Q2A

Got an enquiry ........

From someone who is intending to take a Level 4 Youth and Community qualification

commencing this Autumn.  He wants to study away from his home town and asks how the government's changes to student finance will affect 2nd year students in 2011/12.

This is our reply.......

Hi Andrew H, thanks for contacting q2a with your enquiry.

It is good to hear that you want to join the youth work profession. We all enjoy the work
and we hope you will too! And, if you are able to study away from your home town, this
can make university life all the more exciting.

You clearly know that there are huge changes being made to the funding of higher education.
Not all the details are known yet, but we will give a summary of the situation as far as we
currently know it, as to what the situation will be in 2012.

Regarding finance for new students starting in 2010/11 or 2011/12:

If you're starting a full-time higher education course, the main types of financial help you
may be able to get are:

· a Maintenance Grant or Special Support Grant - worth up to £2,906
· a Tuition Fee Loan to cover your fees in full (up to £3,290 for 2010/11 or up to
£3,375 for 2011/12)
· a Maintenance Loan - worth up to £4,950 if you live away from home, or more if
you study in London (although the ! maximum you can get is reduced if you're getting help
through the Maintenance Grant)
· a bursary from your university or college

Here is a bit more detail on the main information currently available:

Subject to Parliamentary approval, a new system will come into effect from September
2012;

No eligible student will have to pay up front for their tuition. Students will not be expected
to contribute until they are earning over £21,000.

The new proposals of the Coalition government are as follows:

Graduate contribution.

Any university or college will be able to charge a graduate contribution of up to £6,000. In
exceptional cases, universities will be able to charge higher contributions, up to a limit of
£9,000, subject to meeting much tougher conditions on widening participation and fair
access. It will be up to the university or college to decide what it charges, including
whether it charges at different levels for different courses.
Any university or college will be able to charge below £6,000. Universities and colleges
wanting to charge above £6,000 a year will have to show how they will spend some of the
additional income making progress in widening participation and fair access. The Office for
Fair Access will be able to apply sanctions in cases where universities do not deliver on
the commitments in their access agreements, up to and including withdrawing the right of
the university to charge more than £6,000.

Loans and maintenance grants

The Government will lend any eligible student the money to pay the university or college
for tuition costs. For the first time, part-time students will be entitled to a loan and no
longer forced to pay up-front costs, so long as they are studying for at least 25% of their
time. A new £150m National Scholarships Programme will be targeted at bright potential
students from poor backgrounds. It will guarantee students benefits such as a free first
year or foundation year.

Students from families with incomes of up to £25,000 will be entitled to non-repayable
maintenance grant of up to £3,250 and those from families with incomes up to £42,000 will
be entitled to a partial grant. Maintenance loans will be available to all eligible full time
students irrespective of income.

Further details of loan rates for students living at home, those living away from home and
studying in London, and loans for longer courses will be provided in due course. The
changes do not affect those students who are entering university in 2011 except for those
who want to defer entry until 2012.

Part-time students

All eligible part-time undergraduates who study for at least 25% of their time will now be
able to apply for a loan to cover the costs of their tuition which means you no longer have
to pay up front

Part-time students will not however be eligible for maintenance support.

Repayment system

Graduates who have completed their studies and become one of the country's higher
earners will make a higher contribution towards the cost of their education. That is
because as their earning rise, so will the rate of interest applied to their loan balance.

Graduates will not make a contribution towards tuition costs until they are earning at least
£21,000, up from the current £15,000. The repayment will be 9% of income above £21,000,
and all outstanding repayments will be written off after 30 years. This means all graduates
will pay less per month than they do under the current system. The £21,000 earnings
threshold will also be up rated annually in line with earnings from April 2016 (when the
majority of students who commence a three year degree course in September 2012 will
become liable to repay).

In order to make the system financially sustainable, a real rate of interest will be charged
on loan repayments, but with a progressive taper:

# For graduates earning below £21,000, there will be no real rate of interest applied
to their loan.
# For graduates earning between £21,000 and around £41,000, a real rate of interest
will start to be charged, reaching a maximum of RPI plus 3%.
# Above £41,000, graduates will repay at the maximum, rate of RPI plus 3%.

Under this repayment system, around a quarter of graduates, those with the lowest
lifetime earnings, will pay less than under the current system according to government
information.

You can find a lot of information at this weblink
www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinan
ce/index.htm

For extra information on student finance organised through Student Finance England
check out;

www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/portal/page?_pageid=153,4680119
&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

New, full-time applicants need to register with ! Student Finance England before applying
online. When you register, you'll get a Customer Reference Number (formerly known as an
'ART ID'). If you've already registered, or you've begun an application before - even if you
didn't complete it - you will already have a Customer Reference Number or ART ID.

If you apply on paper, you won't need to register for a student finance account. You'll be
sent a Customer Reference Number so you can access your student finance account and
check on the status of your application. You can register by following this link
https://secure.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/protocol/registration/register

The forms for 2011/12 admission are not available yet, but do keep checking the website
so you can make an application as early as possible.

We hope this information and advice is helpful and we wish you good luck in your studies
and future career.

Best wishes q2a

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