Maintenance Loan & Grants

Nemesis379

Nemesis379

Nemesis379

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Joined
25 Dec 2009
Posts
2,044
Location
London, UK
I was wondering what you guys spent your money on?, Also the following:

Do these 3 monthly installments last you a year or the whole time of Uni?

Only reply if you are living at home (because I am).
 
one of my bro-in-laws lived at home when at uni, he worked to fund his way through and saved all his loans in a high interest account / isa. pretty sure he hasn't paid any of it back yet and is saving it for a house deposit.

when I was at uni, we were the first year of student loans, 3k per year with payment at the start of autumn, new year, summer terms. this lasted me.
 
reeceLAV said:
Say what.
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Well since you're living at home, then I'm presuming you won't be paying high amounts in rent and no bills at all. Unlike if you were living in student accommodation in halls or private which is what your maintenance loan pays for. So if you've got the money from working etc to use for survival then you may as well chuck your maintenance loan into an ISA or other savings account for the whole time you're at uni. It's free money at the end of it when you slice off the interest you'll earn.
 
E61 Grouphead said:
Travel
Books/Equipment
Essentials only really.

Save as much as you can. It may be tempting to buy a Ninja PC or an iphone, but don't :p
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I did the latter :(

And as I was living in accommodation, I was so glad of my 1 grand interest free overdraft :D
 
Azza said:
Well since you're living at home, then I'm presuming you won't be paying high amounts in rent and no bills at all. Unlike if you were living in student accommodation in halls or private which is what your maintenance loan pays for. So if you've got the money from working etc to use for survival then you may as well chuck your maintenance loan into an ISA or other savings account for the whole time you're at uni. It's free money at the end of it when you slice off the interest you'll earn.
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is the interest on the loans not higher than that of an ISA these days though?

it is the right idea though.

standard spec for student loans shopping list in this order

Most Important -
Rent
(Financial Times and Economist Subscription if at Cambs / Oxford)
Beer
Smartphone
Computer / Laptop
Broadband
HiFi / AV Equipment
Beer
Uni Clubs and Societies
Clothes
.
Games Consoles
.
Beer
Car / Car Insurance
Phone Bill
Food & More Beer
Gas / Elec Bill
Water Bill
.
Uni Books & Stationery
Travel (costs) to Lectures
Least Important
 
Azza said:
Well since you're living at home, then I'm presuming you won't be paying high amounts in rent and no bills at all. Unlike if you were living in student accommodation in halls or private which is what your maintenance loan pays for. So if you've got the money from working etc to use for survival then you may as well chuck your maintenance loan into an ISA or other savings account for the whole time you're at uni. It's free money at the end of it when you slice off the interest you'll earn.
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Well I pay no bills I am getting a fair bit of money, and was looking at getting a MAC then using the rest for books/food/travel etc.
 
Getting by..

The loan covers my rent and the grant covers living expenses. I was fooled after first year that I had a substantial amount left in the bank. As soon as I had to start paying rent for a full year (rather than halls for 8 months) this quickly vanished!

Id recommend anyone going in to first year be super careful with their loans as rent / deposits for flats can be an absolute killer, especially in the more expensive cities!

edit : fail at reading first post.
 
I was the first year of top-up fees too (2006), and got about £3000 maintenance loan along with a maintenance grant of about £750ish and a Uni bursary of £1500. Needless to say,

E61 Grouphead said:
Save as much as you can. It may be tempting to buy a Ninja PC or an iphone, but don't :p
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this is pretty much what I did with it :p In the first year I learnt how to drive, passed my test and insured it on my maintenance; second year was insurance again; third year was a new Fender Telecaster and the final year was on a new PC (which I am now typing on, 2 years later). My sister on the other hand saved all the way through university - at the end of my first year out of University I have about the same saved up as she did.

I'd use the cash to live the student lifestyle and enjoy yourself - if you're doing a degree which is demanded in the employment world then chances are you'll earn much more in the first couple of years in comparison to what you can save. Of course, living at home may mean that you can save up more! Also depends on the prices of things that you want to save up for - in Cambridge for example the house prices are so ridiculously high (in comparison to my home area in Derbyshire or back in Sheffield) that even if I had put away a substantial amount instead of buying awesome things I would not have been able to afford a deposit anyway.

Scratch the "awesome" things, just things. My first car at University was a Rover 200 :p
 
How about this, if you don't need the full loan, then don't take the full loan.

I left University (if I hadn't messed up my first year I would have owed £0) with a debt of just £5000, because I drove a cheap crap car and didn't go on fancy holidays or spend £60 on t-shirts :).

I didn't have any grants because my parents earnt too much (although it is a bit of a sorry state if both parents work and don't take home £50,000 combined - assuming they are 40-50 years old).
 
I got a Job and stuck mine in an ISA. It will make a nice start on a deposit for a house when im finished or tide me over while I find a job.
 
[TW]Fox;20030129 said:
No. It is the lower of either the RPI or the BOE Base Rate+1%.

So currently 1.5%.
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thanks, out the loop and cba to look it up so only going on pub talk.

ISA makes sense then, albeit for a relatively small return.
 
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