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Last updated:

04 June 2010

Look beyond your horizons

The cost of going to university is frightening, and seems set to become even more so. Tales of debts exceeding £20,000 are common and for many students this will be greater than their annual income when they graduate.  So, how to manage the costs whilst maximising the benefits.

Costs include: tuition fees, accommodation costs and general living expenses. A number of university web sites have calculators illustrating typical costs and, despite the different models they use, provide a remarkable similarity in their results. Fees for 2009/10 are £3225 pa and accommodation/living expenses will be typically of the order of £10,500 pa.

Finding the money is more complicated. Apart from money saved towards the costs, there are three main forms of funding. In general, loans are repayable while grants are not.

Government grants and loans:

Here there are: tuition fee loans, maintenance loans, and maintenance grants. The latter are means tested. All information is available through http://www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance.

University scholarships and bursaries:

These depend very much on the individual university, and are variously referred to as Awards, Grants, Bursaries and Scholarships. Some are awarded automatically, others may have to be applied for. Look on the web sites for the universities you are interested in.

Amounts vary from some hundreds of pounds to several thousands. Some depend on academic achievement while others are based on family income.

Part-time employment:

Every university is aware of the need for students to earn money whilst studying and some have excellent support services designed to help find the part-time job needed to supplement loans and grants. Once again, check the web sites of the universities of interest.

I suppose there is a fourth source of funding - good old mum and dad. Parents, be prepared for this!