University living cost

So I live in Birmingham and i want to pay my own university fees however I don’t have any work nor have i done in past. Im planning to work and save money however I also want to go university college London because in London there is much more job opportunities i want to do law related but all the big firms are in London so can anyone help me to figure out what shall i do like my mind is messed up rn🥲like shall i go to London but its too costly if i live in Birmingham I don’t have any job opportunity PLEASE help

Reply 1

ageshallnot

21

Original post

by Anonymous

So I live in Birmingham and i want to pay my own university fees however I don’t have any work nor have i done in past. Im planning to work and save money however I also want to go university college London because in London there is much more job opportunities i want to do law related but all the big firms are in London so can anyone help me to figure out what shall i do like my mind is messed up rn🥲like shall i go to London but its too costly if i live in Birmingham I don’t have any job opportunity PLEASE help

Why do you want to pay your own university fees?

Reply 2

random_matt

20

Saving up 27 grand or whatever it is will take a long time.

Reply 3

hallamstudents

Official Rep

18

Original post

by Anonymous

So I live in Birmingham and i want to pay my own university fees however I don’t have any work nor have i done in past. Im planning to work and save money however I also want to go university college London because in London there is much more job opportunities i want to do law related but all the big firms are in London so can anyone help me to figure out what shall i do like my mind is messed up rn🥲like shall i go to London but its too costly if i live in Birmingham I don’t have any job opportunity PLEASE help

Hi,

Being able to pay all of your fees is a lot of money and might be quite tricky. Usually your course will be over £9,000 a year and you will likely have at least three years. You will have other expenses too such as rent which are covered by your maintenance loan which is another cost too.

Getting a loan for uni isn't as scary as it might seem. You only pay it back when you earn over a set amount and you pay it back slowly over time, so while it isn't ideal to pay each month, you won't notice as much as you would think over time. Have a look on the student finance pages as they will help talk you through the loan process and when you will have to pay it back etc.

Getting a job while at uni is a good way of getting some extra money to help you out a your loan may not leave you with much extra so it is still a good idea to get a job now or while you are at uni.

I hope some of this helps,

Lucy -SHU student ambassador 🙂

Reply 4

Matt-WrexhamUni

7

Original post

by Anonymous

So I live in Birmingham and i want to pay my own university fees however I don’t have any work nor have i done in past. Im planning to work and save money however I also want to go university college London because in London there is much more job opportunities i want to do law related but all the big firms are in London so can anyone help me to figure out what shall i do like my mind is messed up rn🥲like shall i go to London but its too costly if i live in Birmingham I don’t have any job opportunity PLEASE help

Hi

I think a lot of people have similar questions and queries around financing their university journey. I would advise you to speak to your university's funding and money advice team as they will be able to best advise you on what they can offer you to help to make the cost of university more manageable for yourself.

I hope this helps,

Matt
2nd Year Physiotherapy Student
Wrexham Uni Reps

Reply 5

Smaida

5

Hi so basically i don’t want to take loan due to religious reasons. So i was thinking about getting a part time job and there are summer schemes by law firms that i want to join they are for 2 weeks and 500 is the pay. So i would pay in instalments like 3 thousand before than i will work for 2 months and than 2 thousand. And i want to start a training contract in 2nd year which pay me 25k per year. But im thinking of staying in Birmingham for now due to budget reasons what do you think?? Will i be able to pay with my plans

Reply 6

artful_lounger

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Smaida

Hi so basically i don’t want to take loan due to religious reasons. So i was thinking about getting a part time job and there are summer schemes by law firms that i want to join they are for 2 weeks and 500 is the pay. So i would pay in instalments like 3 thousand before than i will work for 2 months and than 2 thousand. And i want to start a training contract in 2nd year which pay me 25k per year. But im thinking of staying in Birmingham for now due to budget reasons what do you think?? Will i be able to pay with my plans

Honestly I don't think it's possible to self-fund your degree like this if studying full time. Realistically I think you need to look into sharia compliant loans (assuming that is the religious issue in question) or at what financial support your family can provide, or at studying part-time. Unfortunately full time degrees in the UK are pretty much no longer possible to self fund while studying full time unless you're already extremely wealthy. The 9000+ tuition fee cap which all universities charge now is just a huge amount of money on top of rent/living costs etc.

Note that you can't guarantee you are able to pay in instalments - although universities are usually amenable to organising payment plans that is at their discretion and they can simply charge you 50% of the tuition fee up front. Also usually if you miss/are late for even one payment they will demand the rest paid immediately or withdraw you from the course so you really need to have that money available to begin with anyway to avoid really messing yourself up later.

As far as I'm aware you can't start a training contract in 2nd year, those are for graduates - not to mention, extremely competitive. You also wouldn't be able to work in a full time training contract while also studying full time, it simply wouldn't work out. Also you can't guarantee you'll get even a single summer scheme much less be able to chain them through the entire summer, and you'll still need to pay your rent and living costs during those as well.

I don't think you've planned this out well and are making a number of very significant assumptions about what kind and how much paid work you'll be able to undertake while working full time.

Reply 7

Smaida

5

Hmmm that’s true actually like i will be living in my own house so living cost doesn’t matter plus ik im imagining too much but still my heart doesn’t agree on taking interest like ive read alot but nothing has convinced me yet that interest is allowed in Islam 🥹😭

Reply 8

artful_lounger

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Smaida

Hmmm that’s true actually like i will be living in my own house so living cost doesn’t matter plus ik im imagining too much but still my heart doesn’t agree on taking interest like ive read alot but nothing has convinced me yet that interest is allowed in Islam 🥹😭

As far as I'm aware it's not, but I believe there are Sharia compliant loan providers in the UK that specialise in serving Muslim communities. So as I said, that may be something to explore.

Note you will still have living costs - even if you don't pay rent or for any food/meals or even clothing yourself, you're still most likely going to have to pay for travel/transport, food/drink while at the university, study materials (stationery, books, etc), and that's even assuming you don't spend a penny on yourself for any other reason (which is probably not a realistic expectation either!).

Also at some point your parents might expect you to start contributing financially to the household if you're living there while studying - is this something you have discussed with them?

My point is that this probably takes a lot more financial planning than the average student going to uni needs to do so you really need to understand the costs involved and have a realistic view of things - consider the worst case scenario of what would happen if e.g. the uni did not agree to a payment plan, you were unable to secure substantive work beyond minimum wage casual employment during term time, etc. Because that's very much a possibility and if you aren't prepared for that you could have a very bad experience going ahead. Assuming you can earn 25k for half the degree is 100% the best case scenario and in fact very unlikely. You can't plan based on the best case scenario - you need to plan based on the worst case scenario to ensure you have a suitable buffer in case things go wrong. Because then if everything goes right, no problem - but if things go wrong, you're already prepared for it.

Reply 9

Smaida

5

Hmm
Okay thanks alot it helped me alot ill check out loan providers and i already know i am thinking unrealistically therefore I needed other opinions. Btw r u Muslim?? Like what you did?? Did you tool the loan if so what convinced you ??

Reply 10

Smaida

5

I just saw this post _ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alternative-student-finance/alternative-student-finance
Umm shall i take a gap year and wait for this law to start in 2027

Reply 11

martin7

20

Original post

by Smaida

I just saw this post _ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alternative-student-finance/alternative-student-finance
Umm shall i take a gap year and wait for this law to start in 2027

That page currently says "Alternative student finance will become available as soon as possible after the introduction of the LLE." -- but there's no commitment as to what "as soon as possible" will mean in practice. It might be a few months, it could be years. Or the government could change its mind (or we might get a new government) and it might never happen.

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