Offer from Nottingham's China campus - worth it?

Wow that was a bit blunt of your tutor to say... there are loads of expats / foreigners who live and study in Asia. I can tell you that the expat community is usually pretty awesome, and having English as your first language will make you very desirable if you wanted to have a job there. If you plan to work at any major international company with both West and Eastern links, having an 'asian' background could actually benefit you.

HOWEVER... On the other hand it does depend on where the campus is. Ningbo (I looked it up) is not somewhere I am familiar with. If it was Hong Kong or Singapore & Shanghai I would've highly reccommended it for the reasons above ^

I also don't reccommend choosing it just because it'll be cheaper, and there will be a massive culture shock, and you might not be pushing yourself to get higher grades like what Exeter is asking for.

Overall synopsis: Major Asian city = awesome idea just for the record, but in this case, stick to the UK campus's...

Ningbo isn't that bad, though. The city's population is 7.6 million, which is only a bit smaller than London (I might be mistaken here) plus it isn't too far away from Shanghai.

I mean, my offers from Leeds and Exeter both include a year abroad - in Leeds' case, it's a year abroad studying Mandarin (the degree is joint honours Economics and Chinese) - but actually living in China for three whole years really does sound quite cool.

so I won't have the whole "owing £40-50k to the British state at the ripe old age of 22/23" issue (my parents said they'd pay upfront if I chose to study there).

This makes very little financial sense. Yes, university costs a lot in the UK but the monthly repayments are small and few people will ever repay it all. You are lucky that your parents can afford to help you, but you should consider where their money is going to be most useful. Would you rather they pay for your fees or give you a deposit for a house?

They grow at 3% above inflation, and I have very little reason to believe that the repayment terms won't be changed in the future / that the loans will actually be wiped off when I'm 53. Something like 78% of graduates will never earn enough to repay in full, I've read recently? When the system was drawn up, they were hoping for that number to be closer to 30%, IIRC.

Obviously I'd rather have smaller/no fees like every other country in the world, but welcome to England I guess.

Yo,

So mostly for bant, I applied to Nottingham's China campus for the BSc International Economics & Trade and got an offer of ABB. I'm a UK applicant and already have offers from Leeds and Exeter for similar things (only SOAS left to go now).

It looks like a cool deal - you get exactly the same Nottingham degree certificate wherever you study (I think they have a campus in Malaysia too), it will turn out to be much cheaper than studying in the UK: no loan available from the UK govt obviously, but the cost of living in China is wonderfully low - like £1000/year for accommodation, if not less (?), with the fees at £8000 currently, so I won't have the whole "owing £40-50k to the British state at the ripe old age of 22/23" issue (my parents said they'd pay upfront if I chose to study there).

The course is quite funky too - the link to the modules is above but basically this is what I'd end up having on my transcript:

Year 1
Introduction to Microeconomics
Introduction to Macroeconomics
Economic Integration I
Economic Integration II
Mathematical Economics
Introductory Econometrics
Current Economic Issues
Communication and Culture

Year 2
Macroeconomic Theory
Microeconomic Theory
International Trade
Monetary Economics
Econometrics I
Econometrics II
Global Media & Communication
Public Relations and Propaganda (!!)
Political Communication
Labour Economics OR Development Economics

Year 3
International Trade Policy
Advanced Monetary Economics
Advanced International Trade Theory
International Money & Macroeconomics
Industrial Organisation
Advanced Mathematical Economics
Political Economy
Dissertation

Instead of the communication-related modules there are options to take modules like financial management, new venture creation, financial accounting, etc or a language... but at the time, the above is what looked most interesting to me, especially the propaganda one (studying that in China, of all places).

Anyway, is it something worth looking into? My tutor at school was quite rude about it - when I asked for a reference to send to them she was all "don't go there, employers will think you're stupid if you put 'University of Nottingham (China campus)" on your CV, and it will be full of Chinese people" (?? well obviously but there are plenty of international students there too!).

But I was actually quite excited when I got the offer - I mean, the culture shock / general life experience I'd get would be awesome. All the teaching is in English, and it's a Nottingham degree at the end of the day. Plus the offer is quite good - my Exeter one, in comparison, is A*AA!

What do people think? Please could someone help me think through this / give opinions etc? I could really use some help!

Thank you in advance...

The terms can't be changed. That is illegal.

I think it's unlikely that the repayment terms would change drastically- but I believe it is possible for the government to change the terms of repayment if they need to. Even SFE's own literature suggests the terms of your loan could change.

Each time the student loan system has changed it has only affected new students, not old students. I can't see that changing.

Your tutor is an ignorant idiot.

80% of the student body are international students, vast majority of the Chinese there are there for postgrad rather than undergrad. Think of it this way, 99% of China nationals prefer their children to attend a uni in UK rather than a UK uni in China.

If you have the money to fork out upfront then this is a good experience and 99% of graduates will just state they attended U Nottingham minus the campus, do those in UK mention that they are attending Jubilee campus?

Ningbo itself isn't that nice a place, the campus looks very similar to the University Park Campus with a few identical buildings. It is a small city by China standards and it is classified as a Tier-4 city. Good or bad isn't really as straightforward as it seems. Some people love it some aren't that thrilled about it as there isn't that much to do there.

Worth it? I would personally suggest you visit the campus, then get to know some students there, one thing for sure is your living cost will be closer to £3-4k per year rather than under £1k That is minus your flight tickets.

What about the time that the government sold off loans taken out before 1998 to debt management companies? This has caused some changes to how these people have to repay their loans, particularly if they are self employed.

I'm not talking about major changes to the amount you would have to pay back, but the government are perfectly able to make more subtle changes. The current student loan system is not sustainable, as most people won't pay back all the money they've borrowed. As such, I can see changes happening in the future, such as increased interest rates for higher earners, or the loans not being written off after 30 years, and I believe this is totally within the scope of what the government can do. Another thing they could do is not increase the repayment threshold in line with earnings, as they have promised to do.

I'm not saying the government will suddenly increase the amount students owe by thousands of pounds, but it is wrong to suggest it's illegal for them to make smaller changes to how loans are re-payed, meaning ex-students have to pay more in real terms.

In light of this, is it better to pay university fees upfront if you can?

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In light of this, is it better to pay university fees upfront if you can?

No. SlowlorisIncognito is misleading you. Student loans could be sold in the future, but that wouldn't change the rate of repayment or interests rates. There are plenty of articles which explain why your parents would be making a mistake if they funded your fees, google it. I believe there is a clause in the student loan agreement that would allow the government to change the repayment conditions; however the chances of the happening are very slim indeed. It would be political suicide.

Why study for a degree if you're going to have to crimp your lifestyle just to avoid debt? Lol.

Anyway, should you fund your degree straight up? My advice is No. You only get the chance to loan from the government once for your first degree, after that, it is near impossible getting financial help. Take the loan for the first degree, because you'll need the money later if you want to pursue a higher/different/second degree...

Should you go to China? It sounds like you really want the experience & the opportunity to 'save money'. Only, you won't save much money at all, and Ningbo isn't exactly the epicenter of amazing student/asian lifestyle experience.

In summary, take a loan and go to a good ol' UK University with a year abroad in Asia. Do well on your degree, get a good job, and you'll be laughing the loan repayments off in no time