Interesting: teachers misconception about state school pupils ending in top Unis

[camaleon]

"Fewer than half of teachers at state schools would advise pupils to apply to top universities, a new study shows - but many do not realise that a majority of Oxbridge students come from state schools"

Article here

@xenia you obviously didn't excel at geography. Not all the top schools are in the South EAST.

Not if that family was one parent, or the parent couldn't secure the loan or if a family earned more but couldn't afford the £10k costs on top of the minimum loan!

There are VERY few families on an income of £16k that are financially stable enough to get a loan.

I'm not really sure what you mean here, ST. The loan doesn't have to be secured by the parents; it is given to the student and the student is entirely responsible for paying it back. Financial assistance is given on a sliding scale so families who earn over £16,000 still wouldn't be expected to cover all the costs.

Student Loans are a Graduate Tax, not a loan.
they do not even count as borrowing for getting a mortgage - they are calculated as a 10% reduction in salary over £20,000

NO poor family should be put off sending their child to a top Uni and breaking the cycle of poverty because of the new loan rules

The loan company does not give it to families of dubious financial stability.

If a family income was £40k they are not poor right?

If they had 3 children in 3 years they cannot afford £10k per child per year to attend Uni.

StarshitTerrorise what are you talking about - you can borrow MORE if you are from a family of "dubious" financial stability It isn't like borrowing from a bank.

I think it might be a good idea to actually do a bit of reading up on student loans starshitterrorise because you are spouting nonsense. Everyone can get student loans whatever the family income.

No. A friend of mine's estranged father refused to fill in the forms, resulting with him getting less than half the max borrowing amount. He won't be going to Uni.

When was that? You can get full tuition fee loans and about 70% of the maintenance loan without declaring any parental income at all. You really really are talking a lot of rubbish about the loan system.

Surely that's to do with the shitness of the estranged father, not a fault with student loans?

Student finance have arrangements for students who are estranged from one or both parents anyway.

starshit That is utter bilge.
When I was at Uni in the stone age of grants, a friend with rich but dysfuncional parents ended up getting a full grant as the system was able to prove that he did not have parental support.

Starship it makes no odds how many children you have at university at any one time save that if you have more than one it notionally reduces the household income and therefore facilitates larger grants/ loans.

I have three this year and will have three next year (when DD1 leaves and DS1 starts).

Sorry, but you clearly haven't got a clue.

So where'd Betty go then?

The second thread about Queen Ethelburga College was also deleted. Does anyone know the reasons?

star isn't talking bilge, my mother was in that situation (not wealthy, but parents didn't fill in forms) leaving her with no grant for the first month of term. it did get ...but it was a real difficulty.

'papa may have...mama may have..god bless the child that's got his own..'

The loan company does not give it to families of dubious financial stability

. this si rubbish though.. no credit check is run on loan applications.if you are very poor, you might be eligible for a grant, so maybe not need a loan (not sure how much these loans are though... )

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

the world is full of happy and sucessful people that did not go to oxbridge

hate this, alot of my mums side went and the academic snobbery i grew up with GAH

I think a lot of people haven't read the latest loans position and rules and if some of the poor are unable to understand and don't take up places perhaps that's just as well and the places will go to people who can better understand how the loan system works.

Also anyone going to Cumbria who thinks that's a good investment needs to think again. If it means you live at home and your debt is less that does not mean you are better off. If you go to Oxbridge and earn £100k a year you will be better off than staying in Cumbria with a degree from there (IF money and debt and finances aer things which interest you of course which is not the case for everyone). Some institutions' degrees are in effect lavatory paper, not to put too fine a point on it.

The poor do better under the new system as they get as someone said above some additional grant not just loan. The rich can choose not to pay a penny to a child over 18 so that child just as impoverished is not treated the same as a child of the poor even if that adult's financial positon is identical.

(Interesting that Queen E's college thread was deleted. I looked up some of the local paper articles about the claims it put some students in for A levels who were not going tod o well from a separate exam centre and that was fascinating, if true)

Edless : that was when it was grants. Those days are LONG gone.

Depressingly I agree with Xenia. The sooner people realise that only by doing a proper degree at a proper university will they make the life changes to not have to worry about repaying the loans the better.
If they want to live at home and do something vocational, fine, but FFS do not call it a degree, call it an apprenticeship and get practical skills as quickly as possible.
I knew the courses had gone mad when I heard about a foundation degree in plumbing. Thank you but I'll not a theoretician near my heating.

and BTW I am talking about RG Unis. There are many many courses that are BETTER taught at other unis in that group than in the infamous dreaming spires. There is a reason why the engineering campus here at Southampton is so huge - cos its courses are some of the best in the world.

Xenia but not better off if you have no particular wish to spend the rest of your life making money and have a keen interest in a course only offered by Cumbria and can think of nothing better than spending three years roaming the lakes.

Equally, there must be plenty who go to Oxford and Cambridge who don't view it as any type of financial investment at all.

Talkin but not every student is so worldy that they're entirely course drive.

Talkinpeace
OT but do you know if having an Arkwright 6th form scholarship is a benefit in a uni application. Ds has got as far as interview and we will find out in July if has got it.