

If 9% on earnings I'm pretty sure I'm not paying that as I earn £2.1k a month but don't pay £210

Cheers
LP

Helix

Lost_Prophet wrote: »

Thanks for your responses

The loan she has taken is purely course fees which is about 8k a year so its definitely the new scheme

Is it 9% on earnings or on debt as it seems there's conflict views between the two posts

If 9% on earnings I'm pretty sure I'm not paying that as I earn £2.1k a month but don't pay £210

Cheers
LP

Its 9% on earnings above £21k before tax. So if you earn £30k a year you pay back 9% of 9k.

If you are on the old system then the threshold is currently £15,795, so its 9% of what you earn above that.

Lost_Prophet

Ah I see. Thanks for your help on clearing this up. I'll let the other half know