Financing Essex

Money's an important factor in many peoples decision as to whether they choose to go to uni. If you ever happen catch a glimpse of the news, (probably because you haven’t switched channels at the end of EastEnders), then you'll probably have heard dramatic stories of uncontrollable student debts, increasing uni fees, and the questioning as to whether, financially, it's even worth getting a degree.

Whatever you do, don’t let this put you off! For the majority of people wanting to obtain a degree, this will mean financing their studies themselves and taking out a student loan. The other thing you may have heard the scare-mongers talking about is the cost of uni fees. The tuition fees, as a guide, for 2009 are £3,225 per year for full-time degree courses. Before you recoil in horror and shut down this webpage, it's important that you realise that no eligible UK or EU full-time student will have to pay these fees before they start uni, or whilst they're still studying. These fees will be combined with any maintenance loan you take out and are paid back in the same way as the student loan.

A student loan is unlike a typical bank loan. For a start, you don’t start paying it until you earn over £15,000 per year, and if at any point you stop earning over this amount, then you stop paying it off. If you still haven’t paid it off 25 years after you graduate, then whatever is left gets written off. Finally, the most important point (and probably the most complicated!) is probably that interest on your student loan is tied to the rate of inflation. Don't worry - you're not really expected to understand what this actually means - but your parents will. This means that it's never going to spiral out of control, and you will end up paying back roughly what you borrowed. Not forgetting that it is a proven fact that on average graduates earn more then non-graduates.

All of these things mean that you don’t need to worry about your student loan becoming an unfurling, raging and uncontrollable debt which will stop you doing other things, such as buying a house or getting finance on a new car.

Watch a short video on funding and working by clicking here!