Student Loan

Going to university is an expensive business.

NatWest’s 2006 Student Money Matters Survey revealed that students starting university in 2006 can expect to pay an average of £33,512 for a three-year degree course, including course fees and living expenses – up by £4,912 from 2005’s figure – and are likely to graduate with debts of £14,779.

This increase is partly the result of a new 2006/2007 course fees structure through which universities and colleges can ask for a contribution of up to £3,000 a year from full-time students. The actual amount payable will depend on the university or college and the course.

Student Loan Information
Know more About Student Loan
You want to know more about student loans and student financing? Here’s absolutely everything you need. We’ve asked all the experts, read all the info and put together twenty essential facts, tips, opportunities and warnings. Read on and make the most of your money while you are studying.
1.) After nearly 15 years in business the Student Loan Company is finally catching up with the modern world. You can apply online and whole sections of paperwork have been cut out of the process to make it faster.
2.) You no longer have to start the process through your local council. If you need an official student loan then go direct to the Student Loan Company – all the information you need is at www.slc.co.uk.
3.) Money is normally paid out in three instalments at the start of each academic term. It is paid direct into your nominated bank account and you can even ask to be sent a text when the cash lands. The days of waiting for a cheque in the post are finally over.
4.) The maximum loans can look pretty good. If you are studying in London and don’t live at home you can get up to £6,170 a year. Out of London the maximum is £4,400 a year. But don’t get excited. Tuition fees can be up to £3,000 a year and most students still end up with huge debts when they graduate.
5.) Everyone can apply for up to 75 per cent of the maximum, regardless of their family backgrounds. The final quarter of the money is means-tested so students with wealthier parents may miss out.
6.) Around eight out of ten students apply for money from the Student Loan Company. If you reckon you can live without the money the experts say you should still apply – some students save the money or invest it in high earning accounts rather than spending it.
7.) Bursaries, grants, scholarships and other pieces of funding can make a huge difference if you are lucky enough to qualify for one. There’s plenty of information on one of the Government’s main websites. Go to www.direct.gov.uk and look under Student Finance or Bursaries. Some of this money doesn’t have to be repaid – so it is always worth trying for.
8.) Wherever you get your money from, good budgeting is essential as a student. You can get advice on how to do it on the official www.ucas.com/studentfinance/costs site.
9.) Getting a good student bank account is vital too. Plenty of banks offer freebies to attract new customers but experts say it’s more important to base your choice on credit interest rates, low cost overdraft terms and convenient branch networks. Click on Student Accounts under Banking Best-Buys at www.moneyfacts.co.uk for full details of all the latest deals.
10.) If you want other information or advice on money and finance then the National Union of Students might be able to help. It’s website is www.nusonline.co.uk. Other official places for info include www.uniaid.org.uk, www.aimhigher.ac.uk and www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport.
11.) If you get student loan payments you get a statement showing how much you have had and what the repayment arrangements are every April.
12.) If you want a decent credit card or other loans you’ll need a good credit record. Always register to vote when you are a college or university – one of the first things banks check when they consider new customers is the electoral roll. If you ever miss credit card or other loan repayments this will be recorded on your credit file and can count against you in the future. So don’t risk storing up problems by ignoring bills.
13.) You can check your credit file at any time – it’s often worth doing just before you apply for any new borrowing. If you see any mistakes on it you can ask to have them corrected. Checking a file can also show if you are the unwitting victim of identity theft and the sooner you know the sooner you can sort it out. Look at www.equifax.co.uk, www.mycallcredit.com and www.experian.co.uk for details of how to check your personal record.
14.) In your final year as a student your student loan payments will probably fall by up to £500. That’s because the SLC reckons you can start earning straight away that summer.
15.) Interest will have been clocking up on all your student loan payments from the moment you got them. The rates are changed every year and reflect the Retail Price Index. The good news is that this makes them pretty much the cheapest borrowing around.
16.) Here’s the bad news – the average student currently graduates with debts worth up to £11,200 or £13,500 depending on which survey you read. Either way it’s a lot of money when you’re starting out in the workplace and probably want to buy a house one day.
17.) You’ll not get a lot of time before you have to start repaying your student loan money after graduation. The repayments normally start the April after you graduate or leave your course. If you are earning over £15,000 then repayments will be taken out of your pay packet automatically by HM Revenue & Customs.
18.) If you are self-employed or unemployed after graduation you need to contact the Student Loan Company to work out how and when you clear your debt.
19.) There is a new online calculator at www.slc.co.uk which shows graduates how much they need to pay back and when. Remember that the longer your debt is outstanding, the more interest it will be clocking up.
20.) You’re going to want a good relationship with your bank if money is tight after graduation. Most student accounts can roll automatically into graduate deals which have better than average terms on overdrafts and might offer other benefits like lower cost credit cards and loans. Compare yours with rival offers, though experts say it can be hard to switch straight after graduation so don’t close one account before you have another one opened and ready.

