1. Is it worth it?

2.  49% said no impact on decision to go to university  36% said ‘less likely to go’  11% said ‘much less likely to go’  Fees are most likely to put off students from lower socio-economic background and non- traditional backgrounds  83% of intended undergraduates will apply to cities where living costs are lower

3.  Should a student loan be seen as investment or graduate tax rather than debt?  There is a poor awareness of grants, bursaries and scholarships that reduce the debt

4.  It ISN'T a case of 'pay up or you can't go'.  Tuition fees are automatically paid by loans which you only need to start repaying in the April AFTER graduation and you are earning a reasonable salary  But you will be charged 3% above the Retail Price Index (RPI) in interest

5.  The loan is repaid through the income tax system. That means once you're working your employer takes it off the payroll, so you never see the money, it simply reduces the amount you receive in your pay packet  You repay 9% of everything you earn annually above £21,000.

6. The aim is to reduce the impact of higher fees on your standard of living

7.  So you will not have more money taken from your salary when you start earning £21,000 if you went to a high fee University  But it will take longer to pay off.

8.  Full-time students aged under 60 at the start of their course can also take a loan to pay for their living costs, eg food, books, accommodation and travel. These are usually paid in three termly instalments direct to students' bank accounts. The amount is dictated by two elements:  The Guaranteed bit. Up to 65% of the maximum living cost loan will be available  The Income Assessed bit. The amount you can borrow is means-tested, in other words it depends on you or your parents’ income

10.  The loan is cancelled after 30 years  Many people will NEVER pay it all back  Money Saving Expert calculator

11.  Under what circumstances would you not have to repay your loan? Lose a limb and become disabled? You die? Pregnancy? Made redundant? Bankruptcy? Become a teacher? Work/live abroad? Earn under 21K? After 30 years? True – loan is written off if you become permanently unfit to work through illness or injury Yes – you stop making repayments at any time you earn under the threshold Fiction – you are still eligible to make repayments if working abroad and earning above the threshold Fiction – there was a pilot project (RTL) relating to this between 2002 – 2004. It is discontinued Yes – or when aged 65 if taken out before 1st September 2006 Fact – the debt dies with you, and no one inherits it Fiction – becoming bankrupt does not write off your student loan Yes – payments will stop being collected, if unemployed /claiming jobseekers allowance Fiction – but repayments will stop if earnings dip below the threshold if, say, working part-time

12.  Universities are only allowed to charge fees if they have a system to support poorer students  On top of the official financial support, other funding sources are also available from scholarship sites such as Scholarship-search, Family-action, Turn2us, StudentCashPoint and UniGrantsScholarship-search Family-actionTurn2usStudentCashPointUniGrants

13. Budget Calculator Add details of likely costs for each course to get an idea of the financial reality of student life Average accommodation costs are already included Budget Calculator

14. COSTSBENEFITS