Getting a UK Student Loan

Does anyone know about getting a UK student loan?  I am a US citizen but UK resident for the past 2 years - on a spousal visa.  I was accepted to the University of Royal Holloway, University of London and was awarded an Overseas scholarship that takes care of all the international fees.  I still have to pay home fees and was thinking of getting a loan.  I don't know where to start or what is possible.  Any advice would be appreciated.
-Grant

Can't help you too much with your question, but just wanted to say congrats!  I'm just finishing up a Master's at Royal Holloway myself.  Lucky you got a scholarship, which is more than I could manage!  Good luck with your studies.

I think that student loans in the UK are generally done though regular high street banks...

I think that student loans in the UK are generally done though regular high street banks...

Undergraduate student loans are applied for through your LEA (Local Education Authority) - regardless of which university you're are going to, you contact your local council for details about the LEA. So if you will be an undergraduate, your LEA is probably the best place to start enquiring to find out if you're eligible.

However, LEA's will not provide student loans for postgraduate students. I think there is some kind of loan that you can apply for through the banks, but the interest rates may be high (I don't really know much about how they work).

There are two different systems, student financial support through the Student Loans Company, and Career Development Loans through the banks.

Broadly, the eligibility for government student financial support (which includes a tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and maintenance grant)  is same as the eligibility for home fees.  Sometimes there are home fee payers who are not entitled to student financial support, but this usually because a university has been generous with the rules (or made a mistake in the student's favour), but the Local Authority applies the rules correctly and strictly.

More information:

http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/pages/sseng.htm (this is about England only)

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/index.htm

There is also a system of Career Development Loans through some banks, which is helpful if either you or your course is not eligible for government student financial support:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/AdultLearning/CareerDevelopmentLoans/index.htm

Congratulations on your acceptance, there are a few things that you can do.

Firstly you didnt specify whether this is an undergraduate or graduate degree, if it is a graduate degree then you generally don't qualify for goverment assistance. If it is a undegraduate degree then you qualify next year and will be considered a home student as you would have been resident for three years.

A career development loan is an option a drawback is that many want you to repay whilst you are studying which can be a financial strain. Another option is a Sallie Mae loan which has deferred repayments and a fairly reasonable interest rate. There are options out there it is just hard to find them if I see anything else I will post it on here for you.

Again congratulations and good luck

Thank you everyone for helping!  Sorry, forgot to mention it is a postgrad phd I'm pursuing.  Did undergrad and MA at UCLA.  I will start looking into these suggestions.  many thanks!
-Grant

Is your PhD funded by a research council or do you have to pay for it yourself?

I noticed you mentioned international fees - UK students can usually only afford to do PhDs if they are funded by a council and receive a stipend of about £12,000 per year to cover living costs. We don't pay fees (I don't think) as the PhD is solely research and there are no compulsary classes to take.

Having said that, I have a feeling only EU students qualify for research council grants, so I guess you're probably looking at funding the degree yourself.

Is your PhD funded by a research council or do you have to pay for it yourself?

I noticed you mentioned international fees - UK students can usually only afford to do PhDs if they are funded by a council and receive a stipend of about £12,000 per year to cover living costs. We don't pay fees (I don't think) as the PhD is solely research and there are no compulsary classes to take.

UK students do pay PhD fees!  I work in a postgraduate department and our students pay £3168 per year, the same as our MA students There may not be compulsory classes (although we do run a research methods module in their first semester) , but they receive regular supervision from two members of academic staff, have their own workspace, use of all university facilities (libraries, gym, computer clusters), a photcopying allocation, plus all the paperwork and admin that arises during their time here. Some of our students are on full or part scholarships, some are working part-time, doing bits of teaching - often living on the breadline.

According to our Scholarships Office booklet, Career Development Loans from banks are only available for taught masters degrees.

I imagine Grant is on an ORSAS (Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme), which pays the difference between overseas and UK fees (usually around £5000).

That's correct, I am on an ORSAS which pays some of the almost 13,000 price tag per year.  I have to come up with 3,200.  Much more managable, but looking at my options.
what uni are you at HME? 

To clarify, the rules for who pays home fees are the same for all HE courses, not just undergraduate degrees.  Assuming Grant can show has ILR on the first day of the first academic year of the course, as well as 3 years' ordinary residence, he will pay home fees.  Of course, this only applies to any *new* course he started after becoming eligible.  You do not switch to home fees if you have already started a course as an overseas fee payer.

If it is a undegraduate degree then you qualify next year and will be considered a home student as you would have been resident for three years.

what uni are you at HME? 

I'm at Leeds.

UK students do pay PhD fees!  I work in a postgraduate department and our students pay £3168 per year, the same as our MA students There may not be compulsory classes (although we do run a research methods module in their first semester) , but they receive regular supervision from two members of academic staff, have their own workspace, use of all university facilities (libraries, gym, computer clusters), a photcopying allocation, plus all the paperwork and admin that arises during their time here. Some of our students are on full or part scholarships, some are working part-time, doing bits of teaching - often living on the breadline.

I was about to reply and say that I didn't realise students had to pay fees, but then I remembered that my friend who is doing a PhD at Warwick mentioned that she had to pay her fees out of her stipend. I think what confused me was that she's doing an MSc as well as a PhD (spread over 3 years of the 4-year PhD), so I assumed the fees were for the MSc part .

I'm currently doing a research master's at Bristol and am paying the £3168 for the year - which, to be honest doesn't seem worth it. This term I'm paying £950 for just 12 lectures and then 4 months of independent research. Why pay all that money when you're basically teaching yourself everything? Technically I could work from home and not use the university facilities at all, apart from a few meetings with my supervisor.

Next year I will be starting a PhD in the US and have managed to get funding for 4 years, including all my tuition fees, living costs and health insurance, so I have no need for a loan. I just assumed that it would be the same for a UK research grant, in that the fees are covered too.