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The Cost of a UK Higher Education

By Margaret Hodge, Lifelong Learning and Higher Education Minister

Whatever your chosen path in higher education, fees should not put you off. Half of all British students pay no fees at all. Only those whose family earn over £20,000 a year have to make a contribution - and many of them don't have to pay the maximum £1,075. In fact only one in three students pay the full amount.

university advice Most students get help with their fees and, unlike loans, this help does not have to be repaid. And remember that fees only cover a quarter of the cost of most courses. The Government pays the rest.

Help towards living costs comes mainly from student loans. These are much more attractive than commercial loans that are offered by high street banks on two counts.

First, there is no commercial rate of interest. Repayments are only linked to the rate of inflation.

Second, the amount you repay is directly linked to your income once you have graduated.

So if you were earning £10,000 a year, you would not have to pay anything back unless your income rose. If it reached £12,000 a year, you would have to pay £15 a month. If you earned £17,000 a year, you would pay back just over £50 a month. It's 9 per cent of every £1 you earn over £10,000 - much better than the old mortgage style loans which preceded this scheme.

The loan available varies. For those who live away from home, the maximum loan is £3,815 and £4,700 in London. All eligible students can get a loan worth at least three-quarters of this amount.

The loan for those living at home varies from £2,265 to £3,020, depending on your family income. These amounts will increase for 2002/03 and following years in the light of inflation.

There is other help available too. At university and college, there are extra loans and grants to meet particular needs, for instance money to cover childcare costs. The Disabled Students Allowance can help pay for special equipment, travel costs or other non-medical help.

Some courses, such as nursing and teaching, have professional bursaries available too to help with living costs while training.

There are also special bursaries available to some pupils to help cover the costs of books and other materials, worth up to £2,000 over three years. They are part of our wider "excellence in cities" and "education action zones" programmes designed to improve links between urban comprehensives and universities.

What's available depends very much on your personal and family circumstances, but there's a lot more help available to those from lower income backgrounds.

Your local education authority can tell you exactly what you're entitled to, as well as helping you to apply for a loan or help with fees.

As a government, we will always keep this under review and the loans available normally rise in line with inflation.

But we're also currently taking a more fundamental look at the balance of costs to students, their families and the government.

Our review aims to simplify the present system, providing more up-front support for students from poorer backgrounds so that students do not fear debt when they decide to go to university.

However, since graduates earn more in later life, we feel it is not unreasonable to expect some contribution to the cost of their degree.

A university degree is good value for money. Extra learning does lead to extra earnings. There's already lots of help available while you study.

I hope that you find a course in this publication, which will help you fulfil your ambitions.

For more information: visit www.dfes.gov.uk/aimhigher or call 0800 587 8500 for a free booklet.

By Margaret Hodge, Lifelong Learning and Higher Education Minister

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