Paying for a BSc (Hons)...

MEM62

MoneySavingMole wrote: »

The career change will likely see me drop to £25-28,000 for 12-24 months as a Graduate, before I can climb the ladder and get back in to the £30-40,000+ range

MoneySavingMole wrote: »

I work in Construction - I'm looking at side-stepping in to Surveying.

My OH is a QS. It pays better than £40K :-)

bethwilliams95

I would do student finance.. mainly the reasons others have said. If anything ever happened and you lost your job etc you wouldn!!!8217;t be required I pay anything, whereas if you got a loan you would still have to pay..

Also if after 30 years you haven!!!8217;t paid the full student finance off- then it gets wiped..

There is no bearing on your credit score etc.

I study part time for a psychology degree and I used student finance mainly because I didn!!!8217;t have any other options but I think if I did have options I would still have got student finance.

Gentoo365

I would go for the Student Finance option because it is better designed for the circumstances for an unknown future income.

If it turns out in the future that it is cheaper to pay off the student loan with a low rate personal loan then you have that option. Whether you ever want to take it is another question.

Student Finance is really an extra tax, the only reason it is engineered as a loan is political. The way to think of it is that the more you earn the more you pay back. Which in some sense is a good problem to have.

BrassicWoman

Ask your boss about an apprenticeship in surveying, or find an apprenticeship? Not just for school leavers any more.


https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/?keywords=quantity

ruperts

Have you considered the trainee route? You'd have to take a bigger salary cut, but would be picking up experience straight away and your employer would pay your fees so no debt.

Make sure you're being realistic about salaries as well. I don't know what region you are in or what type of surveying you're looking at, but even in London with the higher paid variants, £40k+ 12 months after graduation is unlikely.. £30k after 24 months is more likely but still not guaranteed.

MoneySavingMole

ruperts wrote: »

Have you considered the trainee route? You'd have to take a bigger salary cut, but would be picking up experience straight away and your employer would pay your fees so no debt.

Make sure you're being realistic about salaries as well. I don't know what region you are in or what type of surveying you're looking at, but even in London with the higher paid variants, £40k+ 12 months after graduation is unlikely.. £30k after 24 months is more likely but still not guaranteed.

I've looked at Trainee, Apprenticeships and doing it the way I have decided to...

I'm North West based and said in my initial post "The career change will likely see me drop to £25-28,000 for 12-24 months as a Graduate, before I can climb the ladder and get back in to the £30-40,000+ range." and I'm being very realistic with those figures, having friends in the industry and knowing their journey turned out much the same.

It seems an industry 'standard' to start around 25-28k, gain experience, build your APC (2 years) and apply to become Chartered via RICS. Then once 'Chartered' you can pretty much expect 45k+

I also have friends with no qualifications working in the industry, pulling 33k after 2-3 years experience.

Thanks for everyones input - I've decided to apply (and been accepted, may I add) for the Degree and will be financing it via Student Finance England.

I'm under no illusions with my career change, the extra work required or the determination I'll need - but I'm sure my desire to succeed will serve me well.

Fortune favors the brave!

PrettyKittyKat

Take the student loan. Save the £300 per month for the 4 years so that you can cover your drop in earnings intially once you change career. Once you are earning higher again you can call and make one off payments off your student loan and pay it off much quicker if you want, but if you don't want to or finances don't allow (redundancy, illness, increased expenditure) then you don't have to - it is much more flexible and has less impact on your day and day life!