How am I going to afford uni??

If you can live at home London can have a lot to recommend. I wouldn't study here otherwise except for very particular courses (Imperial for example).

Reply 22

Original post by Doonesbury

Last time I checked Imperial doesn't offer English & Drama... or even just English.

I said it would need a major change of heart!

Reply 23

OP

I’m hoping it’s like that lmao I’ll probably be more home sick because of the 200 mile distance but I’m sure I’ll survive.

Reply 24

OP

They’re divorced but he’s not related to me and he doesn’t provide financial support either. She’s in the process of moving out but this might not be done before I apply for my loans so I’m worried how this might affect the amount. Thanks for the advice, I’m looking up bursaries now.

(Original post by ajj2000)
Both courses sound great! By roommate do you mean lodger? They would be ok but I'd be very cautious if it might be considered a relationship. You really dont want to ask your mum to commit fraud.

By the way, its worth looking on each university website to see how much you might get for low income bursaries. It can make a lot of difference - enough to change your choice of university over. From a quick look you might get £1,800 a year at Loughborough for example. Tax free. If you have a major change of heart you could get £5k a year at Imperial! Its worth checking.

Reply 25

Original post by Lindsi23

They’re divorced but he’s not related to me and he doesn’t provide financial support either. She’s in the process of moving out but this might not be done before I apply for my loans so I’m worried how this might affect the amount. Thanks for the advice, I’m looking up bursaries now.

You might need to be careful in that case. The fact someone the government might see as being a partner is not a relative of yours and doesnt provide any money doesnt change the calculation - their income is included notwithstanding their lack of contribution. A close relative of mine is in that position. Her mother got a new boyfriend which moved her from full loan to about £5k a year - she has only known him for a year and doesnt get any money from him.

I'd check pretty carefully if I were you. It may be worth delaying for a year as the financial difference is really huge - particularly if you would get bursaries. Perhaps mail student finance on here to look for advice.

Reply 26

EuphoriaTrash

10

have an accident that wasn't your fault

Just get a part time job and save up don't spend much, you can always use the student loan too ig

Reply 27

OP

We’ll have to find a way to move out before I apply for the loans then. Thanks for all your help it’s been very useful :smile:

(Original post by ajj2000)You might need to be careful in that case. The fact someone the government might see as being a partner is not a relative of yours and doesnt provide any money doesnt change the calculation - their income is included notwithstanding their lack of contribution. A close relative of mine is in that position. Her mother got a new boyfriend which moved her from full loan to about £5k a year - she has only known him for a year and doesnt get any money from him.

I'd check pretty carefully if I were you. It may be worth delaying for a year as the financial difference is really huge - particularly if you would get bursaries. Perhaps mail student finance on here to look for advice.

Reply 28

Callicious

22

Some Universities offer grants to help with this. And the maximum maintenance loan is a pretty substantial amount, which you can get if you come from a low income household.

My family earns (well... gets, father was disabled during work for the NHS and lives on benefits, and my mom cares for him. Long story :_: ) about £12,000 a year or less through PIP and so I get the entire student loan, which was £8,700 this year. Frankly, that's enough for rent and food/sundries for a year, even in the place I study, Edinburgh, which is quite pricy. Rent is about £600 a month including bills (on average, I don't pay any actually, I love in my uncles flat... BAD EXAMPLE I KNOW BUT YOU GET THE IDEA!) and that leaves about £3000 after you consider the fact you'll only be there for nine months. In any case, enough money.

If you pick your Uni carefully, the grant can help a lot, as I mentioned. UoE offers a £7,250 yearly grant for all five years or four, or three, etc, for your course. Other Uni's also offer similar means, though the UoE one is probably the biggest. In any case, the grant helps a lot, and other Universities will have similar ones, putting you in a decent position.

In any case, the loan and whatever grant you get should be enough.

(Just a note, if you do the math, I actually get more than my parents get in a year through the loan and grant combined. It's pretty crazy up here in Scotland! If you're a native from Scotland, they even give you free tuition! I wish that happened in the UK ;( )

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 29

wonderland.16

11

I haven't read all the comments yet so this might be repetitive. I come from a low income too. My mum was on about 14k I believe, my dad is self employed so actually lost money on the year before I started uni. As a result I receive the highest amounts possible. I am also in Wales so we have a grant that I don't pay back. So for maintenance grant/loan I have £10,200 I think and then half my tuition is covered by a grant and the other half is a loan. Just make sure you budget on everything. In terms of food costs, things like cheap pasta and pasta sauce are cheaper than the ones where you just add water etc (and way healthier). I don't know about accom where you are, but for 12 months here I am renting a room in a shared house for £4100 meaning that my budget is £500 a month when I have paid for accom, which is a lot. I am on teacher training too, so a lot goes on petrol when I am on placement. I also have a budget book that I bought from wilko which you can write down each spending and which category etc to track spending. Whatever you do, I wouldn't focus upon the 'debt' that being a student brings. What you get out of it is much more beneficial, so get a larger loan if needed. Do the math when you are applying for finance and figure out what you need. I know it's different in Wales though, so not sure of the differences. Good luck.

Reply 30

adam277

16

Live in Wales or up North. You can buy a house for 50p.
If you want a car just do what the locals do and rob one.
As for food your local food bank is always good for some spaghetti hoops and knock-off pot noodles.

T'is bangin! Well tidy!

