Postgraduate Loans Round-Up - Student Funding Across the UK

It's been almost two years since the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the UK's first ever postgraduate loans, back in Autumn 2014.

A lot's changed since then (including the Chancellor of the Exchequer) but the introduction of new student funding has stayed on course.

In fact, recent plans for postgraduate loans in Wales mean that every UK country has now proposed extending student finance to its Masters students - with further support for PhDs also on the horizon.

So it feels like the perfect time to 'round-up' these different options and clarify exactly what's happening for future postgraduates at UK universities. And that's exactly what I'm going to do in this post.

With four different loan schemes (more if we count the PhD proposals) this isn't exactly simple. Thankfully, I've got an unfair advantage. Over the past two years I've looked through about 732 pages* of policy documents, so I'm pretty confident that I can summarise what's happening where and when.

If all else fails we'll resort to pictures.

*Author's estimate.

Each of the loan schemes covered here has its own timescale and all have gone through a series of changes since their first announcement. Some are still waiting to be confirmed.

With that in mind, it's worth summarising how we got to this point - and where we can expect things to go next.

2014 - George Osborne announces UK Masters loans

It seems a long time ago now, but Osborne's announcement of £10,000 loans for Masters students was initially pitched as a policy to 'revolutionise' postgraduate education.

The then coalition government identified an economic and social need for more advanced skills in the UK workforce and responded with plans to expand access to Masters-level education.

Meanwhile, a Postgraduate Support Scheme was launched for students beginning courses in 2015-16. Partly intended as a pilot for the loans, the PSS offered £10,000 of funding as a grant for applicants from widening participation backgrounds.

2015 - English loans revised, PhD loans announced and alternative UK proposals put forward

The initial version of the English Masters loans raised a few concerns. The age cap of 30 was seen as prohibitive and the restriction to taught degrees caused confusion.

Campaigning by the National Union of Students (NUS) and a public consultation process saw significant changes, with loans made available to all students under 60, on any postgraduate Masters course.

The government also put forward its first proposals for PhD loans, with £25,000 to be made available at some point in the future.

So far, these plans focussed on students in England, with English residency a key eligibility criteria for domestic applicants.

This raised concerns in other parts of the UK and Northern Ireland was the first country to put forward proposals for its own postgraduate loans, considering a range of options that included extensions to undergraduate finance as well as a separate Masters loan.

Scotland followed suit in late December with proposals for postgraduate loans of up to £9,000 for its own students.

2016 - Applications open in England whilst other loans are proposed or confirmed

This year has seen small amendments to the English Masters loans, ahead of their launch. Applications went live in June and the loans themselves are now available for new students.

PhD loans were also confirmed for English students, to be introduced in 2018.

Elsewhere Northern Ireland announced that its own loans would go ahead in 2017, with up to £5,500 available towards tuition fees and the possibility of additional PhD finance in future. Scotland decided not to launch loans for 2016, but has extended support for shorter postgraduate courses.

Wales, meanwhile, had been quietly carrying out its own review of student funding. The report was published this week (September 27th) with proposals for tuition-fee loans, plus maintenance funding for Welsh Masters students from 2018. These were pitched, perhaps fairly, as the most generous support package to be available in the UK.

The future. . .

As things stand, student loans are available or confirmed for Masters and PhDs in England and for taught postgraduate courses in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish and Welsh proposals have yet to be confirmed, as has the suggestion of additional finance for Northern Irish PhD students.

Of course, all of these schemes are subject to an ongoing question: the terms of Britain's exit from the European Union. Brexit won't lead to any of the schemes being withdrawn, but it may change the eligibility of EU students (currently able to apply for any of the confirmed schemes, subject to residency in the UK whilst studying).

We'll be keeping a close eye on things - even if it means me reading more policy documents. You can stay updated, as always, by subscribing to our newsletter.

A postgraduate loans timeline

In the meantime, here's a simplified timeline, giving the dates at which the various UK postgraduate loans are confirmed or expected (I said we might resort to pictures eventually):

This information is accurate as of information published up to September 2016, but do bear in mind that the timeline for delivery of any of these schemes could change - particularly for those that are still at the proposal stage.

With the release of the Welsh proposals it's finally possible to see how the UK's different postgraduate loan offerings stack up against each other.

