
How much the Govt expects you to give your children for university
Update Note 25 May 2017: The ready reckoners below have been updated with the new 2017/2018 living loan amounts. Also since first writing this blog, and seeing the strength of feeling it attracted, I have written an open letter to the Uni Minister asking him to start telling people about this. Yet sadly received his no we won’t...

Martin Lewis: The five changes needed to improve the current student finance system
The following is a summary of my/MSE’s full submission to the Government’s Augar review of higher education.

Martin Lewis: Big student loan shake-up means millions (but not everyone) will pay £1,000s less
On 6 April, we’ll see the biggest change to hit student finance since the new system launched in 2012. It’ll mean millions of university leavers will repay less, not just each month, but many (not all) will see the amount they repay in total reduced by £1,000s. While it affects almost all uni leavers to an extent,...

Martin Lewis: If 83% are predicted not to repay student loans, who pays it? It doesn’t work like you think…
Student loans are a political hot potato and widely misunderstood. I recently blogged on why, bizarrely, cutting tuition fees risks hurting not helping most graduates and within the logic of that I explained it is predicted that 83% of university leavers under the newest English system won’t repay their loans in full within the 30 years before they wipe....

Martin Lewis: Why cutting tuition fees bizarrely risks hurting not helping most students
The news again has been full of talk about cutting English tuition fees from £9,250 to, say, £6,000. While psychologically attractive – as it reduces the perceived ‘debt’ – the practical impact is to take money off universities, risking the quality of education, and handing it to very high-earning graduates. I bashed out this explanation on my...

Martin Lewis video: How to teach your kids about debt and why financial education matters
We live in one of the world’s most competitive consumer economies. Companies spend billions of pounds on advertising, marketing and teaching their staff to sell. Yet consumers don’t get buyers’ training. Financial education is crucial to address this misbalance. I was delighted to be part of the campaign that put financial education on the English national curriculum...

Martin Lewis – The four things you need to be successful
Like all with greying hair, I wish I could counsel my 20-year-old self – not just to steer his decisions, but to help reassure and take the pressure off making them. In November 2016, I was lucky enough to do the next best thing. The BBC’s One Show asked if I’d give an hour’s life lecture to...

Is your student loan being sold? The answers we must get from the Government…
If you started university between 1998 and 2012, the Government plans to sell your student loan to the City. If you started in 2012 or beyond, chances are the same will happen to you. If you went before 1998 then your loan has already been sold, and you probably know there were substantial problems. The House of Lords’...

Uni Minister Jo Johnson says NO to my letter asking ‘please be honest & transparent about the parental contribution’
The amount of the living loan that students aged under 25 get when they go to university is dictated by a means test of their PARENTS’ income. A reduction in the living loan starts for students from families with incomes of just £25,000/yr and the amount received can be halved for those whose parents earn £60,000. In...

Panicked about interest on your student loan statement? For many it’s nonsense!
You graduate from uni, ready to face the world – check your student loan statement online and discover £150 a month interest is being added. It’s a frightening prospect. However, for many people this statement and the interest added is irrelevant and may as well be ignored. I’ve often heard it said that all English students in England who...
Latest MoneySaving Tips
-
12 ways to save only do with appsFree chocs, 1.5% savings and more
-
Martin: 'Aged around 45 to 70?''You may be able to turn £800 into £5,500+'
-
New. Top way to spend abroadUnbeatable exchange rates and cashback
-
10% off discount 'best-before' storeEg, 23p Pepsi , £4,50 for 1kg Lindt
-
Cheaper energy deals kiboshedMartin not exactly impressed
-
Lloyds' free £125 bank bribeBut others pay more
-
Debt cost-cutting masterclassMortgages, cards, overdrafts, loans...
-
48 oriental lily bulbs for £87,500 bundles available
Recent Blogs
-
Martin Lewis: 'UO is just as important as UX: A tip for anyone developing their website or app'
6 May 2022I set up MoneySavingExpert.com nearly 20 years ago – when arguably the modern web was still in its infancy. With an abundance of self-belief (something I had too much of then, as I realise now) I decided not to read any books, or follow prevailing wisdom on how a site should operate – and just do it my way. -
Martin Lewis: Got a cash ISA? You should probably ditch it
3 May 2022Press the rewind button and go way back to April 2015... Possibly on the telly in the corner of your living room, I was on-air at the time urging savers as usual to use their new tax-free cash ISA allowance – because 'money was nicer in an ISA'. But things changed in 2016. -
Martin Lewis: Money and Mental Health charity 2021/22 – Covid & cost of living hell...
26 April 2022It's hard to believe the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) charity is now six years old. As the chair of trustees, each year I write the foreword to its annual report – and today the 2021/22 report is out, so I thought I'd blog my formal chair's foreword here. -
Martin Lewis: What happened to my pledge to give £10m to charity – 2022 update (spoiler: it's now £20m)
11 April 2022Nearly a decade ago, in June 2012, MSE joined the MSM Group and I pledged £10m to go to charity. As that was a public pledge and I feel I've a duty of transparency, every year or two I bash out a blog report to explain where I'm up to, and who's got what money.