Help me i'm a poor postgrad!!

taxipink

I will be receiving a regular loan of £700 per month over the next 12 months whilst I am a studying for an MSc, (I will be a non taxpayer). (I will start paying this back over a period of 4 years, once I have graduated, at a rate of 5.5% including the interest on the year whilst I am studying (ie 5 years worth of interest over a period of 4 years).)
Approx £350 of the £700 will immediately be withdrawn to cover rent and the rest will be used for living costs, I therefore will need easy access. I am looking for the best way to earn some interest but have access to the account at the same time, any suggestions?
I also have £3000 which ideally I would like to be able to access in emergencies but which could be put into a longer term savings account. £2000 of this is already in an ISA earning approx 4% but I would be open to moving it if there were any other options which would help me to earn enough to help pay the interest on my loan!
Grateful for any help, struggling to make ends meet with the budget at the moment!

Eliza252

If you want easy access for living costs - really a current account is the only way to go.. just look for one with the highest interest for your money.
With the remaining £1000 an instant access savings account is probably the best option - look for the one with the highest interest at the moment (see one of Martins articles) I've got mine in an Egg savings account cus that was the best option at the time.

Just out of interest, where did you get your loan from? I am hoping to go back and do a masters in a year and I have not managed to find anyone willing to give me a loan (aside from the career development ones)

memo_2

Don't know if you have tried this already but how about a Professional Studies Loan - HSBC, Natwest, Barclays do them. They differ from career development loans in the amount you are able to borrow and the repayment terms. You could find further info on their respective websites or just call into a branch to enquire?

Memo

melbury

My son is going back to do a masters and was really hoping for at least a little bit of help from the AHRC, but nothing, not a sausage - turned down completely.

Why is there so little financial help for postgrad study? It's just not fair when the government wants to encourage higher education and wastes so much money on other things.

So now it looks like it's down to us to try and help - what else can you do?

Loopylou_4

melbury wrote:

My son is going back to do a masters and was really hoping for at least a little bit of help from the AHRC, but nothing, not a sausage - turned down completely.

Why is there so little financial help for postgrad study? It's just not fair when the government wants to encourage higher education and wastes so much money on other things.

So now it looks like it's down to us to try and help - what else can you do?

I completely agree. The fees are just ridiculous, not to mention that post grad means you'll have had to have done undergrad & so it's highly likely that you are already up to your eyeballs in debt from that. It is not at all encouraging.
I want to do a masters too, but having just finished three years of undergrad, I am going to have to wait until at least next year now & work work work this year to save up (or just pay off some of the debts already incurred).
The government really needs to do something to help people. It is such a horrible thing to be in so much debt & for the sole reason of wanting to educate yourself so that you TRY & end up with a half decent job

surfcat

So presumably the working population should be taxed more to pay for people to study arts or humanities into their late twenties?

The government IS encouraging higher education, by increasing the money available for undergraduate study. And no I have never voted Labour.

melancholly

>So presumably the working population should be taxed more to pay for people to study arts or humanities into their late twenties?


Maybe the taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for postgrad training - but if you look at it from the side of people who want to go into academia, it's not so nice. You pay for an undergrad degree, self-fund a masters, finally get a PhD which gives you a stipend you can live off but not really save with (and you're trying to pay off debt anyway), then you get to apply for a postdoc, which will last a year to 18 months before you have to look for something else at a pay rate which is about 10-15% less than the average graduate starting salary (even though you have 4 more years of education and debt)...... It's not an easy option and when you can get £6000 for teacher training courses, it does feel slightly unfair!
It's not quite as easy to dismiss the problem!

And from my experience, part-time work was the only way to stay in the black... not a great option but I couldn't find any alternatives.

Eliza252

surfcat wrote:

So presumably the working population should be taxed more to pay for people to study arts or humanities into their late twenties?

The government IS encouraging higher education, by increasing the money available for undergraduate study. And no I have never voted Labour.

umm.. im just wandering where the extra money for undergrad education is?
Because both my brothers have now decided they cant afford to go to university because of the fees and there are no grants available for them that will cover it. The student loan bearly covers rent, let alone fees.

Also, I dont think that government money should be used for post-grad but i think that the government could do more to encourage funds to be provided from private companies and some kind of reasonable loan system could be organised - career development loans as advertised by the uni careers service are a scandalous amount of money.
I am not adverse to working to pay for my post-grad, have taken two years out following my degree and am working 12 + hour days, seven days a week to save up. I still wish that the importance of social science and arts subjects would be acknowledged and more done to encourage funds to be set up to help post-grads who want to study them.