Introduction

A PLAIN ENGLISH GUIDE TO STUDENT FINANCE

CAN WE AFFORD IT?         

One of the biggest anxieties facing both students and parents about going to university is often the question – ‘can we afford it’? Most people have heard about student loans, and how it takes some people years and years to pay them off – and who wants to start their working life with a huge debt hung around their neck? Or live for 3 years on baked beans on toast and wear the same t-shirt and jeans till they fall off your back?

There is an alternative! You must surely have heard also of the great social life students seem to always manage to eke out for themselves! They can’t do this if they are starving in a garret! OK, so it is mostly nights out in the Student Union bar, or on Student (cheap!) Nights around the town, but who needs wealth and opulence to have a good time? (forget Paris Hilton – she doesn’t live in the real world!)

In reality, student loans, for both Tuition Fees (the cost of your course) and for Maintenance (to help towards your living costs) are the most manageable loans you will ever have in your life – and are really quite flexible. You do not have to start paying anything off the loans until you are working, and earning at least £15,000 per year. Currently, (2009 ) the repayment rate is 9% of the amount you earn OVER £15,00 per year. So, for example, if you were earning £17,000 per year, you would pay (9% on £2,000) - just £3.46 per week off your loan. And the interest you are charged is always linked to the economic base rate, which means that the amount you pay back is always the same in value as the amount you first borrowed.

Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Further into this booklet you will find charts and tables designed to help you understand the pros and cons of student finance. Added to this, loads of information, in plain English, to help you find and make the most of the help and assistance that is on offer to the great majority of students.

So have a good read. Make sure you know what you have to do in order to take advantage of what is on offer. Remember – there is some free money out there – yes, FREE MONEY – but it is up to you to find it and ask!

Good Luck!