To consider taking out a loan I might not pay back?

[berrygirlie]

So first off, yes I probably am BU (I know) and I'm not seriously considering this because I know it's shitty.

I'm in full time education right now, which just so happens to amount to about 2 days a week 9:30-2pm most of the time. I'm keen to do a 3 month course starting in January that's an evening course and I could juggle both courses easily enough as this shorter course is only on every Tuesday night.

However, the payment upfront is £125 - if I don't pay it, they can't enroll me properly and there's no payment plan scheme. I'm on a very low income at the mo and I could potentially save it if I absolutely scrimped and scraped it together, but it would be very uncomfortable. However a mate of mine is advising to just take out a student loan - with the issue being I'm disabled and there's not a definite guarantee I'll be able to work in the future and may never get to the income where I'd need to pay it back.

Very keen to do the course and have something to focus on given my area is going into Tier 4 lockdown and I'll be bored to tears without enough to do, but it's tricky given I have essentially no disposable income right now (mostly spent on the vitals).

I'm in Scotland and already getting a bursary due to my low income, but this money is really keeping me afloat at the moment. Desperate times and all that. I probably won't do it but interested in opinions.

I’m really surprised at some people’s attitudes about this - I don’t see anything unethical at all about using student finance. I definitely wouldn’t think about how likely I was to pay it back. Mine is fully paid back, DH is unlikely to ever pay back the 25k he owes.

Do you qualify for the Disabled Student Allowance? That might give you enough to do this course. Also, see if your library has this book:
www.dsc.org.uk/publication/guide-educational-grants-2020-21/
A grant application might not come through in time for a January course but it’s worth a try.

I don’t think it’s morally wrong for you to pursue a student loan just because you think there’s a good chance you won’t be able to pay it back. You wouldn’t be gaming the system. Most people don’t pay their loans back, it was never expected that they would. The benefits to the country of having people educated, even those who don’t earn much, are high - especially people with health problems as higher education is correlated with much better health outcomes.

You do need to be careful about ensuring you don’t mess up your chance of paying for education you’re planning in the future, though. I believe if you’re currently doing an HNC you’ll be able to get a further loan to “upgrade” to a Bachelors - but you need to check this, not take the word of people on the internet. Surely you’re current college has a Student’s Union or financial advisory office that can help you with looking at what you are qualified to get? There is nothing wrong with getting what you are entitled to for your full time course and then using the money that frees up to pay for a (relatively inexpensive!) part time course elsewhere, just as there is nothing wrong with using your loan money to go to the cinema or travel to see family from time to time.

If you are entitled to a student loan, you're not doing anything wrong by taking one out. It's not a loan in the traditional sense. Martin Lewis explains this very well on the money saving expert website - it is better thought of as a graduate tax. So if you benefit from the education you received with a higher wage, you will repay it at a manageable rate. If you never earn above minimum wage, you won't. Of course it's much more complex than that. There are many other reasons you might not pay it back - part time hours, time out for raising a family, move abroad etc. If you are able to apply for one, I would do so. You would not be doing anything wrong by using the maintenance loan from course 1 to pay the fees on course 2. Good luck OP, i hope you manage to find a way to make use of this depressing time for the benefit of your education.

@smallstep88 absolutely no idea. She's always bragging about what she's bought on Facebook along with photos. She has two foreign holiday booked next year yet her boyfriend is in PT minimum wage job and she works one day. I saw her and that's when she told me about her university grant.

I think perhaps her boyfriend is a dealer. She never stops spending and it's Ben like that for years.

You would have to take out a student loan for your HNC, you couldn’t get one just for the 3 month course. Is your HNC full time? When I finish uni I’ll have about £60000 of student loan debt, I’ll likely never pay this back in my lifetime. And it gets written off after 30 odd years. Look up Martin Lewis advice on student loans, some people will never earn enough to pay it back.

You would have to take out a student loan for your HNC, you couldn’t get one just for the 3 month course.

This is exactly what OP is thinking about. Then using some of the money to pay for the smaller course.

You can certainly put it on your CV, and also linked in will work to validate the cert. What course are you thinking of doing?

@berrygirlie

thank you *@whyareyoulying*. I appreciate it, I'm considering it. It's just so much money to me right now and I don't want to take that money away from anyone else if I can't pay it back

That's not how student loans work, there is no limit to the number of students who can receive a student loan.

With the loan, you sign a contract to say that you will pay it back if your income reaches a certain level. If your income never reaches that level then that is absolutely fine. The system is designed to cope with that.

I really take issue with some of the comments you have received here. People with disabilities are entitled to an education, whether or not they are able to work after studying. Some here have said they don't think it's right to get a student loan if you don't intend to work to pay it off. That is a disgusting mindset and would exclude so many people with disabilities from accessing higher education.

OP you have every right to apply for a student loan, don't even give it a second thought. You are entitled to it so claim it.

