Disparity in Living Loans across the UK
Scopolamine
Posts: 7 Forumite
I watched Martins show about student finance this evening and it prompted me to do a little bit of investigation regarding the availability of maintenance loans in different parts of the UK.
In England students living away from home can receive a loan of up to £8750.
In Wales you get a combined loan and grant up to a maximum of £9000
In Scotland the loan seems to be £5750
In Northern Ireland the loan appears to be £4840
It would seem that if you come from England or Wales and want to live away from home whilst at University then you're likely to be better off than if you come from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Welsh students seem to have it the best as the are entitled to a loan and a grant to the tune of 9K, irrespective of income - the only difference seems to be the amount you have to pay back - the more your parents earn, the bigger the loan and the smaller the grant.
English student are the next best off although their loan is affected by means testing so the more your parents earn the less you get.
Scottish and Northern Irish students are the worst off - the maximum (means tested) loan is substantially less than their English and Welsh counterparts and if their parents even earn a modest income then they are penalized further.
How can there be such a difference in terms of student living support across the four parts of the UK? Are the Scottish and Northern Irish education establishments trying to dissuade students from look for education outside their own country? I would be most surprised if the maximum loan available to these students would even cover lodgings should they decide to study in another part of the UK!
In England students living away from home can receive a loan of up to £8750.
In Wales you get a combined loan and grant up to a maximum of £9000
In Scotland the loan seems to be £5750
In Northern Ireland the loan appears to be £4840
It would seem that if you come from England or Wales and want to live away from home whilst at University then you're likely to be better off than if you come from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Welsh students seem to have it the best as the are entitled to a loan and a grant to the tune of 9K, irrespective of income - the only difference seems to be the amount you have to pay back - the more your parents earn, the bigger the loan and the smaller the grant.
English student are the next best off although their loan is affected by means testing so the more your parents earn the less you get.
Scottish and Northern Irish students are the worst off - the maximum (means tested) loan is substantially less than their English and Welsh counterparts and if their parents even earn a modest income then they are penalized further.
How can there be such a difference in terms of student living support across the four parts of the UK? Are the Scottish and Northern Irish education establishments trying to dissuade students from look for education outside their own country? I would be most surprised if the maximum loan available to these students would even cover lodgings should they decide to study in another part of the UK!
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Comments
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It's not the educational establishments that decide the level of loan/grant but each country/province parliament.0
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Scopolamine wrote: »I watched Martins show about student finance this evening and it prompted me to do a little bit of investigation regarding the availability of maintenance loans in different parts of the UK.
In England students living away from home can receive a loan of up to £8750.
In Wales you get a combined loan and grant up to a maximum of £9000
In Scotland the loan seems to be £5750
In Northern Ireland the loan appears to be £4840
It would seem that if you come from England or Wales and want to live away from home whilst at University then you're likely to be better off than if you come from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Welsh students seem to have it the best as the are entitled to a loan and a grant to the tune of 9K, irrespective of income - the only difference seems to be the amount you have to pay back - the more your parents earn, the bigger the loan and the smaller the grant.
English student are the next best off although their loan is affected by means testing so the more your parents earn the less you get.
Scottish and Northern Irish students are the worst off - the maximum (means tested) loan is substantially less than their English and Welsh counterparts and if their parents even earn a modest income then they are penalized further.
How can there be such a difference in terms of student living support across the four parts of the UK? Are the Scottish and Northern Irish education establishments trying to dissuade students from look for education outside their own country? I would be most surprised if the maximum loan available to these students would even cover lodgings should they decide to study in another part of the UK!
That's the problem with systems with low/no tuition fees. The loans are too small so there's less money in the system to redistribute for maintenance. Scottish/Northern Irish students get a bigger overall subsidy if they earn well after graduation as there's less debt to repay and also lower interest is applied to the loans. The problem is it's less progressive as it's higher future earners that benefit from the subsidy.0 -
My mistake. I should have realised that it was the local government rather than the EB.unforeseen wrote: »It's not the educational establishments that decide the level of loan/grant but each country/province parliament.0 -
Nope, not local government. That is things such as unitary authorities, borough councils etc
Wales and Scotland have devolved governments. NI has a devolved government that is no longer functional and England uses the UK government0 -
I definitely think this is something needs looking into. As far as I can tell only students from the least we'll off backgrounds (or those with wealthy families) can actually afford to go to a university that involves living away from home - even if it is in their own country, because they'll get some form of grant/bursary on top of the maximum living loan. Anyone else won't have the funds to live.That's the problem with systems with low/no tuition fees. The loans are too small so there's less money in the system to redistribute for maintenance. Scottish/Northern Irish students get a bigger overall subsidy if they earn well after graduation as there's less debt to repay and also lower interest is applied to the loans. The problem is it's less progressive as it's higher future earners that benefit from the subsidy.
If your maximum loan is £4800 and you have to pay out £4000 for your accommodation ( assumption is 40 weeks at £100pw) that'd leave you £20 to live off for your year at university. If your parents earn a modest income you'll get less than that and the parents will be expected to make up the difference - not that that'd help though as a thing less made back up to £4800 is still insufficient to live on to begin with.
Perhaps Martin should raise some awkward questions with the appropriate people?0 -
Scopolamine wrote: »I definitely think this is something needs looking into. As far as I can tell only students from the least we'll off backgrounds (or those with wealthy families) can actually afford to go to a university that involves living away from home - even if it is in their own country, because they'll get some form of grant/bursary on top of the maximum living loan. Anyone else won't have the funds to live.
If your maximum loan is £4800 and you have to pay out £4000 for your accommodation ( assumption is 40 weeks at £100pw) that'd leave you £20 to live off for your year at university. If your parents earn a modest income you'll get less than that and the parents will be expected to make up the difference - not that that'd help though as a thing less made back up to £4800 is still insufficient to live on to begin with.
Perhaps Martin should raise some awkward questions with the appropriate people?
He tends to focus on the English system.0 -
Martin Lewis has written about how much the government expects parents to contribute.
Whether that is right or wrong, and whether it is right or wrong for it to be different in different countries is for debate.I'm a Forum Ambassador on The Coronavirus Boards as well as the housing, mortgages and student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0 -
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Martin Lewis has written about how much the government expects parents to contribute.
Whether that is right or wrong, and whether it is right or wrong for it to be different in different countries is for debate.
Quite possibly so, however I think they are two separate debates. The debate on whether the children of families with a higher income should be partly supported with that income and whether the support should be based solely on the amount of income or the amount of disposable income (after all monthly expenses are discounted) is different from the one which argues that some parts of the UK appear to provide insufficient financial support for students in order to live whilst at university compared to other parts of the UK and whether this is fair or in need of adjustment.0 -
unforeseen wrote: »It's not the educational establishments that decide the level of loan/grant but each country/province parliament.
Interesting then that the parliament decides the level of loan/grant but delegates the authority for deciding whether or not an individual is entitled to the funding to the local education board (least that seems to be the case for NI - can't comment on the rest of the UK)
Given the backward nature of the currently non-existent NI parliament, that would certainly explain the lack of maintenance funds - they're still living in the 20th century (or maybe earlier). Can't think of any excuse for the parliament in Scotland though.0
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