Repaying Your Student Loans

You’ve attended college or received other education beyond high school, and you received federal student loans* from the US Department of Education (ED) along the way. You’re now about to deal with paying them back. You’ll need to know how to manage your student loan debt to avoid repayment problems. This publication explains available repayment options so you can successfully repay your debt. It will also tell you what steps to take so you won’t get behind in payments or go into default.

Federal student loans are real loans, just like car loans or mortgage loans. You can’t just get out of repaying a student loan if your financial circumstances become difficult, unless you qualify for bankruptcy. But, it’s very difficult to have federal student loans discharged in bankruptcy; this happens only rarely. Also, you can’t cancel your student loans if you didn’t get theeducation you expected, didn’t get the job you expected, or didn’t complete your education, unless you leave school for a reason that qualifies you for a discharge of your loan**. Remember, your student loans belong to you; you have to pay them back.

*1)Federal Perkins Loans

2)Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs), consisting of subsidized and unsubsidized Federal

3)William D. Ford Federal Direct Loans (Direct Loans), consisting of subsidized and unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford/Ford Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans (for parents who borrow for their children), and Federal Direct Consolidation Loans

** For example, you might have left school because

1)You became totally and permanently disabled. However, your condition cannot have existed before you applied for your federal loan, unless a doctor certifies that your condition substantially deteriorated since the loan was made.

2)Your school falsely certified your eligibility or signed your application or promissory note without your approval.

3)Your school closed, and you couldn’t complete your program of study. In this case, you cannot have withdrawn from the school more than 90 days before it closed. (The day the school closed is defined as the day it stopped providing educational instruction in all programs.) You don’t qualify for a loan discharge if you withdrew before your school closed, but you completed the program of study for which the loan was intended either by transferring academic credits or hours earned at the closed school to another school, or by any other means. Note that the state agency or other nonprofit agency that guaranteed the loan makes the final decision on whether your loan is eligible for discharge.

Students Loan - Tell me more

Are you seeking funds to finance your education at a college or university?
Do you need funds to pay for your degree or non-degree courses?

Global Student Loan Corporation can help make your goal of studying in the U.S. or in other selected countries a reality. Through our partners, GSLC can help ease your financial constraints and streamline your overall loan application process.

The Global Student Loan® is the ONLY comprehensive education loan for international and distance learning students that does not require a co-signer in the country in which you are studying. For example, if you seek to study in the U.S., you are not required to have a U.S. cosigner.

We partner with financial institutions throughout the world to provide loan programs that meet students' special needs. In many cases, principal payments may be deferred until graduation when your education will help you secure more financially rewarding career positions. In addition, most loan repayment schedules are spread over a longer period of time than typical consumer loans to significantly reduce your monthly payments.

In addition to covering your tuition, the Global Student Loan® provides funding for other school essentials such as computers, insurance, communications, travel, and housing. GSLC partners with schools and other service providers to fund these other educational expenses so that your attendance is not delayed.

We provide a Loan Certificate that may be used to demonstrate adequate funding to attend school, a requirement for securing a student Visa.

