How will the increase in tuition fees affect students?

Hopefully I'll be at uni in 2014, I was wondering how the fees would affect me. Is the increase really that bad? Will it prevent the families with low income from sending their children to the better universities?

I was told that we won't have to pay back the fees until we're earning a reasonable amount of money per year.

What other things do we have to pay for?

My family has quite a low income, my father works hard as a taxi driver, he really does, and my mother does not work. They are separated. My brother got into Durham university in 2009 to study computer science.

Sorry I'm not that knowledgeable in this area...

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1

logiadoevus

Original post by Wall of sound

Hopefully I'll be at uni in 2014, I was wondering how the fees would affect me. Is the increase really that bad? Will it prevent the families with low income from sending their children to the better universities?

I was told that we won't have to pay back the fees until we're earning a reasonable amount of money per year.

What other things do we have to pay for?

My family has quite a low income, my father works hard as a tax driver, he really does, and my mother does not work. They are separated. My brother got into Durham university in 2009 to study computer science.

Sorry I'm not that knowledgeable in this area...

Tuition fee increase won't affect this - as you only start paying back when you yourself are earning at least £21k. Your parents therefore won't have to pay for your tuition.

As for living expenses, that's different (and a look on the internet and around here to learn about maintenance grants, loans, etc will help).

Reply 2

drummer

Will it prevent the families with low income from sending their children to the better universities?

Not at all. Anyone has the right to higher education regardless of income. Nearly all students take the full tuition fee loan unless they or their parents can afford to pay them off year by year. The only problem here is money to sustain your living during University.

With the repayment, if you take out the tuition fee loan you do not have to pay anything back unless you earn £21000 or over starting the April after you graduate. even so, it will only be 9% of what you earn over the £21000. Barely touching your salary each month. After 25 years, any remaining 'debt' will be written off.

Financially wise my parents are not earning that much. Hence why I get grant to help with whatever I use it on, food clothes books bills etc. So overall, its not too bad for the degree at the end of it.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

Wall of sound

Why were people rioting saying this would separate the rich from the poor? Or is this completely irrelevant? If we don't have to pay the fees straight up why did the riots exist? Or is it the fact that by the time we finish education we'll be in 27k debt?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 4

Jackso

1. You don't have to pay back anything until you're earning at least £21,000 a year, and even then it's more like a tax than anything since it's taken off your salary depending on what you earn. The vast majority won't pay back everything they "owe" before the 30 year limit (starts once you graduate from university.)

2. You get a maintenance loan. Due to your family's low income; you will be eligible for extra money given through grants and additional money for maintenance.

Reply 5

Jackso

Original post by Wall of sound

Why were people rioting saying this would separate the rich from the poor? Or is this completely irrelevant? If we don't have to pay the fees straight up why did the riots exist? Or was that because the initial plan was to cut the fees and instead were tripled? Or is it the fact that by the time we finish education we'll be in 27k debt?

Because the government did a typically awful job of explaining how it worked. Upon first observation it looked like they were just tripling tuition fees and therefore putting everyone in a lot more debt which they had to quickly pay off. This wasn't the case but it's still pretty bad. And for most people, it'll be much closer to £40k debt not including 'interest' which will just keep raising it higher and higher. Pretty ridiculous since it only affects England, even in the US they finish with less debt than we do. Wales and NI only have to pay 3grand a year; Scotland is still for free I believe.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

james22

Original post by Wall of sound

They rioted because they didn't understand the system. The increase in fee's has no affected anyone's abillity to go to university as the maintance grants/loans are unchanged.

Reply 7

drummer

Original post by Wall of sound

Pretty stupid I guess. It's as simple as if you'd rather not do a degree and consider yourself 'free' from 'debt' then by all means do that. But if you can't afford tuition fees and need to take a loan to complete your degree then that's fine as well. Remember, no one said they HAD to go to University, and this isn't debt where debt collectors come knocking at your door.

Reply 8

Wall of sound

Thank you very much guys. I really appreciate the replies. I can now look forward to 2014 without any reason to worry! :biggrin:

Reply 9

FDR

Original post by Wall of sound

As has been mentioned, you don't pay anything up front to the Universities for tuition, it's all paid for by the government for you, and you pay 9% on everything you earn over £21,000 when you work, and if you haven't paid it back in 30 years time, the debt gets wiped.

What you do pay, is living costs - i.e for food and accomodation. For this, you get a maintenance loan from the government, and sometimes, a grant. The minimum that everyone is entitled to, regardless of income, is about £3,500. This can increase a lot if you come from a poorer family, with a lot being in the form of a grant that you don't need to pay back at all. Often, your university has bursaries that you can ask for if you need help too.

It's not the most popular thing to say, but I actually think it's a good policy. it means that everyone pays nothing at the point of use for their education, and they get a lot of help to pay for other costs too. Also, the fact that the people who benefit the most from education are the students themselves, as they often go on to earn a lot more than non graduates, It makes it fairer to place most of the burden on them.

Reply 10

emilie18

My family is also low-income, but both me and my twin are off to uni in Septemeber!

There is a lot of help available, through loans and grants etc. A quick bit of advice, though, sort out the loans in plenty of time, not the day before the deadline, as this will lead to a lot of stress... *ahem*

You'll be able to get a loan to cover tuition as well as a maintenance grant to cover living costs. As you don't go to uni until 2014, now's a good time to get a job and start saving, too. It's nice to have the added security of knowing you have savings in the bank. There may also be grants available from the universities. E.g. Aston Uni (where I'm off to) offer really good grants for people from low-income backgrounds. I've already managed to get about £7,000 off over the 4 years I think :smile:

Lots of people have said this but remember - you don't need to pay it back for AGES, and even then it's a tiny sum each month. For the majority of people the debt will be wiped off anyway!!

:smile:

Reply 11

aeterno

Original post by Wall of sound

They were rioting because they were too idiotic to actually understand how the system works. Rest assured you have nothing to worry about.

Reply 12

Wall of sound

Thank you very much guys!

I feel so good knowing I don't have anything to worry about. Do you think anything will change in terms of fees, from now until 2014?

I'm looking forward to the whole experience!

Reply 13

nekha123

Original post by Wall of sound

No, not at all. Education is our right. Doesn't matter what's your dad's income is or what's the fee hike is. We are supported by government to have a education via loan. This option is really an useful one if you use the opportunity. Just don't worry about paying back. As many others said here, you are not required to pay back until you earn £21,000. And yeah, the difference between rich and poor is, you'll have to pay your £27k at the end of your education. But the good thing is education is same for all. Just get ready to show your talent to the world. All the best!