Being a student in 2019

Silver_Queen

Hi.

I can hopefully help you here, I have a lot of experience with this since I'm a recent graduate too.

1. Overdrafts: You graduate in June 2020. Your overdraft should automatically convert into a Graduate Overdraft in June 2020 which permits you to have an extra 1 year interest free. £4k is a huge overdraft and I'm surprised you managed to get such a large amount, but generally banks tend to be OK with recent grads so you'd usually be able to work something out with them even after June 2020.

What bank are you with? My OH is with Natwest, is 33, graduated 12 years ago and still has a £1k "student" overdraft that's interest free.

2. Hardship funds, hardship funds, hardship funds. Even if it's an interest free loan that you can pay back. If you can pay off the loan that's charging 49.5%, that'll be a big difference.

3. Remember you're at university to study, not to work to pay for a course that you're not attending. Easier said that done but PLEASE try to spend less time working and more time studying, especially now you're in your third year. My OH did the same thing as you and graduated with a worthless degree because his grades were so poor.

4. Why did you end up needing to take out £8k in debt over the last two years? How much student finance do you get and how much is your rent? I got £3.5k maintenance, my rent was about £5k per annum and I worked 15 hours per week to make up the difference. Are you going out a lot and can you cut this down? You can't un-spend money but you can nip it in the bud.

enthusiasticsaver

Surely your student maintenance loan should cover the majority of your rent? That is almost £9k on top of the tuition fees loan although if your household income is high that may be lower. If your course started before August 2016 the rates are different too. Is there any reason you are not getting the full amount?

The killer is that loan which is a very high rate of interest so taking that out has compounded your finance problems. Most banks will give you a year to sort out your finances after graduation and give you an interest free overdraft. Have you done a budget and cut back on as many non essential outgoings as you can? Obviously not rent but going out can be done on a shoestring.

Silver_Queen

peterbaker wrote: »

Is it not a standard plan 2 Student Finance England loan, if so the current payback threshold salary is surely now around £25,000pa not £10,000? Or am I missing something? It's not nice having a Student Finance England loan balance around your neck when you start full-time work in earnest, but at least if I am right, it isn't as immediate a concern as your current commercially arranged debts.

Yes. I graduated in 2012 so I was part of the first cohort on Plan 2. I did not start paying back my student loan until I earned more than £25,250. I currently earn £35,000 and I pay back £69 per month.

Adam_Fox

Sometimes phoning the bank up and explaining your situation is all you need to do they are sometimes willing to co-operate with people that are willing to work with them. I know it may seem embarrassing or not possible for your parents may be able to borrow from them they may be able to help in some way.

peterbaker

Silver_Queen wrote: »

Yes. I graduated in 2012 so I was part of the first cohort on Plan 2. I did not start paying back my student loan until I earned more than £25,250. I currently earn £35,000 and I pay back £69 per month.

Hi SilverQueen, I'm a 1970s graduate so what do I know , but did you not mean to say you started your degree course in 2012 rather than graduated in that very first year of the Plan 2 cohort?

Studentdebt

Thank you to peterbaker, your advice has helped me the most and thank you for being so nice about it.

To everyone else’s comments:
I live in Manchester and living is expensive for students. I’m on a creative course and that costs a lot to maintain also. The train daily is £12 with my railcard. My rent is £520, as well as bills and maintenance when my landlord decided I’ve damaged items that I hadn’t.
I don’t go out, I don’t have the time because I’m either working or studying.
Hardship funds are limited in my university there’s only so much I can give out

I’ll repost this on the other page, Thank You to everyone for your advice!

Caz3121

you mention tuition fee loan...what about maintenance loan?
https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/continuing-fulltime-students

peterbaker

Studentdebt wrote: »

Thank you to peterbaker, your advice has helped me the most and thank you for being so nice about it.

Well I am glad you found it of help - it is always good to air and share problems but I still feel the most embarrassed between us on behalf of this so short-sighted country as it is run at the moment :mad:

As I said the other day, this student tuition fee lark and no automatic non-means tested help for university students is our fault not yours! Some enlightened countries, not so far from our shores, do this much better for their young people. They have proper wages for part-time students and they have proper levels of taxation that make their countries all inclusive and happy places to live study and work. They never told you this when you were struggling to decide what course to do at what university, but as an Englishman you could by now be in your third year in another EU country where tuition is free to all EU students and in one country I know all EU students receive the equivalent of around £800pm I think as a free grant as long as they show they will also do some part-time work to help support themselves.

So stuff the shortsighted mealy-mouthed Tory bullpoopers. Vote Labour.

Silver_Queen

Ok, something doesn’t quite add up here.

Where’s your maintenance loan? How much do you get? If you are in really dire straits, your uni hardship fund will help you. Have you received hardship funds in the past?

I was a student in Brighton which probably cost about the same as Manchester?

Can you move closer to your uni? Why do you live so far that you have to pay £12 every day for the train? Is it cheaper to get a monthly train pass?

Did you do an inspection of the place before you moved in? Was there an inventory? If not, why not? Is your deposit protected?

How were you even allowed to get into this much debt? When I was a student I tried to take out cards and loans but thankfully was only permitted to take out £500 plus my overdraft of £2k.
(And Peterbaker, you’re right, I started in 2012! Oops!)

peterbaker

Silver_Queen wrote: »

How were you even allowed to get into this much debt? When I was a student I tried to take out cards and loans but thankfully was only permitted to take out £500 plus my overdraft of £2k.

He's a he (I think!...), SilverQueen, so that puts him at a disadvantage immediately in attempting to identify and moderate true costs and organise a budget and stick to it!;) Trust me, it's an XY chromosone thing at any age for some of us

So I am not surprised at anyone getting into that sort of debt in less than 3 years let alone a younger person suddenly expected to survive perfectly on their own. The debt is surely peanuts compared to overall typical living costs in a major City. He's explained that over half of it was with what I would call loan sharks although he more politely said loan agency. The £4,000 total on overdrafts could be explained by having accounts with two or more different banks. I think that's not unusual.

(And Peterbaker, you’re right, I started in 2012! Oops!)

Time flies when you're having fun