Students studying NHS degree - England or Wales?

kernowstudent

Hi, my daughter is going to start a nursing degree next year. Because it's NHS, she could study at an england uni and get £5k per year towards her maintenance expenses.  OR go to study in Wales and get her tuition fees paid if she then works in a welsh hospital for a set period once she graduates. i believe the payback period expires in 40yrs for english degrees, and 30yrs for welsh degrees (but they add on an above inflation %).  I believe that because it's an NHS degree, english students can qualify to study in wales and get the reductions. If my understandings above are correct, can some clever accountant work out which is financially better for my daughter? As a nurse, she's never going to be that much over the salaries before the payments kick in, so I think in both cases the period will expire before she's paid less than half back?  I have created a spreadsheet but don't think I'm calculating it correctly!! thank you!

silvercar

If all you say is correct (I have no reason to doubt it, but I've never researched the difference), your calculation will depend heavily on how long she would be required to work in a welsh hospital, how easy it would be to get a job there and whether she was willing to do so. 

If she is never going to pay it back, then the interest rate doesn't matter, nor does the size of the loan. So the interesting difference is the £5k towards her maintenance, that presumably would not be given in Wales.

As I say, I've not researched it, but I thought the payback would depend on whether the money came from SLC Wales or SLC England, rather than where she will study.