AT THE ripe age of 44, I decided to return to the classroom.
However, it wasn’t the qualifications I was looking for.
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My gambit was to find a ‘dossers degree’ with the lowest fees and use the remainder to get my kitchen refurbished.
Settling on the remote creative writing masters degree at Teesside University, I was able to do just that.
Most of my college friends rightly got ahead with their fancy degrees in 2002 and had to get out all kinds of loans to pay for it.
Back then, masters degrees were paid for by banks, they loaned tens of thousands with high interest-rates that required payback almost as soon as they graduated.
Nervous about debt and finding employment, I put off my masters degree, happy enough with my two-year Foundation Degree in Journalism and not quite graduating with a three-years honours degree.
But come lockdown I was ready to reenter the education system and join my friends in MA-ville.
Government loans have improved for students in the last 10 years – as it stands you can now receive a loan of £12,471 for a year’s full-time masters degree making it possible for me to afford it.
Many courses are remote and to pass mine and receive my merit in Creative Writing, I only put in a few hours a week.
My kitchen cost £7,750 from Wickes and my course fees were only £3,750.
I reported this to the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP). They made it easy – I simply had to answer a Q&A over the phone about my course and how much the fees and loan were.
I was also claiming Universal Credit as someone unable to work due to illness or disability, like mine, Schizo-Affective Disorder.
If, like me, you’re on Universal Credit, you must report the loan as income and they then slightly reduce your monthly payments.
Although my UC payments reduced by a few hundred pounds a month, I did end up better off with the surplus degree fees.
I also put in a few all-day shifts as a carer which helped bump my income up to by £103 a month to £1,100.
This isn’t the first time that I have relied on my student loan to help me cover the cost of living.
I struggled with psychosis for most of my twenties and was unable to hold down a job due to paranoia.
My degree in journalism was a good way to fill a gap on my CV, get a qualification but also – to pay my London rent.
Next step for me is the doctorate… bump up my debt to a nice round £100,000
Erica Crompton
While studying I took on a Saturday job at the Fashion & Textile Museum.
However, I left after 6 months after struggling with my mental illness . Thankfully, my student loan just about tied me over for my studies in London.
My grades on this course were poor due to poor attendance – at the time I was unable to leave my flat due to my symptoms.
Today, I am in a much better place and doing a little work-from-home and mostly staying home under doctor’s advice to ‘take it easy.’
How the different student loan plans work
HERE’S the rules and repayment thresholds for all the different student loan plans:
Plan one
You’re on Plan 1 if you’re:
- an English or Welsh student who started an undergraduate course anywhere in the UK before 1 September 2012
- a Northern Irish student who started an undergraduate or postgraduate course anywhere in the UK on or after 1 September 1998
- an EU student who started an undergraduate course in England or Wales on or after 1 September 1998, but before 1 September 2012
- an EU student who started an undergraduate or postgraduate course in Northern Ireland on or after 1 September 1998
You’ll only repay when your income is over £382 a week, £1,657 a month or £19,895 a year (before tax and other deductions).
Plan two
You’re on Plan 2 if you’re:
- an English or Welsh student who started an undergraduate course anywhere in the UK on or after 1 September 2012
- an EU student who started an undergraduate course in England or Wales on or after 1 September 2012
- someone who took out an Advanced Learner Loan on or after 1 August 2013
You’ll only repay when your income is over £524 a week, £2,274 a month or £27,295 a year (before tax and other deductions).
Plan four
- a Scottish student who started an undergraduate or postgraduate course anywhere in the UK on or after 1 September 1998
- an EU student who started an undergraduate or postgraduate course in Scotland on or after 1 September 1998
You’ll only repay when your income is over £480 a week, £2,083 a month or £25,000 a year (before tax and other deductions).
Postgraduate loan
- an English or Welsh student who took out a Postgraduate Master’s Loan on or after 1 August 2016
- an English or Welsh student who took out a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan on or after 1 August 2018
- an EU student who started a postgraduate course on or after 1 August 2016
If you took out a Master’s Loan or a Doctoral Loan, you’ll only repay when your income is over £403 a week, £1,750 a month or £21,000 a year (before tax and other deductions).
Today, most fees for undergraduate courses are set at £9,250 which the Student Loans Company (SLC) covers.
In addition to this you can access a ‘maintenance loan’ (scroll down for more details) via the Government’s website. You have to give details of your household income and your course start date.
The loan is paid directly into your bank account at the start of each term and while you have to pay the loan back but only when you earn above a certain amount – the threshold salary that starts at £24,990 a year.
The Government says that if you’re a distance learning student, you can only apply for a Maintenance Loan if you cannot attend your course in person because of a disability.
In 2017, I realised I was still able to get loan for the third year of a BA(Hons) which you don’t do on a Foundation Degree like mine.
The best way I could do it, was to do a ‘top-up’ BA(Hons) in Fine Art locally, at the University of Staffordshire where I was still able to claim Employment and Support Allowance that was about £440 a month.
I even re-wrote and self-published my student essays and make a little pocket money selling them on Amazon’s self-publishing scheme.
However, it is important to remember that it is not ‘free money.’
My family despairs at how long I’ve been living off student loans like this – I have over £60,000 student debt from SLA.
However, it is a comfort that it doesn’t show on credit ratings or mortgage applications. In fact, if it’s not paid off in retirement, it gets cancelled.
Next step for me is the doctorate! I might do my thesis on the art of hustling and bump up my debt to a nice round £100,000 – what do you think?
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