Uni - How do you afford it?

Soldato
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How did I pay? Well, the bank of mum and dad fortunately offered very competitive interest rates on loans and long repayment periods (read never).

In all seriousness though, I went to university in London and I reckoned i spent about 10k a year, of which the loan covered about £3.8k , the rest came from my parents or summer jobs. I absolutely hated taking money off my parents, and consequently spent every summer working 50 hours a week doing nights, which brought in about 5-6k, so in general I didn't have to take money off them.

I think under the new system going to London is much more feasible although you'll saddle yourself with more debt. The loans seem to have gone up a lot, my loan was only about £3800, now the minimum in London seems to be more like 4800, plus you don't have to pay fees up front which is another £1.2k better off than the old system. Couple that with student overdrafts and a willingness to work flat out during the 3 month summer vacation and I think you should be able to do it quite easily, as long as your willing to accept your student loans will probably total about £32k. Question then becomes, is the degree you'll get worth £32k of debt?
 
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Andelusion said:
You guys who are on the 'old system' have it so much easier, what is it £1200 a year for tuition fees? That sucks bottom :( After Uni I think I'm gonna have £18k debt minimum.

I wouldn't worry too much, just work at getting a 'good' degree in those 3 years, good uni and good degree and you can expect to earn at least 18K in your first year.
 
Soldato
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quite worried about how im going to afford it next year to be honest... doesnthelp that my college is useless at giving me info on loans etc . where can i find out what loans etc ill be able to get ?
 
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Andelusion said:
You guys who are on the 'old system' have it so much easier, what is it £1200 a year for tuition fees? That sucks bottom :( After Uni I think I'm gonna have £18k debt minimum.
They did have it easier but you need to look at how the university has changed. Brunel is a classic example. I was the last year that didn't pay any tuition fees at all but the university looked like it did when it opened in the 60's. The place was in a right state with poor facilities and was like that all the time I was there when the first few years of students had to start paying to be there. This year (5 years later) I went back there to see brand new buildings and brand new cutting edge facilities put up in the last 2 years funded by those students that had to pay that £1200 the first time around. They never saw the benefits of it though. I'd be pretty sick if that was me.
 
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How did I pay?

Student bursary at £1800 per academic year. Coupled with tuition fees paid for by the government. I barely spent any of the bursaries for the past 2 years, and living from home the only thing I had to pay for was £15 train ticket a week.
 
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calnen said:
The idea of living at home for uni is just odd though tbh. I definately wouldnt recommend staying with your parents just to save money! There's a line between being sensible with your finances, and just missing out on all the fun to save some debt at the end :)

Living from home saves a lot of money, plus all my friends live at home too, so I miss out on nothing at all. We go out 3-4 times in a week, generally to a pub or further a field.

I spend my days in uni travelling there in the morning, going to lectures, coming straight home and doing my work there, then going out somewhere... I don't see how I could have a better experience of uni life living away from home!
 
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mglover070588 said:
basically if your parents both work and have half decent jobs, you wont get any help from the government. it really annoys me as im doing engineering, a field that is very important to the country and very little people do it therefore the country (and indeed world) is in major need of them. yet there are people who get full grants and do a crappy art/social science course at a useless disgrace of a university (i.e. derby/preston/wolvo) 1 day a week and get it free it really frustrates me as will end up on a till at tesco/asda etc etc earning so little they dont even have to pay the loans back. ever.

My parents have to help me out or i couldnt be here plain and simple. i have a part time job and keep goign out on the lash to a minimum as i simply cannot afford.

My parents cant pay for all my fees they cant afford it. heck, derby students i know are done for the summer and working to earn money and im still at uni working hard to pass i dont finish til end of june.

im sure some people will disagree with me but many will feel exactly the same way. my parents help me where possible but all my savings will go by the end of the degree.

if you are an ethnic minority, parents have low income and your dislexic you are laughing!! oh and you get a free laptop

No sympathy whatsoever, and why you feel the need to bad mouth other universities i dont know, have you actually attended any of these institutions and taken the courses you mention, if your degree is as time consuming as you make out then it should have good prospects at the end of it, you picked the course, why moan?, suck up a few £ extra of debt and pay it back when your earning, i know a lad of 19 at Derby breaking his back on a 5 year engineering programme whilst holding down a job at RR and commuting.

