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How to get an affordable student loan as a second-degree EU student

Hi everyone,


I live in Belgium and have just completed a degree. There are no tuition fees here. I would now love to specialise in England, but the only good course is another Bachelor's degree. Sadly, no student loans are available through Student Finance England, my crowdfunding campaign isn't going as planned and Belgian banks have an obsession with paying everything back within 10 years and then I'd also have to pay around 12,000 euros interest rate.
Can anyone tell me whether it's possible for me to get a better loan somewhere else? I don't expect to have debt written off, but I can't possibly pay everything back in 10 years if I won't have a full-time job during the first three years, and my parents shouldn't go through that sort of thing at all (they can't afford it anyway).
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Comments

  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,876 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I would not expect you to qualify for loan from a UK bank...and they have an obsession with having the monthly payments starting from when you receive the money so, with no income, that is not going to help you.
    Could you work for a couple of years and delay the course or possibly rethink your plans
  • I suppose working is an option, but then I'd be older than my fellow students again, and I don't think that's very ideal for the residence hall life... Also, I'd have to work very long to get such amounts.


    Rethinking my plans is rather hard because the course in Manchester - English Language - is the course of my dreams and there really is no course like it on a Master's level. I'd be more than happy to pay back for, say, 50 years and swear it on the Bible, I simply can't start paying back when I'm still studying.
  • Gaz83
    Gaz83 Posts: 4,047 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I suppose working is an option, but then I'd be older than my fellow students again, and I don't think that's very ideal for the residence hall life... Also, I'd have to work very long to get such amounts.


    Rethinking my plans is rather hard because the course in Manchester - English Language - is the course of my dreams and there really is no course like it on a Master's level. I'd be more than happy to pay back for, say, 50 years and swear it on the Bible, I simply can't start paying back when I'm still studying.
    Best get praying, then. Because, short of a miracle, what you're looking for isn't going to happen.
    "Facism arrives as your friend. It will restore your honour, make you feel proud, protect your house, give you a job, clean up the neighbourhood, remind you of how great you once were, clear out the venal and the corrupt, remove anything you feel is unlike you... [it] doesn't walk in saying, "our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."
  • Try studying with derby university. I found an accredited Msc I needed on there, part time and online!

    Basically you pick however many modules you want to study a year. Minimum being 3, they effectively imbibe you the assignments, then 3 months to complete them. Study in your own time and from where you live.

    Best of all,they allow you to pay for your course monthly. I was paying 190 for the months, then 380 on the fourth. Repeating this for the 12 months.

    It gets even better, I was offered a new job which I wasn't sure if I could commit to studying through the long training. Phoned them, they Saud okay, come back in a year, pay nothing then start up where you left off in May2016.
  • Clive_Woody
    Clive_Woody Posts: 5,948 Forumite
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    Trip trap, trip trap.......
    "We act as though comfort and luxury are the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about” – Albert Einstein
  • BrassicWoman
    BrassicWoman Posts: 3,218 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Mortgage-free Glee!
    I suppose working is an option, but then I'd be older than my fellow students again, and I don't think that's very ideal for the residence hall life... Also, I'd have to work very long to get such amounts.


    Rethinking my plans is rather hard because the course in Manchester - English Language - is the course of my dreams and there really is no course like it on a Master's level. I'd be more than happy to pay back for, say, 50 years and swear it on the Bible, I simply can't start paying back when I'm still studying.


    your interest seems to be more about having the student life than the career, so you will struggle, I'm doing a masters while I work; it's a perfectly valid way of doing it. But I don't have a halls of residence lifestyle.

    Also there is huge variation in the ages people go to university in the UK, 30 or 40 is not too old. Go work and save up?
    2021 GC £1365.71/ £2400
  • Herzlos
    Herzlos Posts: 16,088 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Hi everyone,


    I live in Belgium and have just completed a degree. There are no tuition fees here. I would now love to specialise in England, but the only good course is another Bachelor's degree. Sadly, no student loans are available through Student Finance England, my crowdfunding campaign isn't going as planned and Belgian banks have an obsession with paying everything back within 10 years and then I'd also have to pay around 12,000 euros interest rate.
    Can anyone tell me whether it's possible for me to get a better loan somewhere else? I don't expect to have debt written off, but I can't possibly pay everything back in 10 years if I won't have a full-time job during the first three years, and my parents shouldn't go through that sort of thing at all (they can't afford it anyway).

    Why can't you pay it back in 10 years? Can't you take out a new loan to cover it after the 10 years if you've got a job by then? I mean, if you don't think you can find a job within 10 years maybe an additional degree isn't the right thing to do.
  • Lungboy
    Lungboy Posts: 1,953 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    There's a HUGE difference between a 3 year undergraduate course and a 1 year MA. You can't really compare them at all, so I'm not sure why you'd want the undergrad over the MA. You'll also be tying yourself into £27k+ of debt, rather than whatever they charge for a year of MA.

    Edit: Manchester even do an MA in English Language themselves.
  • andyfromotley
    andyfromotley Posts: 2,038 Forumite
    Nope, loan aint going to happen. Look into bursaries or scholarships.

    Interestingly you say it is your dream but havent saved any money to do it. In which case it goes onto the shelf next to my dream of spending a whole year travelling the world watching every major sporting event.
    £1000 Emergency fund No90 £1000/1000
    LBM 28/1/15 total debt - [STRIKE]£23,410[/STRIKE] 24/3/16 total debt - £7,298
    !
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,129 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You seriously want to take out a fifty year loan for a course you'll be starting at c. 21? And paying back with interest until you are 71? What planet are you on?
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
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