[qp0yfHOf]

Salaams

As most of you will know tuition fees for most courses at Uk universities will be at £9000. Of course this presents a problem to the average teenage kid on how to pay such huge sums without taking out a loan. So I thought perhaps we could use a thread on here which we could present ways of financing university without delving into interest.


All thoughts and suggestions welcome

JazakAllah Khair

[PaulRyansew]

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته و مغفرته

Good luck brother.

Most people dont care and will get a loan anyway. Those that do care have no alternative as most families can't afford to pay and even getting loans from friends and family is not usually an option. £9000 is just the tuition. Many people need around £5000 more for accommodation, bills and food.

I was one of the lucky few who got in uni when it was £3000 and my remaining two years will stay at that. I got around the interest because with my loan interest is not charged until you make your first payment, and you don't make a payment until you earn above £15000. My plan is to finish uni if I continue and get a job under £15000 for a few years until I can pay it back in one lump sum thus paying only what I borrowed and getting around interest. However, I do not know if this has changed with the new £9000 system. It is possible as with the new system they are charging commercial interest also whereas with the old it was just inflation.

But realistically, even if it was still there, paying back £42000 in one lump sum on a job under £20000 (threshold increases from 15 to around 20) would take many years. Personally I would rather get an apprenticeship and work my way up that way.

[WepKeyday]

Well, as far as I am aware the student loan is something most people are eligible for.
this means you do not need to worry about paying £9,000 in that year.
Secondly, it must be noted, that this student loan increases only by the inflation rate. That means the real interest rate is by law 0%. Remember there is a difference between real and nominal interest rate.
Because we live in a fiat money system, there is a case to be made that perhaps the loan you take can be regarded as sadaqa hasana (I am not giving the scholarly ruling on it, only my own). You are paying it back, automatically from your salary once you start work. it also kicks in at a high level, from over £21k.
So if you make 22k per annum, you will pay 9% of 1k which is £90 per annum. if you make 41k per annum, you will pay 1.8k per annum back.
It is designed as a way to alleviate hardship, not a mechanism to create hardship.

So the real question is, do you consider a loan, which is at 0% real interest rate to be haram?
if you wish to stay away from doubtful matters, fair enough. i would advise you in that case to work part time and study part time, e.g. through Open University.

[seodiary]

Well, as far as I am aware the student loan is something most people are eligible for.
this means you do not need to worry about paying £9,000 in that year.
Secondly, it must be noted, that this student loan increases only by the inflation rate. That means the real interest rate is by law 0%. Remember there is a difference between real and nominal interest rate.
Because we live in a fiat money system, there is a case to be made that perhaps the loan you take can be regarded as sadaqa hasana (I am not giving the scholarly ruling on it, only my own). You are paying it back, automatically from your salary once you start work. it also kicks in at a high level, from over £21k.
So if you make 22k per annum, you will pay 9% of 1k which is £90 per annum. if you make 41k per annum, you will pay 1.8k per annum back.
It is designed as a way to alleviate hardship, not a mechanism to create hardship.

So the real question is, do you consider a loan, which is at 0% real interest rate to be haram?
if you wish to stay away from doubtful matters, fair enough. i would advise you in that case to work part time and study part time, e.g. through Open University.

I thought the brother was referring to taking out student loans and the interest associated with them?
~
Student loans do only charge inflation only but this is not the case with the £9000. They are now adding on commercial interest so what you wrote doesn't apply. It does however affect me with the old system. I had looked into this earlier and many scholars said even inflation interest is still haraam so even then I was wary and decided to follow the route of a low paid job to avoid even the inflation interest.

In hindsight, I wish I had gone for an apprenticeship. I think it would have been a lot less hassle and it would have kept me away completely from such doubtful matters.

[primaveraloler]

Well, as far as I am aware the student loan is something most people are eligible for.
this means you do not need to worry about paying £9,000 in that year.
Secondly, it must be noted, that this student loan increases only by the inflation rate. That means the real interest rate is by law 0%. Remember there is a difference between real and nominal interest rate.
Because we live in a fiat money system, there is a case to be made that perhaps the loan you take can be regarded as sadaqa hasana (I am not giving the scholarly ruling on it, only my own). You are paying it back, automatically from your salary once you start work. it also kicks in at a high level, from over £21k.
So if you make 22k per annum, you will pay 9% of 1k which is £90 per annum. if you make 41k per annum, you will pay 1.8k per annum back.
It is designed as a way to alleviate hardship, not a mechanism to create hardship.

So the real question is, do you consider a loan, which is at 0% real interest rate to be haram?
if you wish to stay away from doubtful matters, fair enough. i would advise you in that case to work part time and study part time, e.g. through Open University.

Inflation is the same as interest according to shariah:

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.a...ID=380&CATE=43

For the OP, the first thing is put your trust in Allah. It's amazing how when you do things the halal way you will see the barakah inshaa Allah. We come from a working class family, al hamdu lillah remained steadfast that I would not take a loan and I sufficed with the grant and some extra earnings. At the end of the year I had a surplus of money! SubhanAllah.

Now that the fees have risen to £9000 I think our youth are going to have to do some sacrificing.

Some options:

1) Take a part time degree, where you pay about £3000-4000 a year, work part time as well and use your earnings on your degree fees. This might take you upto 6 years or so. Inshaa ALlah we hope that Allah puts barakah in the earnings so you will have some money for yourself.