Most students dont get grants and burserys at any university.
 
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Rossmac said:
I spend my days in uni travelling there in the morning, going to lectures, coming straight home and doing my work there, then going out somewhere... I don't see how I could have a better experience of uni life living away from home!

Thing is, unless you have lived away from home you don't know what you might be missing. It sounds like a bit of a cop out to say it and in some ways it is but it is also true. You might have missed out and then again you might not have, I can't say for certain but for my money I'd guess you have, living at home isn't automatically a bad choice but I'd be pretty sure I got more out of university than my mates who did stay at home.

I've still got fond memories of living in halls not least for all the random events that went on, most of which simply wouldn't have happened if I was living at home. As has been said some people make it work but it wouldn't have worked for me and not because my parents are controlling in any way, I just needed to get out and live somewhere else. :)
 
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BUSH said:
I absolutely hated taking money off my parents, and consequently spent every summer working 50 hours a week doing nights, which brought in about 5-6k, so in general I didn't have to take money off them.

What kind of work? that seems like good money.
 
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semi-pro waster said:
Thing is, unless you have lived away from home you don't know what you might be missing. It sounds like a bit of a cop out to say it and in some ways it is but it is also true. You might have missed out and then again you might not have, I can't say for certain but for my money I'd guess you have, living at home isn't automatically a bad choice but I'd be pretty sure I got more out of university than my mates who did stay at home.

Well, moving to Dublin in a month for a year and half placement - So I guess I will be experiencing the 'living away from home' fun. :) Can't wait personally, but I will sure as hell miss all my friends up here in the North.

mglover070588 said:

I get all my bursaries because my family is low income. Mother is housewife who doesn't and never has claimed unemployment benefit. Father was in the RUC until 1993 when he got severly injured and had to go into early retirement. His pension never went up at the same rate as inflation, so we are currently on £16,000 a year.

My brother is graduating his masters in civil engineering in June, and I am doing my masters in Computer Science, and my younger brother is starting his degree in medicine in Sept. We are all definately not spongers and we need these government grants to actually go to university. We also each get ₤2200 each year from the Northern Ireland Police Fund which is used for academic purposes only.

You are the type of person that simply winds everyone up and chooses to only see what is wrong with the system, which obviously it will go wrong in some instances.
 
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Soldato
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I get £4,500 a year overall from Student Loan + Maintenance Grant, £1,250 a year from Sheffield uni (bursary, got an extra grand this year too) and I probably make about £3,000-£4,000 over the summer in a summer job so this pays of uni easily. Plus my Dad pays my rent bill so that means I can afford to run a car with the money saved from the rent, which is nice :)
 
Soldato
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Loan + No Fees + Ave 2 hours ebaying a day = Massive room + Car (inc insurance) + 32" LCD + XBOX 360 + 12 Games + £700 Mountain Bike + 4 Hollidays in the last year (2 weeks thailand, 4 weeks thailand, week France, 2 weeks LA) + Mint PC + ipod/phones ect.... + Stereo + loads of £100 nights out (about 3 a week) + quite a few K in the old bank +list goes on.......

Its easy just use your loaf!!!!
 

Una

Una

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Well I took the maximum allowed loan I was allowed to and put it in a high interest account. I just get money off my parents to pay my tuiton fees/living costs and don't need to pay any of that back.. Yes I am spoiled and I realise it so I am taking a summer placement so I can take less/no money off my parents in future. They wouldn't even think about letting me pay any of it back.
 
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Could i afford it?
Nope, couldnt the first time. On the original system the loan barely even covered my accomodation and I didn't have the benefit of parental contributions.
Working part time barely made a dent in what I needed.

It was probably the best thing for me though, made me get my plans straightened out, save up some money, and make sure I went for a degree that would really pay itself back.

Uni debt is not something to be taken on lightheartedly because "it's just uni debt" or because there is less interest than bank loans. Don't be fooled, you will still see quite a bit of interest added to your sum. And above all, make sure you are going into your chosen field with your head screwed on. A job won't be sat waiting for you upon graduation.
 
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