My teacher said I could go to university but no one in my family has been before, and I am worried about the cost?

New full-time students can get loans, grants and bursaries to help with tuition fees and living costs. These help you study first, and pay back when you're earning.
The financial help you can get as a new full-time student depends on your course, where you live while you are studying, and your individual circumstances.

What types of financial help can you get?

Types of help for new full-time higher education students include:

• Tuition fee loans to cover the full cost of your tuition fees
• Living cost loans to cover the cost of your living expenses
• Grants for living costs
• Bursaries and scholarships from universities and colleges

If you take out a student loan, you will not have to repay it while you are studying. Repayments only start after you leave your course and are earning more than £15,000 a year (or the monthly or weekly equivalents).
You'll be asked to repay nine per cent of any earnings above a certain amount - currently £15,000.
Your repayments will be nine per cent of your earnings over this set amount. So if, for example, you were earning the average starting salary of a graduate level job of £18,000, your repayments would be £5.19 a week.

This page was last updated on the 18th of February 2008 and is scheduled for review on or before the 18th of February 2009