Not sure if its different in Scotland, but disabled student allowance pays for specific things in England, I don't think you get the money directly.

It's a real shame that you've more or less assumed you won't work in the future. There must be opportunities or possibilities for people like yourself, particularly as you're capable of working independently/successfully on an OU course.

It may be worth noting; If you are in receipt of other benefits, any loan or money going into your account must be declared and will be deducted from your benefit allowance for that month.

Don’t take out a student loan, apply for the disabled student allowance instead. It’s a bursary no need to pay back and I think Scotland gives minimum £1375 per year.

It's a real shame that you've more or less assumed you won't work in the future. There must be opportunities or possibilities for people like yourself, particularly as you're capable of working independently/successfully on an OU course.

@SmileyClare I appreciate your insight and I do know you mean this from a good place, but a lot of my motivation to do an online course is because I can't cope with the demands of travel / social aspect / noise / mental health issues on top of academic pursuits. I'm not resigning myself to being eternally unemployed, but I'm also aware that the job market is already slim and I may struggle to find things I can do without extreme stress.

@berrygirlie I want to be really nosey and ask what the courses are and what the OU course is!?

I'm going to look into the Disabled Students one, I might be able to get the standard payment of that which I think is around £1000 a year if my google searching is correct!

@Audreyseyebrows Hahaha they are related to counselling

Would it meet the critereon for an Individual Training Account?

Its a grant not a loan and you can take one out each year.
www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/what-we-do/employability-skills/sds-individual-training-accounts/

The collage I work in. They would not let you
fund a course of that value with a loan. Also. If your own low income the collage might waive your income. If it’s your first L3 for example? I dunno. Every collage is different. Also. Don’t forget the government has announced massive changes to adult education coming into effect April time I think?

@tinofshortbread That's a shout! I've actually managed to find the course on there so if I can get funding then that's great - though it's a bit risky as I have to wait for them to get back to me / give me the money without my place being reserved!

There’s a lot of conflicting information on this thread.

In Scotland, you can only get funding (fees paid) by SAAS for 4 years +1, so if you have to retake a year or change for a reason then you have a one year grace. This applies to fees only. So you have to be seen to be progressing, they won’t fund multiple courses at HNC level. You’d have to go on to HND, BA etc.

You can take as many loans out as needed (within reason obviously).

For example, I’ve done one HNC that I had two false starts due to illness, I got funded for those 2 false starts (because I didn’t withdraw in time so the fees were already paid). When I finally managed to start properly I had to pay my own fees, and I paid them using my student loan. I progressed to HND level which they paid my fees for because I progressed. I then decided that career wasn’t viable and applied for a completely different HNC. I had to pay my fees for this, again I used another year of student loan for this.

I’ve now progressed to BA Honours level but because I started from Year 1, I had to pay my fees again (as it’s equal to HNC level). I still got my student loan.

I’ve now progressed past HNC/Year 1 level so SAAS pay my fees now and I will apply for a student loan every year until my course is complete.

After this I will hopefully get a higher paying job so I will be paying my loan back but because I’ve borrowed so much, I will probably never repay the full amount.

Apply for the loan if you need it, there’s no shame and it’s not like a normal loan. It won’t show up on your credit file/rating. It will only affect any mortgage because it if you’re paying it back, it is classed as an outgoing. Accessing the loan itself won’t stop you from getting a mortgage.

Also the people saying Disabled Students Allowance, that wouldn’t pay for a course. It pays for things to help students with a course, like laptops, travel, accessibility software for learning differences etc.

I struggle to understand how full time education is 9.30 to 2pm 2 days a week, thats 9 hours a week?!?... the new course is 3 months long, every other Tuesday...so thats approx 6 evenings?!? University is a doddle now from when I did my course back in 1980! No wonder every one wants to go there nowadays if they get free money they never want to pay back and get don't do a wholes days graft!

@Lemonlady22 I was surprised that my time was so short, but it's also not university. And when you did your course back in 1980, I'm assuming there wasn't as much academic pressure to succeed because degrees were less common and jobs were more accessible.

Thank you @Househunter2021 by the way, useful information (not trying to brush over you, I value your info)

I'd say if you're eligible then get it. You don't know you'll never pay it back and I don't think education is only for the moneyed or able bodied.

Hiya- a Student Loan is very different from any other type. Do it. Life’s too short. Look at it as contributory grant.
Do you think many Uni students pay off the £70k their degrees have cost?

@Lemonlady22

I struggle to understand how full time education is 9.30 to 2pm 2 days a week, thats 9 hours a week?!?... the new course is 3 months long, every other Tuesday...so thats approx 6 evenings?!? University is a doddle now from when I did my course back in 1980! No wonder every one wants to go there nowadays if they get free money they never want to pay back and get don't do a wholes days graft!

What a load of shit. You are comparing apples and oranges there. University is fucking hard going. You are being dismissive to thousands of people with no fucking basis at all