PART-TIME STUDENTS' LOANS UNVEILED
04 Feb 2011
The government has announced the details of the package of loans that will be introduced for part-time students as part of the new university tuition fees regime from 2012-13.
About 175,000 part-time students are expected to be eligible for the new loans, which replace the means-tested fee grant and study grant which were paid to around 60,000 students.
Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills, said: "Part-time students have been neglected for too long. We are committed to a level playing field for part-time and full-time students".
The amount of the loans will depend on what proportion of a full-time course students are studying each year. The lower limit is 25 per cent and the upper limit is 75 per cent, the same as for the fee grant now. The government says this will accommodate most Open University students.
Through a clause in the Education Act, currently before Parliament, the Government also plans to limit the tuition charge which higher education institutions can levy for part-time students so that it can be covered completely by the loan.
The interest charged on loans will be the same as for full-time students: RPI + 3 per cent whilst students are still studying and then varying from RPI when graduates are earning up to £21,000 and increasing to RPI + 3 per cent for those earning £41,000 and over.
However, part-time students will become liable to repay their loans from the April after three years of study, even if they are continuing to study. Repayments will only begin once earnings reach £21,000 at 9 per cent over this amount; if earnings are less than this amount, there are no repayments and interest accrues at RPI. If the part-time course lasts less than three years, then graduates will repay from the April after they leave higher education.
Full details on the loans package from the BIS website: www.bis.gov.uk/policies/higher-education/students/student-finance/part-time-students
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Jill Wallis - 04 Feb 2011
fees for part-time students
I teach on a part-time degree course which prepares about 75 mature students per year to apply for QTS and become primary teachers within the local community. Many are in their thirties and forties, having spent many years in support roles in schools before applying. They cannot afford to give up their jobs to study full time, yet also earn pretty low wages. Currently our fees are £1310 per year for a full 120 credit course and about a third of them get grants. The others pay out of their salaries. If that fee rises to the sort of level being mooted - £7000 approx - the course will probably fold, as people of that age are unlikely to accept those sorts of loans when they may only have another 20 years of a career ahead. Many also have children of Uni age and feel guilty already about giving priority to their own development. We have provided the local area, which has considerable difficulty recruiting, with several hundred teachers over the last 17 years. That may all come to an end in 2012.