Postgrad Loan and UC

[TurkeyonJoeysHead]

Hi I want to check before I apply, but has anyone been on Universal Credit and also taken the Postgrad Loan? I'm on UC as a single parent (also working) but would like to further my career once my children are more grown up, one of the ways I can do this with a Masters. I'd do it part time over 2 years then hopefully be ready to make the next steps up the ladder.

The only way I could afford it would be a personal loan (hard to get good interest rates, if any loan at all, when on UC and low wage) or hopefully the Postgrad Loan. PL seems to be a viable option. Just wondered if being on UC would affect me being allowed to get a Postgrad Loan, research suggests not, but I don't know anyone in this position to double check. Also it sounds like the UC is worked out based on 30% of the loan being income, so shouldn't affect my UC greatly, but again would like to hear if anyone has personally experienced this and how drastic your UC was cut.

Thanks if anyone can help!

Hopeful bump!

I don’t know the answer but I suspect it might be easier to get a competent answer from Student Finance than the alternative.

Really hope someone else has practical experience they can share.

Looking for answers on this too, did you find any information?

You should be able to get a loan from student finance. They pay it to you rather than the university and then you pay the uni.

@TurkeyonJoeysHead I’m really hoping you have enquired, and received a satisfactory answer from Student Finance and UC?

Hi unfortunately no I got nowhere with UC, just standard replies that I'd already seen online about the % they take, and student finance couldn't give me any example figures to help me decide if I can do it or not. So I'm still very much in the dark and haven't applied for the course because I can't take the risk that too much of my UC will disappear.

I’m sorry to hear that.

I don’t know if anyone else might be able to suggest a route to a more tailored response.

It's only a maintenance loan that affects UC. The tuition loan doesn't.

How does that fit with what the OP has been told by UC, @VeterinaryCareAssistant? They don’t seem to have made that distinction?

It didn't affect mine.

Could you possibly expand on that, @gingersnappz?

(The reason I’m being so persistent is that this board was set up to help people exactly like the OP, and it’s frustrating to know the information is out there but she can’t access it.)

It's only a maintenance loan that affects UC. The tuition loan doesn't.

True for the UG loans but OP was asking about the PG loan. As she knows UC will assume 30% of it (so around £4k a year if she is FT) will be treated as income, the same as if she earned it. Which may mean she doesn't have enough for fees....