HIGHER EDUCATION
What’s it going to cost?
Tuition Fees and Living Expenses are the two main expenses when you go to university.
These are what a university or college charges you for your course.
From 2006, a new system for funding Higher Education was introduced. All universities can now charge ‘top up’ or variable fees of up to £3145 per year. Scotland has different arrangements so it is important to check funding arrangements with your individual university or college.
These ‘top up’ fees are not payable until you finish your course and the majority of students are able to take out a Student Loan to repay their Tuition Fees. The Student Loan becomes repayable [at a low rate of interest] when you are earning more than £15,000 per year – someone earning £20,000 per year would be making loan re-payments of approximately £37 per month. Unpaid balances are written off after 25 years.
As a student you will have to pay for all your living expenses such as accommodation/rent costs, food, travel, social life, mobile phone, TV Licence, trips, books, etc.
All students can apply for a Student Loan for living expenses whilst at university. This loan is repayable, with your Tuition Fee loan, when you finish your course and are earning more than £15,000 per year.
Higher Education [Student] Maintenance Grant
If you are on a low income, you can also apply for a non-repayable grant of up to £2,835 per year. This grant is to help with your living and course costs and is usually paid on a termly basis. ALL students who get a maintenance grant will also receive a minimum bursary [see below for details] from their university.
Applying for Loans and Grants
Applications for Student Loans and Student Maintenance Grants can be made online via www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk or through your Local Education Authority on a PN1 form*. You can apply online from February/March onwards of the year that you want to go to university, even if you have not got a firm offer from a university – you can add this later. Your college or Connexions should be able to help you with the paperwork.
You don’t have to wait for a university offer to apply –you can add that later.
* When you fill in the PN1 form, make sure you say YES in Section 13 to the Student Loans Company sharing their data with the university otherwise you will NOT automatically be eligible for a bursary!
Bursary paymentsALL universities have to offer a minimum ‘bursary’ [grant] of £310 a year to students who receive the Higher Education Maintenance Grant.
Many universities also offer bursaries to certain groups of students [such as Care Leavers or students with disabilities or disadvantaged students] and also in certain subject areas.
Check out
http://bursarymap.direct.gov.uk which lists all the university bursaries available.
Remember that bursaries and grants are NOT repayable.
Some universities are being very generous so it pays to shop around! [E.g. in 2007, University of Winchester offered a £2000 bursary to care leavers and University of Surrey a bursary of £1,000 whilst the University of Reading offered up to £1350 to low income students].
N.B Teaching, Nursing and other Allied Health Professional Courses can now offer generous bursaries. This can affect your entitlement to the FULL Student Maintenance Grant and may in some circumstances reduce it by up to 50%. However the bursary will still leave you better off.