Our commitment to you stems from GSLC’s belief that an education is the best investment an individual and a society can make. The Global Student Loan offers students around the world the opportunity to attain a world-class education.

We recognize that selecting and attending the school of your choice is one of the biggest decisions of your life. Global Student Loan Corporation helps make your dream come true.

Global Student Loan Corporation - We help put the world through school.

Ready to apply? Start the process immediately by clicking on REGISTER

Rise in student loan over-repayments

Thousands of graduates are unknowingly being overcharged for their student loans every year, according to figures obtained by the Conservative party.

Government figures show that more than 21,000 people continued making payments to the Student Loans Company last year even though they had already repaid their debt.

The figures, obtained by the Tories in a parliamentary question, show that 21,774 graduates paid too much last year compared to 12,638 overpayments in 2004, 7,686 in 2003, 2062 in 2002 and 267 in 2001.

David Willetts, the shadow education secretary, said the "Kafkaesque'" system was not fit for purpose. It is estimated that about 1.4 million people are repaying loans but that figure is expected to balloon following the introduction of tuition fees this year.

Once graduates earn £15,000, the tax office automatically deducts 9% of their salary. When a loan is close to being repaid, the Student Loans Company sends a letter to the graduates, requesting them to send their P60 or pay-slips for the current tax system. The company then sends a "stop notice" to the HM Revenues & Customs.

A spokesman for the Student Loans Company told the Daily Telegraph that all additional payments were refunded with interest at the end of the financial year.
However, Mr Willetts told the Telegraph: "It should be simple to redesign the system so that the loans company is regularly informed about repayment progress."

Student Loans

Leaving their university education with a debt average of £12,000, it seems to look as if students, who are finished with their education, don’t seem too worried about having to pay off student loans payments for a few years after leaving.

And there seems like there is not going to be any let up in the amount of students who are following in behind the ones who have left university with the same type of attitude to student loans. With this in mind a rise in this figure for the coming year is also expected.

Every student who starts on the road to a university education this year, is due help on the cost of it, and the help that they get has seen a increase in the help that they receive from the government for tuition fees, though they have set aside a little more for less well off students.

Don't Let Finances Get In The Way Of Education
The thought of going to university can be an exciting time for any student who is considering it and one of the main thoughts on the decision is always going to be about money and how will they cope financially. If it is something that you really want to do and to be honest it will be worth it in the long haul of life, then you should go for it. Though dealing with the cash issue won’t make it easy, but if you do apply for a student loan, then you will have to show that you have grown up and let it help you get the education that you are there for, by being responsible with it.

This is not to say that you can’t enjoy that infamous student life and stop you having some fun, but make sure that the loan you get is first and foremost for your degree and if you have any spare then the world is your oyster. Since, once you are finished with your education, you don’t want to be paying off a student loan for years to come that is nothing more than a bar bill. Or maybe you do..

So how does a student loan work? Well first of all the financial situation of a students household will be taken into account and the college or university that you have set yourself on going to, also makes a difference.

Qualify for Student Loans
For students who come from a family that has an income under £22,010 will not have to pay any fees at all and families who have an income in the region of £22,010 and £32,744 will receive some help, with a contribution to help them start out. Only students with a household income of more than £32,000 will not receive help and will have to pay full fees.

But extra help is on hand for students who are coming from a household where they are earning less than £15,580, where a grant is paid by the government, to help them get as much chance of the right education as the better off, this grant will be in the amount of £1,000 for each year that they are there. With even more help made available, for students who have disabilities, came from care or are dependants.

All students who start up in college or university are eligible to apply for a student loan, which can be anywhere up to a maximum of £5,175 for every year that you stay in education and will be deposited into your bank account by the Student Loans Company (SLC).

So how and when do you start to repay your student loan? This is made easy for you as you will not be required to pay anything back while you are still in education, it will only be paid back, when you have got what you went there for by graduating or simply if you leave the college or university to take up work, though you will only have to pay it back if your earnings exceed £15,000.