Student Finance 2016

It’s that time of year again where students start making their applications to university and are starting to think about the financial implications of university study. There have been some changes to the student finance package for students starting university in 2016, so to help you provide information to those students who ask you about student finance, here are the basic things you need to know to be able to advise them.

All eligible students will be entitled to a tuition fee loan to cover the cost of the tuition fee that universities charge. This support is not dependent on household income and the money is paid directly to the university or college at which the student is studying.

Maintenance loans are also available to help with living costs. The first part of the loan isn’t based on household income, but students may be able to apply for more that is. The minimum amount of loan that all eligible students moving away from home but outside London will be entitled to is £3,821, and the maximum is £8,200. Students choosing to live at home receive slightly less money and those living in London slightly more.

Other money may be available to students, such as university bursaries or scholarships, dependants’ grants or disabled students’ allowance, (some of which may be non-repayable), but these depend on individual student circumstances and the university they choose to study at. More information can be found on individual university websites or here.

Repayment of loans does not start until after the student has finished their course and are in employment, earning over £21,000 per year. As an example, a graduate earning £25,000 per year would repay a monthly amount of £30.

More detailed information is available on the student finance website and there are also resources available online from Student Finance England.

So, this is how things stand at the moment, although there is, of course, a budget being announced in November. So keep your eyes peeled for anything in there related to student finance, and if there are any changes, there’ll be another blog post to let you all know what the changes mean and how they might impact on your students.

Here at the University of Huddersfield we are committed to ensuring that all students who have the potential to benefit from Higher Education get the opportunity to do so. For some students, finance can be a major barrier to considering HE as an option; for this reason, we know that it is important that students and their parents understand the facts about university fees and student loans. Three key things to remember are:

No student has to pay for their fees up front
Fees and loans do not have to be paid back until the student has graduated and is earning £21k or more per year
Repayments are related to earnings, not the amount borrowed, so are always manageable.
Don’t forget, the Schools and Colleges Liaison Team are happy to come to your school or college to talk to groups of students or parents about Student Finance. If this is something that you are interested in, please book here.