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That's not only a side effect, but a stated principle: After you gain admission, you have to prove that you have the money you need to sustain yourself either
by gyulai 5y ago
That's not only a side effect, but a stated principle: After you gain admission, you have to prove that you have the money you need to sustain yourself either through a scholarship, or you have to literally show a bank statement that shows that you have a lump sum in your account that will sustain you for the normal amount of time it takes to finish the degree. Living expenses are factored into this at a set rate. You are not allowed to rely on funds you intend on earning while you're actually studying.
I don't think this is all that wrong: If you are dependent on working to be able to cover your living expenses, it takes time away from your studies, which reduces the likelihood you'll pass, increases the likelihood of needing more time to get to a degree. Needing more time, means having to spend more time with low-paid jobs to sustain yourself until you get to the degree, and it all adds up to a risk that's difficult to manage for the student, and universities definitely don't want the drop-out rate that results from that.
You wouldn't start building a house when it's uncertain that you have enough money to be able to complete the project.
The way to manage the social ramifications is by keeping tution rates low and providing scholarships. Cost of living is not something you can control particularly well although, at Oxbridge, they at least do what they can on that front through university-owned housing etc. Also: Those are university towns that don't have cost of living and rents spiralling out of control as a side-effect of other industries that are there, like is the case in the Bay Area or Boston, which is a major metropolitan area even without the universities.
- dogma1138 5y agoThe people who get shafted the most by this as I said aren’t “poor” but rather in the middle, the stipend that is available as a loan to students is dependent on the income of the parents and even a £45K household income would limit that stipend to around £6 whilst Oxford requires £10K for affordability and it’s unlikely that most households would be able to make up the difference unless they planned for that and made sacrifices early on in their child’s life and most importantly were lucky enough to able to afford to make those sacrifices consistently.
- geomark 5y ago"You wouldn't start building a house when it's uncertain that you have enough money to be able to complete the project." Sorry for the completely OT reply, but this triggered me because it is exactly how banks in Thailand do lending to build a house. Once all the details and total cost are known, the bank lends about half of the needed amount and then checks on your progress. If you didn't get about half the house built they don't fund the remainder.
- flir 5y agoSo what happens to the half-built houses? Is it like kit cars, where there's a thriving market for other people's failed projects?
- geomark 5y agoSome of them get finished other ways. Others get taken back by the bank when the owner decides to stop making payments on a loan for an unfinished house. You often see half finished houses that are slowly rotting.
- twobitshifter 5y agoI think that’s common elsewhere as well. A construction loan in the US will work the same way and have a draw schedule that must be followed.
- geomark 5y agoInteresting. I was unaware of that and thought it was a bizarre approach unique to banks in this so-called developing country.
- twobitshifter 5y agoI think it’s needed when the collateral for the loan is something that doesn’t yet exist. If you were to put up something other than your yet to be constructed home as the collateral you could do without a draw schedule. The bank is rightfully concerned that you build your house to the level you described in the plans so that they can recoup their money if you some day default.
- sgt101 5y ago>After you gain admission, you have to prove that you have the money you need to sustain yourself either through a scholarship, or you have to literally show a bank statement that shows that you have a lump sum in your account that will sustain you for the normal amount of time it takes to finish the degree. I think this is for graduate students - the undergraduate student system is different.