How do student loans work here?

Not for undergrad. For higher ed. For Masters and PhD programs.

I know I have to be here for 3 years before I get home fees, but I am wondering what happens then... ?

Are there loans for Masters and PhD programs?
Is it a regular bank loan, rather than the federal loans they have in the USA?
Is it based on your credit?
If so, is it based on MY credit, or mine AND my husbands credit?
Is the amount they will loan me also also based on my/our income?

Do they give you only what you need for the actual school fees, or will they give some extra funds for living expenses as well?

What is this I hear about people not having to pay anything on the loans until they are earning a certain amount, and the amount due then being set at a low amount, and the balance being 'forgiven' if a certain amount is not earned within ten years?

Is that a special programme? Or only for specific fields? Like... Social Work, or Teaching?

Someone said the Masters and PhD programs are generally shorter here, is that true?

Someone else said there are really not too many part time, nights and weekends, types of programmes here for Masters and PhD programs... Is that correct? I was told it is full time, and done during the day. Is that right?

Like... How does it all work here?

Many thanks!!!
L.

Not for undergrad. For higher ed. For Masters and PhD programs.

Short answer: they don't. As far as I am aware, there are no UK 'student loans' available for postgraduate programmes.

For masters degrees, you usually have to pay out of pocket or qualify for a scholarship or other funding (I lived with my parents and worked full-time for a year to pay the £3,000 fees for my masters).

Most PhD places are fully funded with research council grants (but you usually have to meet the 3 years +ILR requirement to qualify for them), otherwise you have to find a way to fund them yourself (either private loans or sponsorship from a company or similar).

Are there loans for Masters and PhD programs?
Is it a regular bank loan, rather than the federal loans they have in the USA?
Is it based on your credit?
If so, is it based on MY credit, or mine AND my husbands credit?
Is the amount they will loan me also also based on my/our income?

As I said above, you would have to find your own funding, so if you can't get a scholarship or sponsorship, you'd probably have to look into private bank loans... in that case, you would have to ask the bank/lender what the loan is based on.

Do they give you only what you need for the actual school fees, or will they give some extra funds for living expenses as well?

No idea, I'm afraid. I don't know anyone who has taken out loans for a UK postgraduate degree.

My friends and I all paid for our masters with our own savings and/or part-time jobs, and my friends who did PhDs all got research council funding (about £13,000 a year).

What is this I hear about people not having to pay anything on the loans until they are earning a certain amount, and the amount due then being set at a low amount, and the balance being 'forgiven' if a certain amount is not earned within ten years?

That's only for undergraduate student loans, I believe. I started taking out my undergrad student loans in 2001 but didn't start paying them off until 2010, when I was earning more than £15,000. My loans don't get forgiven until I a) retired or be) die, However, I'm not sure about the new rules for paying them off, as I think they've changed recently.

Is that a special programme? Or only for specific fields? Like... Social Work, or Teaching?

Again, undergrad student loans only, I believe. If you end up taking out a private loan, you will have to agree the terms with your bank.

Someone said the Masters and PhD programs are generally shorter here, is that true?

Most masters degrees are 12 months full-time, 2 years part-time. Some masters are 2 years full-time, but usually only specific courses, often ones that involve placements in companies.

PhDs are usually 3 years, although people tend to take 3-4 years these days (but funding is often only guaranteed for 3 years). Three of my friends have recently completed their PhDs in 3 years.

Someone else said there are really not too many part time, nights and weekends, types of programmes here for Masters and PhD programs... Is that correct? I was told it is full time, and done during the day. Is that right?

Well, full-time masters and PhD degrees are like being in undergrad - for masters you usually attend classes during the day, just like undergrad. If you go part-time, then you just spread the classes over the 2 years instead of taking them in one year, so you are only in school half of the week or so.

However, PhDs are pretty much entirely research with almost no classes (but some teaching), so essentially, it's like a 9-5 job in an office at the university (although some of my friends were working up to 12 hours a day on their PhDs - in their offices from 8.30 am until about 7.30 pm every day).

There may be opportunities for distance-learning or Open University postgraduate courses, but I don't know too much about them or how they work, I'm afraid.

I'll take a stab at a few of your questions.  I'll be interested to hear answers to the others, too!  But this site is pretty helpful: UK Student Loans

Do they give you only what you need for the actual school fees, or will they give some extra funds for living expenses as well?

My OH was given enough for school fees as well as living expenses. Supposedly maintenance loans are not provided for part-time students, though.

What is this I hear about people not having to pay anything on the loans until they are earning a certain amount, and the amount due then being set at a low amount, and the balance being 'forgiven' if a certain amount is not earned within ten years?

Is that a special programme? Or only for specific fields? Like... Social Work, or Teaching?

As far as I'm aware, it's no special program, and it covers all fields.  My OH studied Business.  As soon as he got a job (paying over £15,795--which has now been changed to £21,000), the loans were automatically deducted from his paycheck-- the same way they take away some money for taxes/national insurance.  The amount deducted is income-dependent--so the more you make, more is deducted; See Example:

You pay 9 per cent of your income over the threshold of £21,000 a year.
For example, your course starts in September 2012 and you finish in June 2015. In September 2015 you’re earning £25,000. This is £4,000 over the £21,000 threshold. You pay 9% of £4,000 which is £360. This means from April 2016 you pay back £30 per month.

 While you do make payments if you're self-employed, there's also this:

If you’re an employee
Your employer will calculate your repayment and take it off your salary every month along with your tax. Check your pay slip to see how much has been taken to pay your student loan.
If you haven’t worked since leaving your course or earn less than £15,795, you won’t make any repayments.

