Re-mortgage home for student fees

L0701738

Hi there, 

I’m looking for a bit of advice on what others would do if they were in my situation. I am a single mother living in Scotland with a daughter who has been accepted and the forms signed for a foundation dance course in London. Regardless of my finances I am desperate for her to go due to family issues. 

I earn around £28k per year and have two £5k loans of debt. I fully own my flat. My daughter was told at the audition that there was no financial help for the course since it’s a private institution, no loans available, but stated that charities could help with the £10k fees for the year. We accepted and later found out that no charities exist for her level. I also have a car on PCP which is due this June, the mileage is over by a lot so handing it back isn’t an option.  I owe £6300 for the car and planned on taking another loan for this then selling the car to get free’d up money for the course, since I owe £10k for the fees I thought about taking out £11k if accepted. This should allow for the majority of the course to be paid. The rent I have worked out I can just and no more afford since I have no mortgage. I am currently saving extra money so I can pay off one of my existing loans in June so that gets replaced with the new loan and I won’t have the PCP to pay for. 

My question is... given that I have a mortgage free flat should I be using this to re-mortgage or is my plan the best option?  I already rent out a room which is what I’ll be using to help pay towards the London accommodation fees. 

Thank you for reading my post and any comments are welcomed. 

MovingForwards

How many years is the course?
Is there any funding available in the later years?
-- if so, how much will it cover?

I'm asking this as you will need to think of the whole picture and not just the first year.

Would you be better off getting the money for all the years and banking them to cover all the years eg put them in fixed rate bonds or something.

How much is your property worth?
Do you have any other children?

With over £16k of debt, with a £28k salary, a loan may not be an option.

L0701738

Hi there,

Firstly thank you very much for your response. I really appreciate it. 

The course is only one year then after that she can apply to another college to do a degree which I have told her she can only go on if she gets loans to cover the full amount and I’ll pay for accommodation so this should hopefully be the only tuition fee I pay for.  The current college is £15k next year for which £8.5k is paid for so not an option. 

We have someone in the family with boarderline personality disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. They are abusive on a level which is unusual so at this stage I can only think of getting her out this year although I do agree with you. 

My property is worth around £75k and I don’t have any other children thankfully. I have checked my eligibility and seem to sit at 90% but I imagine the APR will be high. I hope to pay off one of the loans shortly before I apply for this. 

Thanks again for your help. 

MovingForwards

Its not normally recommended, but possibly consider getting a small mortgage to clear your debts and pay the fees.

Look to overpay it each month so clear it quicker.

You would need to be very disciplined not to take out loans etc again.

I'm sure your daughter will have a great time and your stress levels will go down knowing she is safe

Lungboy

L0701738 said:

My daughter was told at the audition that there was no financial help for the course since it’s a private institution, no loans available, but stated that charities could help with the £10k fees for the year. 

Have you checked that this is correct? A quick look on SAAS suggests they fund some private places in Scotland and ask that you contact them to find out about funding in the rest of the UK.

https://www.saas.gov.uk/_forms/private_courses.pdf

fewcloudy

Both of my daughters left from Scotland to London to study musical theatre at a private school. 

For youngest, SAAS gave her usual loan of just under 5k each year plus a loan of about 9k each year for tuition fees. This was a 3 year course.
Foundation 1 year course may be different but I doubt it (scottish students get at least 4 years tuition fees paid).
Initially when she was accepted she was told no funding available for fees as it was a private institution etc. I wasn’t so sure about that (I’m a careers adviser!) and told her to call SAAS and if necessary go visit them for an appointment, which she did. Lo and behold she was LENT all the money she required (all from SAAS).

L0701738

Firstly thank you to everyone for your replies, I honestly didn’t expect to get such a response so I really do appreciate it. 

I gave SAAS a call and although they will pay £9250 for a loan they only do this for degree courses. It won’t help this year but it’s good to know for next year.  They also stated that they do not offer any additional loans or help with accommodation, maybe that is done through the college or they don’t offer this anymore. 

It looks like I’ll have to go down the mortgage or loan route and I’ll definitely not be taking any more loans out once this is over, thanks for your advice though. If only I’d known the expense of dance schools a few years back! 

Thanks again guys I really appreciate your help 😊 

Lungboy

I know you said you wanted your Daughter to get away for family reasons but could she not stay within Scotland for the year but live away from home, then go to Uni the following year when she qualifies for funding?

L0701738

Hi Lungboy,

Thank you for your message. Unfortunately I had already paid the deposit and signed the forms before I realised there was no help from charities but if I’m honest I know she’ll be going to a safe place with good people and it’s her dream so I want to make it happen. But I do appreciate you trying to help! I’ll manage if I get accepted for a loan and I’ll just be very careful for the year. I just wanted to see if I had the right mindset for working out the finances since I’ve made a few costly mistakes in the past such as buying a car on pcp and going over the mileage! 🙈 

fewcloudy

Yes she could almost certainly have done the ‘foundation’ year or equivalent up here, but what’s done is done.
Next year, if she is accepted onto a f/t degree (at a private school but degree awarded by a recognised state university) she would apply for SAAS funding in the usual way, and each year after that. She will expect to get approx £5k maintenance award, and £9k+ for tuition fees. £14+ x 3 years
Re. living costs in say London; the rest is made up by her p/t job and help from you.
If you have more questions on dance schools and fees/funding/degree/diploma etc in future I am happy to answer by mail, as not really Mortgage related I guess. 

L0701738

Hi Few cloudy,

Thank you very much I really appreciate your help. Her dance teacher was surprised she didn’t apply for the degree but I guess she just wanted a guaranteed place. 

It sounds like next year will be a lot more manageable thankfully as I don’t think I could do this again but my university days were the best with lots of lovely memories so hopefully she gets the same. 

Thank you again for your help it makes me feel a lot better about next year!