Everything you need to know about finance

[Katherine]

Disclaimer: this article was written in December 2008 and was correct (as far as I know) at the time of posting. Things change quickly in the world of money, so don't be too surprised if any of the following has changed, but I will try and keep it up to date!

Tuition Fees
In 2009/10 course providers in England and Wales will be charging up to £3225 tuition fees for UK/EU residents to do a full-time one year PGCE course.

Course providers in Scotland charge nothing to Scottish or EU residents to do the PGDE course. While residents of England or Wales studying in Scotland pay £1775.

Tuition fees vary for international students and you need to check with your course provider for exact costs.

If you have enough money you can pay tuition fees directly to your course provider (in a lump sum or installments). If you don't have the money you can apply for a student loan (see below).

Student Loans
There are two kinds of student loan: the Tuition Fee Loan and the Maintenance loan and you can apply for either one or both. You can apply for your loan(s) from early March in the year you are starting the course by contacting your Local Authority or applying online at http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk. It may take a while so be sure to apply well before the deadline in June to receive your money on time. The money you receive from these loans needs to be repaid, but you only start doing this after you have completed your course and when you are earning £15,000 a year. At this point 9% of your earnings for each month are paid directly to the Student Loans company. So if you are earning £18,000 a year this would be £22 a month taken from your wages.

Tuition Fee Loan:
You can apply for any amount up to the full cost of your tuition fees (see above). This loan is not income dependent, this means that they do not take your income or that of your partner/ parents when assessing it. This loan is paid straight to your course provider.

Maintenance (living) loan:
This loan is income assessed and depends on a number of factors: your income or your partners income or your parents income, where you will be studying (e.g. in or outside London) and where you will be living (e.g. at your parents home or not). If you are aged over 25, have children, are married, have no living parents or have supported yourself for over three years you are considered to be 'Mature or Independent' Student. This means that only your income or that of your partners is assessed and not your parents. The Maintenance loan is paid into your bank account in three installments, at the start of every term.

Some examples of the amounts of Maintenance Loan you might receive in 2009/10 are as follows:
If you have low income and are living at home with your parents you can get up to £3673
If you have low income, are living away from home and training outside London you can get up to £4745
If you have low income, are living away from home and training in London you can get up to £6643.

Grants and Bursaries:
These are non-repayable which means you don’t ever need to pay them back (free money yippee!)

Teaching Training Bursaries:
Residents of England and the EU (not Scotland or Wales) receive a teaching training bursary to study in England.
£4000 for Primary
£6000 for Secondary (Art & Design, Business, History, English)
£9000 for Secondary (Design & Technology, Maths, Modern Foreign Languages, Music, Religious Education, Science).

Residents of Wales and the EU (not England or Scotland) receive a teaching training bursary to study in Wales.
£2200 for Primary
£7200 for Secondary (Design & Technology, Maths, Modern Foreign Languages, Music, Religious Education, Science, ICT and Welsh)
£4200 for all other Secondary subjects.

These training bursaries are paid in nine monthly instalments throughout your PGCE course (October to June). You can find out more by looking at this site: http://www.tda.gov.uk/. The teaching training bursaries for 2009/10 are yet to be confirmed.

Course Provider Bursaries:
PGCE students with low income who require the full maintenance loan (see above) will receive a bursary from their course provider (only if the course provider charges the maximum tuition fee of £3225). The minimum amount of money you will receive is £319 but many course providers offer a lot more money. You can check out what you might be able to receive by using this rather groovy map http://bursarymap.direct.gov.uk/.

It is also useful to look into what other bursaries your course provider offers, you may find yourself being eligible for even more money. For example Roehampton University currently offers £1000 for any PGCE student who has got a first class degree.

Maintenance Grant:
UK students can apply for a maintenance grant of up £2906. Part of this grant is not income assessed, which means that all PGCE students should receive some of this money. The other part is income assessed. These grants are paid in three installments, one at the start of each term.

Grants for studying in Wales:
Residents of Wales and the EU (not England or Scotland) studying in Wales can receive a Tuition Fee Grant of £1940. You may also be eligible for an Assembly Learning Grant of up to £2906, which is income assessed.

If you are studying a Secondary PGCE in Wales in Welsh, you may be eligible for up to £1500 on the Welsh-medium Incentive Supplement Scheme

Other grants and allowances:
If you have children you may be eligible for the Childcare Grant. If you are studying in England this could be up to £255 per week for two or more children or £274.55 in Wales. You may also be eligible for the Parents' Learning Allowance, of up to £1508.

There is also an Adult Dependents' Allowance of up to £2642 in England or £2647 in Wales if you are the main carer for another adult.

There is also the Disabled Students Allowance.

You can find more information about all of the things mentioned in this article by looking at the following links:
http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk/- General Information
http://www.direct.gov.uk/ -General Information
http://www.studentfinanceengland.co.uk- England
http://www.saas.gov.uk -Scotland
http://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk - Wales