Fees, waivers and loans

Fee limits and fee income above £6,000

York St John University will set the following fee rates from September 2012 entry:

These figures exclude NHS contract funded provision and currently also excludes those places allocated through the TDA. The University awaits further advice on part-time provision before including these rates within the agreement.

Continuing students plus those topping up to undergraduate degrees from Foundation degrees starting before 2012 will be charged in line with the previous Access agreement. Fees will not be subject to an annual inflation rise for those starting in 2012 and for continuation years. However, for those entering in subsequent years fees will be subject to review. The full details of the number of expected students in each fee category are covered in Annex B.

*The fee rate for Foundation degree students in Education & Theology has been set at this level because these programmes have been developed in conjunction with a range of partners and are primarily targeted at specific mature audiences with no previous experience of higher education. These students will therefore not be eligible to the fee waiver discounts set out in this agreement but may be eligible for the National Scholarship Programme and other bursaries.

York St John has an established profile for attracting and retaining applicants from a wide range of backgrounds. To support this commitment to widening access the University has developed a range of fee waivers, bursaries, scholarships, outreach and retention activities to ensure that students will continue to benefit from the experience of coming to York St John regardless of financial circumstances.

Fee waivers

Fee waivers will be awarded against a single criterion based on residual family income provided at the following levels:

Fee waivers and scholarships

York St John will offer a University Scholarship in the form of a fee reduction of £2,000 for one year of study. 25 University Scholarships are available to eligible students.

• We will also give help to a substantial number of eligible students via the National Scholarships Programme. This will be in the form of a fee reduction worth £3,000 for one year of study.
• A range of additional waivers and scholarships are also available including our SPARK scholarships. The eligibility criteria and application procedures for all the scholarships will be published here on as full information becomes available.

Fee waivers will be awarded against a single criteria based on residual family income provided at the following levels:

You will not be required to pay the tuition fee at the time you study.  Instead, you can get a loan to cover the cost of your tuition which you only start to pay back after you graduate, and we expect that this will be at a rate of 9% of annual earnings above £21,000, also rising with inflation.  (Please see the section on Paying your loans back for details of how much you might pay, depending on your graduate salary.)

If you are considering studying part-time, you will also be able to defer paying fees by making contributions after you graduate - and this is a change from present policy.

Full-time students from the UK will also be able to take out maintenance loans to help to meet living costs.

Repayments of these loans will be collected after you have finished making contributions to cover fees, so you will continue to pay 9% of your annual earnings above £21,000 until you have first covered your fees and then made the repayments of any maintenance loan.

For more information about loans and grants visit Student Finance England Funding 2012/13.  You can also obtain more detail, and download information sheets, from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills website.

The Government is intending also to make maintenance grants available to students from families with lower assessed income, and to give help to some students via the National Scholarships Programme, but we do not yet have details of the way that this programme will operate.

You do not have to start repaying the Tuition Costs Loan and Maintenance Loan until the April after you finish university and only when you are earning over the minimum income threshold of £21,000 per year (from 2016). The threshold will increase with inflation each year.

Repayments are set at 9% of your gross income above this threshold and are usually collected by your employer via the tax system.

The Government will write off any remaining student loan balance (except for arrears) 30 years from the April after you finish your course.

Eligibility

Q: I am a student from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland – will this apply to me?

A: No. Students who normally live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland will receive financial support for university from the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government or the Northern Ireland Executive (as appropriate).

Q: I am an EU student intending to study in England – will this apply to me?

A: EU students from outside the UK that meet certain eligibility criteria will have access to a loan to cover the cost of their tuition. They will generally not be entitled to support for their living costs.

Q: I am studying on a part-time course – will this apply to me?

A: Part-time students studying at least 25% of the intensity of a full-time course will also have access to a loan to cover the cost of their tuition. More details on this will be available in due course.

Repayments

Q: Will loan repayments affect my ability to take out a loan?

A: This would be a decision for the loan provider, but student loan information won't be shared with credit reference agencies by Student Finance England.

Q: Will loan repayments affect my ability to get a mortgage?

A: The Council of Mortgage Lenders has advised that a student loan is very unlikely to impact materially on an individual's ability to get a mortgage. The amount of mortgage available may depend on net income.

Q: What control do graduates have over how much they pay back per month?

A: Graduates do not have control over how much they repay each month via the tax system.