An affordable necessity. (Student Loans Co.)

Member Name: hellyg314

Product:	Student Loans Co.
Date:	12/09/01 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very low interest rates, Gain interest even if you don't want to use it

Disadvantages: Partialy means tested

I started university last year and i had to take out a student loan because my parents simply couldn't afford to finance both me and my two sisters(also both doing 4 year courses at university). After my four years i'm going to be in around £12000 pounds of debt which sounds scary but hopefully it won't be too bad once i have a job and only small(ish) amount taken each month.
The money i get pays for my accomodation and anything else i need like food, bills, books etc. I always find that as i am quite careful and as Leeds isn't too expensive i have pleanty of money to survive on. This year though i am planning on getting a part time job so that i can build up my savings so that once i come out of uni i can pay of a small chunk of my loan.
The way the student loan works out is that basically you have to pay back what you had loaned to you. This means that even if you don't want to use the money it works out best if you put this money in some form of high interest savings acound so that at least you earn a little bit of proffit and also you have some money in emergency.
I have always got my money on time and the student loans company have never caused e or my friends any problems. I would advise any new student to take the loan out and even if they don't want to use it they can gain interest and pay it back as soon as they want.
The only thing that i would like to change is the fact that 1/4 of the loan is means tested and i think that the student involved should be able to use as much of the full loan as they like.

Summary: