Can You Get a Student Loan for a Second Degree (Student Finance for Second Degree)

At the current time getting an education has become very expensive. You need to pay high tuition fees for getting a good quality education. Therefore many students take loans from various places and organisations. One such common organisation is a student loan company. The biggest question that many of you may have is if You Get a Student Loan for a Second Degree or not.

Quick Takeaways

• The student loan company is the one which grants loans to students for educational purposes.
• Student loan companies (SLC) do not offer funds for second-degree courses. 
• However, it may give you limited funding for some of the specific subjects like computer science, technology, and mathematical sciences. 

You must read till the end so that you do not miss any of the crucial facts about student loan companies. 

What are student loan companies?

The student loan company is the finance company for the students to help them with their education. This is a non-profitable company that help students to get help to pay their tuition fee. This organisation in shows that you get all the opportunities in your academics. You will get help to support your higher and further education with it. It is a full government organisation and therefore taking up help from this organisation can save you from the high rate of interest that you will be paying on loans for a private company. However, they do not provide help for paying the rent and thus you must keep it in mind while taking the loan.

Is there a limit to how many student loans you can get?

It is essential to know that you will be getting two different loans a student – tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan. Suppose you are a student who is taking full-time force then you are eligible for getting up to £9,250. On the other hand, if you are taking excreted degree course then you can get up to £11,100. 

Though if we talk about a maintenance loan, you can get up to £12,667.  However how much you feel get will depend upon various factors like if you are living with your parents, if you are living away from your parents, your age, etc. As you now know what is student loan company and how much amount can you get, it is time to know if you can get a student loan or not.

Can you get a student loan for a second degree?

Unfortunately, you will not get a student loan for your second degree. Even if you had not taken a student loan for the first degree, you will still not get the student loan if you are doing a second degree at the same level. However, you may get eligible for second-degree courses to get a student finance loan but may not get the student loan for six-month associate degree. Thus let us look at the second-degree courses for which you can get student finance loan support.

What second-degree courses can you get a student finance loan for?

There are two different types of conditions in which you may get the loan for a second degree –

• When you already have a higher degree and want to do the honour.
• If you already have an honorary degree and still want to take a new course like a part-time honour degree or joint honour degree.

Following are the second-degree courses for which you can get funding-

• Architecture (if it’s a MArch RIBA Part 2 course) 
• Biological sciences 
• Agriculture and related subjects 
• Computer science 
• Courses leading to qualification as a veterinary surgeon
• Medicine and allied subjects 
• Mathematical sciences 
• Physical sciences 
• Technologies 

How to get funding for the second degree?

Though you will be getting limited funding for specific subjects, it is important for you to find out different ways by which you can get funding for your second degree. Therefore flowing at the different ways by which you can get funding for a second degree-

Private student loan

This is one of the most common options that most students take for their second degree. As it is not government funded, it may be difficult for you to repay the amount you have taken along with the interest. This is because the interest rate of these companies is generally higher.

Sponsorship by the employer

If you are already working you can ask your employer to sponsor you. However, it will definitely depend upon your employee if he wants to sponsor you or not. It may also depend upon whether the course you are taking will benefit the employer or not.

Scholarships

There are a lot of scholarships available that you can take to reduce the cost of taking the course. The amount that you get for a new scholarship is not that large but is definitely useful. It is because you do not need to repay the amount that you get as a scholarship.

Charities

You can find lots of charities, grants, trusts, etc that may help you by offering your education. However, just remember that there would be specific criteria for each of the organisations.

Doing part-time

Another one of the best ways to collect the amount that is needed for your second degree is by doing part-time jobs. By taking a part-time job you will not only be able to gather money for 2nd degree but will also be able to get the necessary experience in the related field. 

Conclusion

At the current time, the most expensive thing that we can get is an education. You will have to pay high tuition fees in order to get admission to a good educational institution. As a result, many students need to take loans in order to meet the required tuition fees. One such government-funded organisation by which you can take loans for your education is a student loan company.

The only drawback of this organisation is that it does not offer loans for taking up a second degree. However, it may offer limited funding for some of the second-degree courses. You may also find some of the ways by which you can get funding like a private student loan, sponsorship from employers,.etc.