2) Study via Open University, work alongside that to pay your fees.

3) Take an apprenticeship, earn, build qualifications and experience. Then when you have the money to study full time, take a degree inshaa ALlah.

4) Go and study abroad where the fees are cheaper.

5) Take vocational qualifications like NVQs, work and save some money and then eventually come back to higher education inshaa Allah.

6) You can also choose to forget university, in which case take cheaper courses and work your way up to the level where you can start off your own business.

If you want to be a teacher, try be a teaching assistant first, go upto Higher level teaching assistant status then inshaa Allah slowly you can get QTS inshaa Allah.

If you want to do medicine, then try being something like a paramedice first or a healthcare assistant, save the money and go for it. Or look into clinical physiology.

If you want to do something technological based, then try working as a plumber or electrician

etc.

The main message, you are probably most likely going to have to work a lot, either during a part time degree or work and then take a full time degree.

Inshaa Allah I hope that helps, may Allah make it easy for us all to worship Him and to stick to the halal. May He expand our provisions and make it easy for all the brother especially to get a good secular education in this climate. Ameen.

[wmirkru]

Is there a way to organize muslim students and as a group appeal to a bank or financial institution to offer interest free loans? All banks care about is their profit, they dont care about Islamic or non Islamic. Construct a proper Islamic contract under ulama supervision which leaves ample profit margins for the bank, then approach the bank as a large group of interested Muslim students, select 1 leader to take it to the banks on behalf of the group and present the contract. Who knows that they will accept it.

[WGRocky]

Here in USA we have community colleges these are 2 year schools which give you the opportunity to either pick up a trade or complete many of the 4 year university credits before transfering out to the university. I dont know if you have that option in UK but its a good option.

[Ephedrine]

Salaams

As most of you will know tuition fees for most courses at Uk universities will be at £9000. Of course this presents a problem to the average teenage kid on how to pay such huge sums without taking out a loan. So I thought perhaps we could use a thread on here which we could present ways of financing university without delving into interest.


All thoughts and suggestions welcome

JazakAllah Khair

Check the links provided in this thread below. You may find the right uni there !

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show...-loan-or-usury

[natahololll]

Is there a way to organize muslim students and as a group appeal to a bank or financial institution to offer interest free loans? All banks care about is their profit, they dont care about Islamic or non Islamic. Construct a proper Islamic contract under ulama supervision which leaves ample profit margins for the bank, then approach the bank as a large group of interested Muslim students, select 1 leader to take it to the banks on behalf of the group and present the contract. Who knows that they will accept it.

regarding the inflation issue.
I can see why the UK government does it, they are effectively saying one is borrowing money from their future selves at a constant value. I can also see why it is considered haram in that ruling.
The alternative would be to ask the UK government to provide students who request it the equivalent value of gold, and then to pay that gold back over time. That would actually work really well. Unfortunately, the current system would not accept it.
Therefore the only way to make this happen in real life would be to get a group of rich investors (muslim or otherwise), to lend students gold, and be charged exactly the same amount back.

Also could I add that undergraduate university education is a lot of the time wasted on the young. I say this by having wasted my 3 years as an undergradaute. I think it is much better and much more advantageous for students to study part time and work full time.
Muslims alhumdullilah tend to have a hard work ethic, plus not drinking etc leaves us time to focus on work. Therefore if a lad aged 18, works in a good company for 3 years, at the age of 21, he will be in a better position then someone newly graduated.
BUT you must be highly focussed - you must be trying to acquire education. The Open University is an excellent source, I have a certificate from there myself.
And Inshallah, one day, when you have enough money, you can go full time if required.
Best wishes in your quest.

[clubcughSheet]

I thought the brother was referring to taking out student loans and the interest associated with them?
~
Student loans do only charge inflation only but this is not the case with the £9000. They are now adding on commercial interest so what you wrote doesn't apply. It does however affect me with the old system. I had looked into this earlier and many scholars said even inflation interest is still haraam so even then I was wary and decided to follow the route of a low paid job to avoid even the inflation interest.

In hindsight, I wish I had gone for an apprenticeship. I think it would have been a lot less hassle and it would have kept me away completely from such doubtful matters.

It is definitely a doubtful matter, and it is better to stay away from doubtful matters. It genuinely depends on ones level of taqwa. Would I tell an 18 year old to not get the loan because it is haram? No. But I would tell him the rulings on the matter.
e.g. just recently I advised another person I know that getting [a certain type of] bonds were haram. it doesn't mean I will forcibly stop them, but at least they know that now.

[wiweimeli]

How about studying abroad? Holland has degrees that are taught in English at cheaper prices than you would find in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17368111

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education...ro-vision.html

[sttrqiss]

This is the reality where a different class of people appears by imposing financial hurdle. One way is to work and take internship or sandwich course. I don't know how we are going to pay for next generation's education.
Allahualam

[lammaredder]

Mufti Rafi Usmani earlier this year in London (in his talk at Plashet Grove Masjid) mentioned the suggestion of a possible UK Zakah fund set up that might be able to help students pay their tuition fees. Mufti Abdur Rahman Ibn Yusuf also mentioned something quite v.similar in a jummah talk earlier this year (or late last year). However it was just vaguely worded without much detail on how it'll be set up and/or the fiqhi justification/proof that can/might be used to use zakah funds for such fees.

massive issue for me - could be choice between being able to buy our own house or pay for my childrens tuition fees.