Reply 31

OP

Thank you this was really helpful :smile:

Good to know I’m not the only student on a low income. If uni was that expensive surely nobody would be able to go right? :rolleyes:

Reply 32

username4316350

17

my suggestion to you is this - if ur gonna be taking out more loan than average, might use overdraft, need a p/t job, and dont have any back up support from parents. only go to uni to study a proper degree. ur gonna be in a staggering amount of debt when ur done. pls make sure u dont graduate with some micky mouse degree. u dont wanna be looking back thinking damn i spent money i didnt have on a degree i didnt need in pursuit of a career ill never achieve or existed

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 33

Original post by SJW-

my suggestion to you is this - if ur gonna be taking out more loan than average, might use overdraft, need a p/t job, and dont have any back up support from parents. only go to uni to study a proper degree. ur gonna be in a staggering amount of debt when ur done. pls make sure u dont graduate with some micky mouse degree. u dont wanna be looking back thinking damn i spent money i didnt have on a degree i didnt need in pursuit of a career ill never achieve or existed

I'm not sure that the number support this. As soon as you have a student loan of any real size (at a guess £15k) you are likely to be paying back the 9% grad tax whatever - pretty few people will be in the position where an extra £5k or £25k makes much difference in their lives. This is one reason why there has been no pressure for universities to reduce costs or for students to live at home to avoid debt.

The real thing to avoid - especially if doing a subject where it might take longer to find work or which leads to lower paid work - is overdraft/ credit card/ family loan type debt. That can be a real disaster on graduation. For that matter spending your family money on a course you are not really interested in is a pretty bad move.

Reply 34

HGS345

14

Original post by Lindsi23

Thank you this was really helpful :smile:

Good to know I’m not the only student on a low income. If uni was that expensive surely nobody would be able to go right? :rolleyes:

I'm also from a household with less than £20k income. In fact when I started university my dad was earning less than £18k. I got £5K maintenance loan for my first year but tbh I didn't need it. University can be expensive, but it depends on how wisely you use your money. E.g. I don't drink for religious reasons, but all three of my flatmates (first year when I was in uni accommodation) drunk alcohol. Two of them watched their spendings on drinking and had no financial issues. They also cooked home meals (so didn't spend tons buying pre-prepped meals), but one of them would binge drink every night and he ended up with an empty bank account within 3 months. I had another mate who somehow spent over £1k on food within 6 weeks. Idk how that's possible but he did it.

Ideally you want to live in a house, so try to go on the FB page for your chosen universities and look for people who are searching for housemates. University accommodation is significantly more expensive, e.g. I paid £134 per week at uni accommodation, now I pay £90 at a private house, where there aren't drunk people banging their heads against the kitchen door lol, so ideally you want to find decent people to live with. And don't feel like you'd be missing out on the 'uni experience' of living in uni accommodation. It's really no different to private housing.

Also, I go to UoM and they do a bursary, £2000, which you'll definitely be eligible for as your total household income needs to be under £25k, and as far as I'm aware, that's the only criteria.

Be wise with the food that you purchase. If you can't cook, then learn how to cook. I'm bulking up and eat more than most people, yet I only spend £15 per week, as I took the time to think about how to be the most efficient I can with food. And no, I don't eat junk food, I eat clean. Rice, pasta, sandwiches, fish fingers and chips, these things are very cheap.

Regarding train tickets, try to find a student deal. 200 miles is very far. See if there's megabuses that you can use, as they are extremely cheap. E.g. I get a megabus from Manchester to Birmingham for £4, and that's booking only 1 week in advance, return is usually cheaper. It's a bit less convenient than a train, but saves me £25-40

And I know that living in London can be very expensive, but in cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool etc. things don't cost nearly as much. As I know some aspiring university students overestimate their potential spendings by £1-2k+

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 35

Isinglass

16

Original post by ajj2000

I'm not sure that the number support this. As soon as you have a student loan of any real size (at a guess £15k) you are likely to be paying back the 9% grad tax whatever - pretty few people will be in the position where an extra £5k or £25k makes much difference in their lives. This is one reason why there has been no pressure for universities to reduce costs or for students to live at home to avoid debt.

Perhaps I have completely misunderstood what you are trying to say here, but...

The OP lives in London, therefore will be getting their student loan through SFE. However much they borrow, currently, the basis for repayment is that they only start paying back the loan (plus accrued interest) once they are earning at least £25 000 per annum. And whatever the size of the loan, the repayments are 9% of the difference between £25 000 and their actual salary.

OP, Look up Student Finance on the HMRC website, where you will find a tool for calculating the amount of maintenance loan you would be entitled to. Also Martin Lewis's MoneySavingExpert site - he is particularly hot on mythbusting on the subject of student finance.

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes/

Reply 36

Robbi609

6

Original post by Jang Gwangnam

My best advice is to get a maintenance loan & work a part time job during your studies. That's the only way to survive if you lack financial support from your parents.

Not all London universities are garbage!. If you think it is garbage dont bother going no matter where it is.

Second, most students will never pay off the loans so dont worry about them, your a generation that has been stuffed by politicians and Unis.

Think out the box to make money, most retail jobs are low paid and wont add anything to yoir cv, so if you work during semester at least do something intelligent.

Reply 37

Siberiaan

21

You'd be given the max maintenance loan which would easily cover costs , infact you would have surplus because those unis have means tested bursaries too. Imo the peeps that suffer are those with famalies in the middle income scale , cause they get fked by sfe and the uni .

Reply 38