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Graduate scheme hunters receive new student loan interest rates

Published: Wednesday, 01 September 2010   Category: All Graduate job news

New interest rates for student loans have come into force today (September 1st), giving Britons looking for graduate opportunities another financial issue to consider.

Graduates have not been charged on the loans for the past year, with a rate of zero per cent being applied to those issued after 1998 and -0.4 per cent on pre-1998 deals.

However, the Student Loans Company has confirmed that anyone who secured their loan after 1998 will now pay 1.5 per cent interest, with the rate rising to 4.4 per cent for loans issued before 1998.

The interest is calculated using either the Retail Prices Index in March or the top base rate charged by banks with an extra one per cent added, depending on which is lower.

According to BBC News, about 3.3 million people have taken out a student loan since 1998, with only 355,600 taking one out before 1998.

The Education Act 1962 made it a legal obligation for all Local Education Authorities to give full-time university students a maintenance grant.

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