Postgraduate Master's Loan

bensteele38

Hi all- could do with some help!

I am still unsure as to whether it would be best for me to apply for/how much to apply for the post-graduates student loan, which is up to £11,000+

My situation is slightly different in that my employer is paying 50% of my course fees, leaving me with £4320 course fees left to pay.

I am currently renting with my partner, and saving for a deposit for a mortgage. Hence funding the £4320 myself would have a big impact on my savings and my ability to continue renting and saving at the same time. 

My current salary is £20,000 so below any repayment thresholds currently, but with salary increases post qualification I should be above the post-graduate repayment threshold and likely to repay the loan within 30 years.

Therefore would the best option be to just borrow the £4320 to cover my fees rather than the full amount? 

Or if I borrowed the full allowance of £11,000+ I could utilise the extra money how I saw fit (e.g. towards putting down a larger deposit on a house which would then reduce then my mortgage- a student loan is a better loan than a mortgage?) 

Would really appreciate anyone's advice. 

DrEskimo

I dont understand how paying the £4320 from your savings will impact your ability to continue renting and saving? Presumably the fact you won't be working FT will have the biggest impact. Whether you have money sitting in your savings account or not is neither here nor there.

Borrowing more than the £4320 seems daft, as the postgraduate loan is charged at RPI + 3% interest, so is a fairly high interest rate (certainly not favourable to a mortgage from a purely interest rate perspective).

I say you should pay from your savings, but that does depend on where it currently sits? Is it within a LISA?