Which, doesn't really make much sense from the government's standpoint, as there's the potential that they'll never see any of the money they lent out...but I won't argue.  I am not clear on how long the payments last, either.

Someone said the Masters and PhD programs are generally shorter here, is that true?

From my experience this is true.  A master's course in the US lasts 2 academic years (though, I think some programs do include summer work).  A master's in the UK takes 1 calendar year.
A PhD in the US (in science at least) takes between 4-6 years.  A PhD in the UK (in science) takes 3-4 years.

Someone else said there are really not too many part time, nights and weekends, types of programmes here for Masters and PhD programs... Is that correct? I was told it is full time, and done during the day. Is that right?

I think that this depends on your field of study and your university.  All should allow you to study part-time, but it will obviously take longer to complete.  As far as timing/schedules, I know I've seen Birbeck University advertise that they have loads of part-time options...

Hope this helps!

**X-posted with Ksand!

Thank you both!

Super helpful!!!!     

Is an undergrad '3.89 GPA' from Harvard and Smith College (I went both for undergrad, but I graduated from Smith, because I transferred) considered as good here as it is in the USA? My (USELESS!) Masters GPA is around the same, and I went to St John's University in NYC. Is that OK? For scholarships?!

Also, big question... Are there combined Masters/PhD programmes here?

Is an undergrad '3.89 GPA' from Harvard and Smith College (I went both for undergrad, but I graduated from Smith, because I transferred) considered as good here as it is in the USA? My (USELESS!) Masters GPA is around the same, and I went to St John's University in NYC. Is that OK? For scholarships?!

I would imagine so - normally you only need an undergrad GPA of about 3.3 to get onto a postgraduate programme and once you have a masters, they barely look at the undergrad score. It's actually much easier to get into universities like Oxford and Cambridge as a postgrad than as an undergrad. Even Bristol, where I did my masters... Bristol gets about 40,000 applications for only 3,000 undergrad places which is really tough, but for post-graduate places, my masters tutor offered places on my course to pretty much everyone who applied!

I'm not sure how common scholarships are though. When I was applying to masters programmes, I couldn't find any scholarship-type funding and had to fund the whole degree myself.

Also, big question... Are there combined Masters/PhD programmes here?

I think so, but not sure how common they are - it might depend on the field/subject area. My best friend from uni did a '4-year' PhD which would give her a masters and PhD in one (computer science/physics). Unfortunately, 3.5 years in, someone scooped her research subject and published the work before she did, so her PhD became defunct and she had to leave the programme. She got an MPhil out of it, but she wasn't happy (because her supervisor's job was to make sure no one else was doing similar research).

Is an undergrad '3.89 GPA' from Harvard and Smith College (I went both for undergrad, but I graduated from Smith, because I transferred) considered as good here as it is in the USA? My (USELESS!) Masters GPA is around the same, and I went to St John's University in NYC. Is that OK? For scholarships?!

Yes. I had a 3.90 at a Uni that isn't exactly on the same level as those you attended.  It is considered excellent in the US, but not everyone will know "what it means" really--so you basically have to convert it, by saying something like "it's the equivalent of a First in the UK".  But the Admissions office at your chosen Uni should have a good understanding of the US-system.

I entered as an International Student, and was strongly encouraged to apply for the fully-funded scholarship programs. I suppose I could have been awarded one, but I didn't apply (The scholarships were for PhD's, and the program I chose was for me to decide whether or not I liked a certain field of research/wanted to pursue it.  It turns out I kind of hated that particular field, So I've spared myself a few dreadful years!).  However, I was awarded partial funding for my Master's course, which covered a nice chunk of my tuition.

If you apply now, you might just be eligible for the International Scholarship programs...Something to double check!

X-posted with Ksand (AGAIN)

Thank you so much for all of the info!!!!!

I'm not going to apply anyplace until I am here for 3 years. So, in a year and a half.

I just wanted into so I could start looking into programs... If it was even doable... which it seems it is!

YAY!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

I'm not going to apply anyplace until I am here for 3 years. So, in a year and a half.

What I meant, was, you may have better luck obtaining one of the fully funded International scholarships than the whatever UK scholarships there are that require you to have ILR (+3 years residency)...so applying sooner (as an Int'l student), rather than later (as a Home student) could be a possibility if the funding/residency thing is your only reason for waiting.

Either way, always a good idea to wrap your head around things before jumping in

Oh, I see! Thank you!

xoxoxoxoxoxxo!

FWIW, all the programmes I'm looking into are combined masters/PhD (for linguistics).  I think in the social sciences such things are more common than the natural sciences, where Ksand's experience is.  It will depend very much on what you are looking to study.  Also, my impression is that funding is rarer, though there are grants available they are not guaranteed for every student and are quite competitive.  That's my impression anyway, since I haven't applied yet . 

Thank you very much historyenne! Good to know!

I'm looking into PhD's for Psychology.

Again... LOL!

 

Hi Lara,

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this question. I was casting about for ideas to finance a PhD in psychology (especially since I have to do a conversion course, which will take me longer).

Good luck with graduate school!
Maria 

 ladynotingreen, thanks for mentioning the possibility of needing a conversion course... lol... I had not even thought of that.

Now I am wondering if my USA psych undergrad would require that too...

moving on to google now... lol!

Hi Lara,

Based on my research at the British Psychology Society website, the only reason you should need a conversion course is if you don't have any undergraduate work in psychology, which is my situation.  My undergrad was in international politics. You should be fine with a B.A./B.S. in psych, though do check with your university.

Thank you ladynotingreen!