The demise of the last loan; LPC funding now even more limited

I read today (courtesy of @vicmoffatt) that Natwest has withdrawn the 'LPC' loan, the last of its kind. It is still being advertised on the Natwest website if you know where to look, but I am sure JLD would not have announced it without a reliable source.  Nearly every student I knew on the LPC had an equivalent loan to help with fees or living costs. It was considered the normal way to fund the course. What are future LPC students going to do without it?

The Natwest loan was up to £25k when studying for a professional course such as the LPC,  with repayments delayed for up to a year following study and interest rates lower than a 'standard' loan. According to the JLD the nearest finance available now is a loan of up to £10k at normal interest rates where the interest accrued during study is paid by a government department. Not really much of an alternative when the average LPC fees are now £10k minimum.

This is seriously bad news for students. There is no way that I would have been able to afford the LPC straight from uni without my loan (from Natwest, would you believe) AND I had a job AND my fees were paid for.  I was one of the lucky ones. Others without this backing took the loan as a means of paying fees. What student, after 3 years at uni, has a spare £10k minimum lying around? 

My experience of LPC finance was a few years ago now. I missed top up fees so now students face an average student debt 3 times larger than mine. The cost of living has gone up as have LPC fees. The battle for training contracts has got harder and in the current financial crisis retention on qualification is reducing. If students have to face such a steep funding hurdle into uncertainty why bother?

Some will say this is a good thing. Such a large cash hoop to jump through will weed out the students who aren't really serious about the profession and help reduce graduate numbers. The quality of students will be much better, pass rates higher and the legal world will benefit as a result. After all, if they REALLY want it, surely they will find a way?

I do not think, unfortunately, that this will be the reality. For students of a more affluent background, lack of support will not be a problem. Affluence is no guarantee of quality. There was a girl on my LPC for whom daddy paid so that she might follow in his footsteps and become a high powered lawyer. She is now, 2 years later, studying to become a teacher. She wasn't a bad student per se but she isn't a lawyer and her failed foray  into lawyerdom was not hindered by LPC fees. Obviously not all wealthy students are the same but never the less the lack of funding options will not stop students like her enrolling.

It would have, however, stopped my criminal lawyer friend, arguably the most determined and passionate of all my fellow LPCer's and whose maximum loan funded his GDL and LPC. It would have stopped another of my fellow students, a single mum aiming for a career in legal aid family law. The legal aid market is an important part of the justice system but has understandably lower resources available for LPC fees when compared to commercial competitors. The loan withdrawal is going to hit the pool of budding legal aid lawyers hard.

It would have stopped me, at least for a couple of years until I had worked long enough to be able to afford it. I was not one of the surplus - I had a training contract. My firm were even willing to pay for my fees. The cost of living was just too big for me to tackle it on my own. My parents are not poor but they were supporting both my sister and I through uni. The biggest credit limit I could get was a £500 student credit card, I would have been laughed out the door had I tried to apply for a normal loan to cover the cost. It is probably (I hope!) harder after the financial crisis. The other question at the back of my mind is niggling - would my firm have waited?

What we have potentially is a class (or at least an affluence) barrier. Those with money to spare, go ahead. Those without, go find it. It is easy to see how those not 110% determined (not necessarily lacking) would be deterred by this financial hurdle. The LPC would be populated only by those with training contracts that pay and enough money to live on or those with enough money full stop. Why should those without have to jump through financial hoops?

The other potential problem is the influence of training contracts provided by alternative business model law firms on LPC entries. With national brands likely to have more investment available for training will LPCs be full of Tesco Law trainees-in-waiting ready to marginalise small firms into non-existence? (if you believe Mr QualitySolicitors Craig Holt). Do lawyers really want this?

Something really needs to be done about this and fast. The LPC application season is fast approaching. 3rd year law students have arguably more important things to worry about like dissertations and finals than how they are going to pay for fees come September.

I do not have the answer. Perhaps law students ought to protest about this (it seems to be in vogue at the moment). Although against who I have not yet decided..... any suggestions?