Differences in course eligibility and loan calculation make an exact comparison slightly more complicated than it might seem, but it's possible to take a rough look at the different schemes, side by side:

Details may yet change - particularly for the unconfirmed schemes in Wales and Scotland. It's also important to bear in mind that each set of loans has its own additional conditions.

Wales, for example, has proposed that students be entitled to a minimum non-means-tested maintenance grant of £1,000, plus additional means-tested grant and loan support. This would be offered in addition to a tuition fee loan up to the maximum value of their course fees.

Scotland and Wales are also considering the possibility of cancelling or reducing loan-debt for graduates who work and pay tax in those countries.

Again, we'll be doing our best to keep you updated with these plans as they develop.

Is this funding enough?

The maximum amount for each loan differs based on the perceived cost of studying a Masters in each part of the UK.

Each should be sufficient to cover tuition fees, as the following chart demonstrates:

The information in this chart is based on the maximum loan amounts confirmed or proposed by each scheme, compared with the average cost of a taught Masters across the UK for 2016-17.

Obviously this isn't perfect - loan amounts may change and average fees certainly will (particularly for shorter courses such as Postgraduate Certificates or Diplomas).

It's also important to remember that some countries offer additional support:

English students, for example, can borrow £10,000, whatever the cost of their course - allowing them to put some money towards living costs. On the other hand, English students are likely to pay the most, on average, for a Masters.

Wales, meanwhile, has some of the UK's lowest average Masters fees, but is proposing to offer additional maintenance grants and loans for its students.

When it comes to the proposals for PhD loans, things are a little less clear.

This is what we know so far:

• England has confirmed loans of up to £25,000 for its own students - they'll be introduced in 2018, alongside existing Research Council funding.
• Wales has proposed to introduce 150 scholarships for Welsh research students, funding fees and maintenance for up to three years. These won't be introduced any earlier than 2018.
• Northern Ireland is considering offering loans to PhD students, on a similar basis to the English plans. No date for this has been given.

UPDATE: Further information about the PhD loans emerged in November, with the launch of a new consultation. We'll continue to keep eye on things and make sure you stay updated.

The future of UK PhD funding?

Up until now there's been one major source of public funding for PhDs in Britain: scholarships provided by the seven UK Research Councils.

These are awarded on a competitive basis across the UK, with the number available based on the quality of a university's bid for funding as part of a Doctoral Training Centre, or Partnership.

The arrival of loans looks set to complicate this funding landscape. The English scheme will offer up to £25,000 to students without a Research Council maintenance grant. As such, it effectively replaces that component of the more traditional Research Council scholarship. It's possible that a Northern Irish loans scheme would do something similar.

This could create a multi-tier public funding system, with some students on full Research Council scholarships, some on partial scholarships 'topped up' with loans and others relying solely on borrowing to fund their PhD.

More choice is a good thing - in theory, but it's going to be interesting to see how things work for the next generation of doctoral students.

To make things more complicated, the Welsh proposals offer full fee and maintenance grants, rather than loans. These will effectively offer a direct alternative to Research Council funding, but only 150 will be available.

Currently, EU students are able to apply for a Masters loan in England. They'll also be able to apply for a postgraduate loan in Northern Ireland from next year.

But it's highly likely that the process of exiting the European Union will have begun before all of these loans are fully introduced. This may have an impact on eligibility for EU students (as well as those from the EEA and Switzerland).

It isn't possible to say exactly what 'brexit' will mean for EU postgraduates in the UK. Existing students are unlikely to be unable to continue with their degrees, but this can't be confirmed.

The status of new students will depend on the terms of Britain's ongoing agreements with the EU.

It's possible that a reciprocal deal will allow EU students to take advantage of postgraduate funding in the UK, whilst UK students benefit from support to study abroad.

We've taken a more detailed look at post-brexit possibilities elsewhere on this blog.

The best way to stay updated with the various postgraduate loans is to read the guides we've put together across FindAMasters and FindAPhD.

These include:

• Our guide to this year's English Masters loans and our information on how to apply.
• Our guide to the PhD loans being introduced in England from 2018.
• Our overview of the Northern Irish postgraduate loans, confirmed for next year.
• Our summary of the suggestions for postgraduate loans in Scotland (which includes information on the current funding for shorter courses).
• Our recent blog post covering the proposals for new postgraduate funding and finance in Wales.

We'll be updating these resources as more information emerges - and using our newsletter to let you know when that happens.