4th year MSci vs M.Sc Costs

[moved]

We were told exactly the same when looking at courses too - apply for 4 year course so that you get the funding. We were told that you could always take the 3 year option but better to have the funding in the bag.

[KenR]

Anyone else come across this anomaly regarding University course fees

My DS is currently doing a 4 year M.Sci degree in Natural Sciences (mainly specialising in Biologiocal Science Modules) - the costs of the course fees are 4 x £9,000 funded by a Student Loan.

One option he is considering is to curtail the course after 3-years getting a B.Sc Hons in Natural Sciences and switch to a 1 year specialised post graduate M.Sc or M.Res. The course fees for a 1-year M.Sc in say Microbiology are £6,480. So the total course fees would be 3 x £9,000 + £6,480

Interestingly the post graduate M.Sc course is a 12 month Sept to Sept at £6,480 whereas the final year undergraduate element is 9 months Sept to June at £9,000

The only down side appears to be that the M.Sc or M.Res is a post graduate degree and so the course fees are not eligible for undergraduate student loans. So bank of mum and dad would need to provide a "interest free loan" but he would come out with a much lower student loan debt.

Has anyone else come across this anomaly?

Quick update on this - Postgraduate students loans up to £10K/annum have now been approved by HMG although the repayments will be in parallel with the undergraduate student loans when they start earning more than £21,000 per annum (6% per annum) - interest rate is RPI+3%

The bad news is that many Universities who were struggling to get students to do postgraduate M.Sc courses etc have now decided to increase the course fees massively. The Birmingham M.Sc course that my DS plans to do was £6,480 but the course fees have now been increased to £8,370 for 2016/17

I really do feel now that student course fees should be regulated by government - if the course was run by Birmingam Univ and clearly profitable last year at £6,480 what possible justification is there for increasing the course fees by 21.2%?

[Rob Clark]

Thanks for the update, Ken. I was recently talking (in a professional capacity) to some lecturers at Brunel University and they told me that £9K was a long way from covering the annual cost of a student there – they reckoned £13-14K was nearer the mark.

I don't know if this is true as it's a long (long) way from my field of expertise, and even then obviously it's just a snapshot, but if it is then I guess the answer to your question is that they want to try to claw in a higher percentage of the actual costs – as much as they think the 'market' will bear.