Plotting for an early retirement - anyone want to join me?

MallyGirl

London uni is one of 4 choices for DD but not in her top 2. The max London maintenance loan for 19/20 is £11,672 and we would only get half that. There are 2 uni accommodation options offered - £8,376 (not many places) or £10,403 (gulp). Both self catering but do include bills. It is Camden so private is unlikely to be cheaper once you add in all the bills.
Her top 2 choices are Cambridge and Liverpool, which would both be more affordable, but she will go wherever she can secure a place. We will know more in just over a year's time.

RueyE

Do you mean Loan or Grant?
Loans add to the amount to be paid back, whereas a grant doesn't.

We were lucky in that the grant system was still around when our eldest set off to university, so that reduced the amount borrowed by about £3.5k per year.

grnglide

Her top 2 choices are Cambridge and Liverpool, which would both be more affordable, b

Cambridge and Liverpool seems a strange set? Our daughter went to Liverpool (university, not the ex-poly!) and found it fine.


Strange that Cambridge is affordable?

fred246

I promised my kids who are at university that my early retirement wouldn't affect them at all. However, my reduced income means they can borrow more if they want. I sat down recently and tried to work it out. The interest payments are so high and the repayments are set so low there is no way they will ever pay it off. So they are going to borrow the maximum. The only worry is if they change the rules over the next 30 years. They are also looking forward to their non-repayable bursaries.

MallyGirl

RueyE wrote: »

Do you mean Loan or Grant?
Loans add to the amount to be paid back, whereas a grant doesn't.

We were lucky in that the grant system was still around when our eldest set off to university, so that reduced the amount borrowed by about £3.5k per year.

Loan - not grant. She will have to pay it back

MallyGirl

grnglide wrote: »

Cambridge and Liverpool seems a strange set? Our daughter went to Liverpool (university, not the ex-poly!) and found it fine.


Strange that Cambridge is affordable?

There are only 8 unis in the UK that do vet med. Liverpool and Cambridge are very different but she liked both. Cambridge claims to be the most affordable - very well funded so accomodation in halls is quite cheap and guaranteed for all 3 undergrad years if wanted. They also offer bursaries and grants for things that other unis don't.

bostonerimus

RueyE wrote: »

Do you mean Loan or Grant?
Loans add to the amount to be paid back, whereas a grant doesn't.

We were lucky in that the grant system was still around when our eldest set off to university, so that reduced the amount borrowed by about £3.5k per year.

I almost cried when the UK introduced university fees. I went to a college within University of London in the early 1980s and I'm so grateful that it cost me nothing in tuition fees and I got a grant of around £2k for living expenses. I supplemented that in the summer by working for an employment agency doing things like washing dishes at the National Theatre and arranging chairs for outdoor concerts in Richmond Park. I managed to get a BSc and a PhD without paying a penny, but I started looking for jobs in the mid 1980s and my skills didn't seem to be much valued and there weren't many jobs available. So after spending a lot of money on my education the UK wasn't able to give me many opportunities so I got a job in the USA for twice the starting salary of my UK job offers and with better prospects.

fred246

MallyGirl wrote: »

Loan - not grant. She will have to pay it back

You need to do some maths. If you do vet med you will need to 'borrow' a lot. The salaries of vets are not as high as you might like to think. The government keep on adding more interest than you pay off. So unless you overpay it will never be paid off. After 30 years it is written off. If she is female she may have years off to have children. The interest keeps on getting added. I think the government have recently suggested reducing fees I think because they realise with the current system loans have little chance of being repaid.

happyandcontented

fred246 wrote: »

You need to do some maths. If you do vet med you will need to 'borrow' a lot. The salaries of vets are not as high as you might like to think. The government keep on adding more interest than you pay off. So unless you overpay it will never be paid off. After 30 years it is written off.

I disagree fundamentally with the principle of student loans but It is a graduate tax and should be viewed that way.

My son has just graduated this week, with a First Class Masters in Chemical Engineering, this was a 4-year course and he has a large student debt. However, the degree has secured him a top job with a welcome bonus and a good salary and the rate it will be paid is not too bad.

fred246

I think Martin Lewis did a piece on student loan repayments on one of his programmes. The amount you pay only depends on your salary. So if you will never repay it you might as well borrow as much as possible. My kids will just put the extra in their house deposit accounts.