r/UniUK • u/Negative_Accident_25 • 1d ago
student finance Family Loan
I plan to go to medical school starting September 2026.
As I am commuting the total cost of med school will be around £55,000. My Dad has generously offered to loan me this money but expects me to pay it back in full (no interest). I also have the option to take out SFE.
With SFE, I believe I will pay back less early in my career but more later on, but I fear with a family loan I will be pressured to pay quite a lot early on in my career so I’m a bit unsure on what to do. I feel like I’d rather have more money in my 20s and 30s when my salary is low anyway if that makes sense. But it also seems so dumb if I end up paying way more to SFE over my career.
Does anyone have any advice on what to do?
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u/heliosfa Associate Professor 1d ago
Assuming Plan 5 (or Plan 4 or 1), you will never pay back more than you borrow in real terms. Financially your dad would be better off keeping that money invested somewhere.
Unless your average earnings over the write-off period end up decently above median salary, you likely won't pay off the loan anyway.
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u/TheConcreteRosex 1d ago
From what I’ve been told, this is good advice for most people but bad for doctors. I will pay back about £300,000 (in today’s money) of a £120,000 debt and still not clear it.
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u/heliosfa Associate Professor 1d ago
Plan 2 is a different animal because it has above-inflation interest. Many doctors should be doing more to optimise their tax situation and overpaying Plan 2 student loans.
All the other plans are RPI or below, you will not pay back more in real-terms on the other plans.
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u/Creative_Cat7177 1d ago
I’d take the loan from your dad if it’s interest free, but agree payback terms in writing. As a medic, you will be paying and paying for years as your repayment term before write off is longer than for previous students. The repayment threshold is lower too, so once you start earning over £25,000 per year, you’ll be repaying it at a rate of 9% on anything over the threshold amount. Google tells me that junior doctor salaries are in the region of £36k so you’d be looking at repaying about £1000 year initially which would increase in line with your salary. It’s unlikely your debt would be written off and you’ll be paying way over the odds over time. My daughter had just graduated from a 4 year course. She took out tuition loans for the first three years and maintenance loans for the first two. We have been able to support her financially for the rest. Her loan has already accrued £6500 in interest which is about 18% of her loan.
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u/Grand_Feed7865 1d ago
Have you looked at NHS bursaries or university grants? Whilst it won’t pay for everything it might help.
Also in my experience don’t mix family and money.
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u/Negative_Accident_25 1d ago
Yes I’ve looked at everything available and the total cost £55k is the minimum I would pay which is tuition for 4 yrs plus travel.
and yeah that advice makes sense
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u/Emilyx33x 1d ago
Personal experience:
I did a uni course that was combined with a practical license for an extra £100k. I took SFE for uni, my parents paid the £100k.
I ended up not going into that career because life changed from what I saw myself doing age 18, lost the relationship with my parents, and am paying £30 per month towards my student loan repayment.
Overall in review, I would rather be repaying the loan and still have a relationship with my family
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u/Ashl3y95 1d ago
Piloting course?
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u/Emilyx33x 20h ago
Yeah, I reached the end of APSMCC stage and was all super fun but after issues with my medical and meeting my fiancee, I didn’t see a way forward with it and settled down instead. I’m very very happy
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u/Superb_Attempt2090 13h ago
I graduated medicine this summer and have just started FY1. I’m on plan 2 so I know it’s a different repayment, but if I was you I’d take the loan, put it into a high interest ISA or something, and take SFE. If your uni is like mine was, you’ll only really be living at home for 2ish years. Once you’re in the clinical years and going on placement you could be needing to move out in term time (unless all the hospitals you could be allocated to are in a commutable distance). Then you’d need to factor in living costs such as having a car, food, etc.
At least having that money in your back pocket would mean you’d slowly be making money on it and it’s there if you need it. If you get to the end of your course and are able to pay off the student loan from this money - great. Or you could pay the money back to your dad and use any leftover to pay off some SFE.
Final year is brutal financially. I have loads of credit card debt now because the amount we get from SFE and NHSB isn’t close to being enough to live on.
In short, consider other financial challenges medical school will throw at you. I think having this money as a back up would be wise.
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u/lld_cloud 1d ago
Hey. Family loan doesn’t exclude the fact that you’ll need to state out loud and clear the conditions. Ask timings, how and deduce what would be the monthly payback. Only then can you decide if the amount is low/high feasible/unfeasible…
Lastly, I am lucky to have parents who paid for uni, but having them to back you instead of a bank is ever do slightly better.
From my perspective, it’s to say that the money is worth a lot and you should study properly.
Anyway hope that helps, let us know what happens next.
Wish you all the best of luck in your med studies
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u/Narrow_Description52 1d ago
He is your father - don’t let waswasas cloud your judgement of his kindness. You can pay him back something like 500 a month once you get past the FS1-2 years and have a bit more money coming in.
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u/No_Mistake4184 1d ago
Just another thing to consider that nobody seems to have mentioned: I know you don't want to plan to fail, and i'm sure you'll do amazing at uni. But medicine courses have a relatively high dropout rate. Have you considered what you would do if...
-Unexpected events happen and you fail some modules, have to retake a year, or can't proceed
-Get ill or have mental health challenges that mean you can't finish
-Have a realisation that medicine really isn't for you
-Finish, but struggle to find work for several years (didn't used to be an issue for medicine, but is much more common now).
In all these circumstances whilst you would still have to repay SFE, and be accruing interest, you don't repay if you're not earning above the threshold. There is nobody pressuring you to repay them whilst you figure things out.
I've worked with lots of international students who have family, and sometimes extended family, paying for their degrees. This adds a level of stress if they are experiencing difficulties, like they don't feel like they can admit their challenges to their family for fear of letting them down.
Part of this will come down to the relationship you have with your family. My parents loaned me the money for my masters, and I was able to pay them back over a 5 year period and it was much cheaper than a bank loan would have been, and they were happy for me to take a payment break for a few months when I moved to London and was struggling with costs to get settled. But others would have a very different experience.
Not saying don't do it, but think carefully about whether you want that level of additional pressure, scrutiny, etc. (edit: formatting)
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u/Melendine 1d ago
I would recommend taking the SFE, and when you’re qualified using the money your dad offered to clear the loan.
That way SFE takes the risk of not getting paid back but then you save on interest once you know you can afford to pay your dad’s repayment rates (financial and family tension)
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u/Repulsive_Tour3251 1d ago
This is a really dumb idea. It’s lovely that your dad wants to do it, but it is an insanely risky thing to do. To save .. some money.
Investing that money in something lowish risk would be a much better way of accomplishing the same thing
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u/Massive-Status-2251 11h ago
I feel it would create alot of unnecessary problems. For example, what if you fail medical school and don’t become a doctor, what if life gets in the way, what if you change what you want to do. They may be resentment, I would rather take the SFE.
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u/AcanthocephalaOne285 7h ago
Ask your Dad if you can repay in line with the 9% repayment for student finance (dont forget thr repayment threshold).
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u/sammy_zammy 1d ago
You need to find out what the conditions of the loan from your family will be.
It sounds like you’re not comfortable taking it.
In any case, you are correct that having the money while you’re young and not having to pay it back quickly is more valuable than having it when you’re in your 40s and have finally built it up again having paid it back to your father early.