Higher Education Information

www.studentfinancewales.co.uk

It’s worth spending some time finding out what support you are
entitled too and applying for it:

To start, some key facts to keep in mind:

Student Loans (Fee loans and maintenance loans):
These are provided by the Welsh Assembly Government at an interest rate linked to inflation. When you have graduated and are earning £15,000 a year or more, you start making repayments.

Grants:
These are provided by the Welsh Assembly Government, and do NOT need to be paid back (unless you leave your course early). Grants are available for students from low income households or students with special circumstances.

Bursaries:
These are provided by your university or college and do NOT need to be paid back.

"Student finance services available to you now
depend upon where you live".

If you normally live in Wales, you are entitled to Student Finance Wales services, regardless of where you choose to study in the UK

Tuition Fees:

If you choose to study in Wales or elsewhere in the UK in 2010/11 universities and colleges can charge a tuition fee of up to £3,290 a year.

Wherever you study in the UK you can apply for a tuition fee loan so that:

Your fees are paid directly to your place of study
Your fee payment is ‘deferred’

You will need to repay your fee loan after you have left your course and are earning more than £15,000 a year.

There is financial help available to MOST full-time undergraduate students

Students commencing their studies in 2010/11

Full Assembly Learning Grant will be £5,000; Household income threshold for partial Assembly Learning Grants will be £50,020;

Tuition Fee Loan so that there are no up front fees Students taking out a maintenance loan in 2010/11 will automatically be entitled to a partial cancellation of up to £1,500 once they have started to repay their student loan.

Please note: interest will continue to accrue on your loan until your first repayment has been received and any cancellation will not effect the amount of interest on any individual account.

How do Student Loans work?

Student Loans are available for living expenses (maintenance loans), and to cover what you have to pay towards tuition fees (tuition fee loans).
Payable in instalments – one at the start of each term.
Not commercial loans.
Provided by the Welsh Assembly Government with a subsidised interest rate.

How much can I borrow?
In addition to any tuition fee loan that you take out, you can also apply for a student loan to assist with your living costs (maintenance loan).

How much you can borrow depends on your household income, on your entitlement to the Assembly Learning Grant, and on where you are living. Student loans are repayable.

The three rates of loan available are:

Living at home rate
Living elsewhere rate
Living in London rate

Repayment of Student Loans
Your maintenance loan and your fee loan will be combined together as one amount. You don’t start paying anything back until you have left your course and are earning more than £15,000 a year. Repayments are recovered at a rate of 9% of any income you receive above the £15,000 a year threshold.

Repayments are made automatically through the tax system or you can make voluntary payments through the Student Loan Company. How much you repay is determined by how much you earn.

Complete an application form
You need to get a form PN1 from your school, college or Local
Authority. You can also apply online. Forms have been available since 7 December 2009.

Fill the application form in with your parent(s) leaving no relevant question unanswered.

Send this form to your Local Authority, together with the documents that are required. If you apply online, you will still need to send all required documents to your Local Authority.

Your financial entitlement will be assessed by the Local Authority.

You will receive a ‘Financial Support Notification’, which lets you know the amount of support to which you are entitled.

To apply on-line
You can apply on-line at the Student Finance Wales website:

www.studentfinancewales.co.uk

At this website you can:

Track the progress of their application
Calculate the amount of student finance that may be available
Calculate any household contribution that has to be made

The website also gives valuable advice on all aspects of student finance

for more information contact School Admissions on 01495 355412