Did you take your full student load for uni? I still haven't applied for my student loans yet, because I don't know how much to get. I'm taking out the full loan to cover course fee's, but as for the maintenance loan, I'm unsure. I'll be getting about £820 per year in combined bursary/grants, and can take up to £3564 for my maintenance loan. How much have you lot generally needed to live, whilst at uni? Without factoring in alcohol/entertainment/nights out? I'll be getting a job whilst at un, and have £2700 savings already. Rent is pretty much covered already. I'll be living in Cumbria, so not too pricey. I know some people who've taking the max they can get under all circumstances, and now that they've finished uni they're in shit loads of debt, all of which has some degree on interest on it.
Just get a pen and paper and sit down and figure out how much your weekly/monthly outgoings will be and bung a little extra for yourself for recreational shit, worry about debt later, it's easy to pay off.
I suppose, but i guess the question I forgot to ask, was did the people who took the full loan amount end up blowing loads of it on drink, drugs and partying?
If you don't need it take it and stick it in a savings account which has a higher interest rate than the student loan. Free money
That's a good point, but then again we all know how hard it is to avoid dipping into money that's just sitting there in a lump sum.
that's the best thing to do, take all of it, whatever you don't need, stick into an isa, it'll help you pay it back when you finish. i took the full loan all three years (didn't know you could do anything else?), but i lived in leeds, which is expensive. yes i've come out of uni with a fair amount to repay, but i wouldn't consider a student loan 'debt', considering its repayment is dependent firstly on your ability to work, and secondly on your salary. if you do a degree worth doing then you'll more than likely start in a job earning a lot more than your student debt is worth.
and if you stick it into an isa, you can't touch it, depending on what restrictions you put on it. you'll at least need to give 30 days notice to pull anything out.
I can also get an interest free lone from a bank for about £2000 as well. I could stick that in n all. Lol, I'm gonna look into which banks offer the best interest then. Cheers
building society would probably have a better interest rate for a savings account natwest are decent for a student current account too. one thing i will say though, is be careful if you're looking at getting another loan. you'll be very surprised at how much you'll spend at uni. i had a full loan plus £50 a week from my parents, and i still rinsed all of it. might as well just go with the natwest overdraft (£1250 year one, £1400 year two, £1600 year three, £2000 if you're a medic/fourth year/graduate).
I live at home, and still get the whole lot. I just tick the box that says 'maximum amount' for maintance loan. This gets me £700 each term as well as a £900 grant each term. Although these can be greatly increased depending on you circumstances (living alone/away from home)
