fees

Some college students regularly donate plasma; others ride a bike to class so they don't need to pay for car insurance. There's really two main schools of thought when it comes to paying for college tuition. One entails getting accepted to school and using student loans to cover all foreseeable expenses, and then there are students who try to ensure that they don't amass debt while getting an education. There are military tuition discounts that you may get just by being enlisted and attending a certain college. If you're looking for guaranteed methods for making your college tuition a little lower, continue to read.

Go to School In-State

If you absolutely want to get the cheapest rates on tuition you should look at colleges that are located in your home state. It might sound strange, but if you have a choice of two colleges nearby and one happens to be over the state border, the one that is located in your state of residence will likely have more affordable tuiton fees. This is because state-run colleges give local residents the best deal on tuition. Now, if you decide to go to a specialized school, such as one that teaches automotive repair or creative arts, you might find that there is less of a discount for in-state students. On the other hand, almost every school still rewards students financially when they stay in-state.

A free degree may sound like a thing of the past in the UK but that is not the case for the majority of the country's retirees. Research has shown that most of Britain's retirees are eligible for student's loans that they will never have to back, and many are taking advantage of this to study for a degree in later life.

Prudential Insurance group released figures showing that retirees in 2013 will have an average income of £15,300 per year from their pension annuities payments. This means the majority of retired Britons fall considerably short of the £21,000 threshold that must be exceed before student loan repayments are eligible.

With no age limit on tuition fee loans, which are paid directly to the higher education institution that the student is studying at, growing numbers of retirees are choosing to go to university. There is also no requirement on whether the course is taken full time or part time.

There is, however, an age limit of 60 years of age on maintenance loans, which are used to cover everyday costs of living, such as rent and food.

The landscape of the UK higher education system has gone through a huge process of change over the past year and the effects this change will bring are still largely unknown. One group of students who face increasing uncertainty over their position in the system are foreign students. With international student visas becoming harder to obtain and EU students facing the same increased fees as UK students, many feel that overseas students are being marginalised.

A recent study (Patterns and Trends in UK Higher Education) showed that international student numbers have increased hugely in the last decade, but as the new rules are introduced, the real question is whether this trend can continue.

Increased Tuition Fees

There are a number of issues to be considered when addressing this question. First of all, there is the fact that EU students, just like British students, are facing the new £9,000 a year tuition fees from 2012 onwards. This sudden tripling of the fees will inevitably make European students think twice about coming to study in the UK, especially when there is already more expense and effort involved to study outside of their own country.

After the student protest in London a few weeks ago, more student unrest is expected over the coming fortnight. Campus occupations in both Birmingham and Cambridge have caused disruptions in the last few days, and such action is expected to spread throughout the country in the lead up to the trade union strikes next week.

One occupation in Cambridge has already caused higher education minister David Willetts to abandon a speech after he was heckled by an audience of more than a hundred. On Tuesday night, one activist stood up during the minister's speech and read a prepared statement. Other demonstrators repeated the statement sentence by sentence- a common technique used by Occupy activists. The statement read:

"You can threaten to shoot us with rubber bullets; you can arrest us; you can imprison us; you can criminalise our dissent; you can blight a hundred thousand lives ... but you cannot break us because we are more resolute, more numerous, and more determined than you ... Go home, David."

Thousands of students are expected to hit the streets of London tomorrow in the latest protest against increased tuition fees. Whilst a number of leading academics lend their support, the police are preparing for the possibility of violence.

Following last year's announcement that tuition fees are to increase to a maximum of £9,000 a year from 2012, unrest has never been far from the surface. Hundreds of thousands of students have joined marches and protests, most notably in November and December last year when a number of largely peaceful protests erupted in to violence.

Academics' Support

After several months of little public action, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts has organised a new protest for tomorrow. Up to 10,000 students are expected to gather at the University of London Students' Union before marching to the City- London's financial district. Over 70 academics from institutions across the country have given their backing in an open letter to the Guardian newspaper, stating: