Post Graduate Loan Help

Jez87

Hello,

I wonder if you can help me please. I will be studying a part-time MSc this September for one day a week, I will still need to work 4 days a week. I have been considering taking a post-graduate loan in order to do this, what with the recent referendum I have a few questions. I have been saving for a depost using the Help to Buy ISA and I was considering using some of the loan for a deposit and some for my course fees. Would I be better off taking the loan to do this or not? my current salary is 21k so I would be eligible to pay my fees back on completion of the course.

Q) If I want to save for a deposit and use some of the money for the course would I be better off taking the loan to help or not?
Q 2) I am aware that I would have to repay interest on the loan, given the recent referendum results is there a possibility that the interest will rise and I will have to pay more than the 6%?

Finally are tuition fees likely to rise if i start this year? Thank you in advance.

Jez

Ed-1

Jez87 wrote: »

Hello,

I wonder if you can help me please. I will be studying a part-time MSc this September for one day a week, I will still need to work 4 days a week. I have been considering taking a post-graduate loan in order to do this, what with the recent referendum I have a few questions. I have been saving for a depost using the Help to Buy ISA and I was considering using some of the loan for a deposit and some for my course fees. Would I be better off taking the loan to do this or not? my current salary is 21k so I would be eligible to pay my fees back on completion of the course.

Q) If I want to save for a deposit and use some of the money for the course would I be better off taking the loan to help or not?
Q 2) I am aware that I would have to repay interest on the loan, given the recent referendum results is there a possibility that the interest will rise and I will have to pay more than the 6%?

Finally are tuition fees likely to rise if i start this year? Thank you in advance.

Jez

Any form of income-contingent student loan is on better terms than other borrowing as you only pay it back if you can afford to. Bear in mind that postgraduate loans have to paid back at the same time as undergraduate loans (at 9% above the threshold for undergraduate and 6% above the threshold for postgraduate) so you are likely to repay the full postgraduate loan so the interest rate of RPI+3% becomes relevant. Although this is quite high (and will probably go substantially higher due to the EU referendum result forcing the pound lower and so inflation higher), the overall terms of the loan override this. Bottom line is it is probably worth taking the full postgraduate loan rather than extra mortgage.

The EU referendum result will have no impact on the loan terms and on tuition fees as it's got nothing to do with EU law other than for EU students (and in any case we aren't leaving the EU until at least 2018).

glennstar

Ed-1 wrote: »

(and will probably go substantially higher due to the EU referendum result forcing the pound lower and so inflation higher)

If you could give me access to your crystal ball at your convenience I would appreciate it very much.

Ed-1

glennstar wrote: »

If you could give me access to your crystal ball at your convenience I would appreciate it very much.

We don't need a crystal ball. The pound's already down 6+% against the euro and dollar which is inflationary. CPI and RPI will go above 3% and probably above 4% by the end of 2017.

CLAPTON

Ed-1 wrote: »

We don't need a crystal ball. The pound's already down 6+% against the euro and dollar which is inflationary. CPI and RPI will go above 3% and probably above 4% by the end of 2017.

so be nearer the BoE target of 2% : one assumes that is still operative?

glennstar

Ed-1 wrote: »

We don't need a crystal ball. The pound's already down 6+% against the euro and dollar which is inflationary. CPI and RPI will go above 3% and probably above 4% by the end of 2017.

It's plainly this hysterical sort of nonsense that fuels the speculators ability to make money at other people's expense. The £ is still higher now than it was against the Euro in May 2014. As I recall, inflation was spinning out of control at that time.... or was it?

Lungboy

Expect MSc fees to rise sharply next year due to the government opening student loans to postgraduate courses.

Jez87

Thanks for the advice, I will be starting this September and I have been informed that the fees won't change during the duration I am there so until 2018. I am hoping to use some of the money towards my savings for a deposit. I know it will reduce my income but I am doing this on the basis that I will eventually get a higher salary.