There are now two different loans available:
- A Student Loan for maintenance/living costs (which is partly dependent upon parental income),is intended to help pay for expenses such as accommodation, food, travel and course materials. In 2008/09, the maximum amount of this Student Loan will be £4,625 for students living away from their parents' home, and £3,580 for students living at home.
- A NEW Fees Loan of up to £3,145 which students may take out to cover tuition fees and which is NOT dependent upon income. If students do not take out a Fees Loan, they will be required to pay fees themselves. Students may opt to pay part of the fees themselves and take out a loan for the remainder.
You can apply for both loans, which have interest rates below anything which is commercially available.
ROI students (and those from other E.U. countries outside the UK) are eligible to apply for the Fees Loan of up to £3,145 sterling a year to cover the costs of their tuition fees. They are not, however, eligible to apply for the Student Loan.
Students from outside the European Union are not eligible for either loan.
All loans are repayable. Loan repayments start from the beginning of the tax year following the year of graduation from university - that is, the April of the following year. Students also only start repayments when they are earning more than £15,000 a year. If a student loses his/her job, or if earnings drop below the £15,000 threshold, repayments stop until the threshold is again exceeded. If a student has an outstanding loan(s) to repay after 25 years, this amount (apart from any arrears that may have accrued) is written off.
If a student has taken out both a Fees Loan AND a Student Loan, repayments for both are merged and collected by the Student Loans Company through the student's employer.
Students should expect to pay back 9% of their salary above £15,000. Obviously then, the more students earn above that threshold, the more they pay back and the sooner the loan is repaid. Conservative estimates put the average starting salary of graduates at around £18,000 a year. In this case, a typical graduate student would be repaying around £5.19 a week.
Further information
You can find out more information about either Student Loans or Government Grants by going on-line at:
http://www.studentfinanceni.co.uk
or by contacting your local Education and Library Board:
-
Belfast Education and Library Board - 028 9056 4000
- North Eastern Education and Library Board - 028 2565 3333
- South Eastern Education and Library Board - 028 9056 6200
- Southern Education and Library Board - 028 3751 2432
- Western Education and Library Board - 028 8241 1411
