You do not have to borrow the full amount

It’s important to note that if you are given a maintenance grant-which you technically never have to repay but, if you choose to quit your course of study, you will have to repay the grant in addition to the student loan you took out up to that point.

If your parents can pay part of your tuition fees and possibly even all of your maintenance costs, you can apply only for the remainder of the tuition fees.

Live at home to avoid excessive expenses

This will mean that you will owe a lot less then the ?50,000 that you would owe if you opt to take out the full amount for both tuition and maintenance.

In addition, part time students are also now eligible for a full loan towards their first degree but, are not allowed to apply for maintenance grants or loans.

How long will your loan approval take?

It takes between three and six weeks to process a student loan application so make sure that you apply early, should there be any delays or mishaps during the processing of your application.

Some interesting points to note about student finance

The interesting thing is that whether you choose a more expensive degree or one that is less expensive, you will still end up making the same monthly repayments.

If decisive link you were considering choosing a degree or institutions with lower fees to limit your student loan debt-you may want to reconsider in light of this fact.

Loans for part-time students

Part-time students from the UK can apply for a tuition fee grant or course grant as well. For both full-time and part-time students applications can be made online.

Repaying your UK student loans

Repayments will by default begin after you have completed your studies on the 6 th April the following year and once your annual income exceeds a set threshold. Once you start earning an income above 85% of the average annual income of UK workers (?26,727) which is roughly over ?21,000, you’ll be required to repay your student loans.

If you make less than this average you may apply to have the payments deferred. The SLC will contact your employer once your salary reaches this figure and your employer will deduct the amount from your salary every month to pay the student loan on your behalf.

You could also opt to pay your student loan off early but this isn’t going to improve your finances in any way because the interest on a SLC student loan is so low that a regular savings account will provide you with a higher return than you’ll lose from a student loan.

On average it will take you about 30 years to fully pay off a student loan-provided that you earn above the set threshold we’ve discussed.

Common student loan repayment misconceptions

There are a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to student loans issued by the SLC. What you need to know is that how much you actually repay will depend on how much you earn.

If you never earn more than ?21,000 you will never have to repay you’re student loans and if you do you will only have to pay 9% of the amount over the ?21,000 threshold.

So this means that if you earn ?25,000 annually you will have to repay 9% of ?4,000 which is ?360. If the student loan has not been repaid within 30 years, let’s say because the threshold salary was never reached, all the debt will be cleared and you would not have paid anything.