Student Debt

york away to this! said:
The youngest This! offspring smashed his GCSEs, though chose an apprenticeship in civil/structural engineering, rather than doing A levels/uni.
He's just bagged the A-level equivalent and is starting the degree level.
He's working for a global practice, day release for college, working on some great projects, earning a great salary, learning on the job, has his own car and has just bought his first apartment.
When he qualifies for his degree he'll have 6 years more experience than the uni graduates.
He's 19.
Mind you, he missed out on freshers' week...
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His liver has said thank goodness
 
Silva Citizen said:
Think Blair over simplified it and promoted it with education education education being his Mantra. I think it was Major that introduced it though after Corbyn ? Campaigned for universities to be open to all as many kids were from deprived areas. Doubt today system was what he envisaged though. All parties have culpability in this one.
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No-one could ever say that a single party was responsible for the outcome of any policy, whether successful or disastrous!

Every new government starts off polishing the turds they inherit, and ends up leaving exactly the same job for their successors.

Politics is all about blindly stumbling from one problem to another, invariably failing to resolve anything.
 
Silva Citizen said:
I’ve just seen the over £45k debt that my daughter owes the nation after three years Uni and I am fuming.

They say it’s not real debt and It doesn’t affect a students ability to get loans such as mortgages - Maybe not but it sure as hell affects there ability to repay loans when the debt is being taken at source.
If this type of debt was being sold by ocean finance there sure as hell would be a mis selling scandal.

Is 18 too soon to be giving our kids decisions on debt that potentially will affect the rest of their lives ?

As an employer I can honestly say that a University degree does little to enhance a thirty somethings job prospects (Supply Chain) as there are just so many of people with degrees now. I give much more weight to experience and social awareness than I do qualification's, so is there value in degrees ?

How many people who went to university instead of real work (4 years approx £60k debt) against 4 years of earning say 25k a year =£100k reckon that their degree has bridges the 160k plus interest gap ?
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My advice would be to tell her to emigrate, this country's probably finished anyway and there are better opportunities and lifestyles to be had abroad.
 
Silva Citizen said:
Absolutely no doubt you are right mate. Uni was the best thing that happened to my daughter, She’s learned how to be independent and made friends / network that will no doubt last for life. She’s worked camp America and is aiming for a paid internship next year. The experience from start to finish has been nothing but a positive for her.
My question however remains, is it right that the government peddles these loans to our young ?
Where else would a 18 year old be sold a loan that will follow them for life ?
How many of these kids are hampered by the loan in later life ?
I also begrudge the fact the the cheeky bastards in Whitehall expected me to subsidise there scheme because I earned enough to support her.
I would always support her but I find the fact that Whitehall expects me to abhorrent
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No disagreements from me - I think the way student loans are "marketed" these days is stuck in the 90s, it hasn't evolved since they were introduced. Back then it wasn't a life-altering sum of money and most could pay it off after an amount of time working a modest job.

Now it is a stealth tax you're paying for life, but they still pretend it is a loan. They get away with it simply because a student loan won't see the bailiffs come knocking, but you still suffer all the other downsides like massive adjustable interest rates.

And no, I didn't really have a clue how the interest rates worked when I was 18. Or at least not how they were anchored to some inflationary index that guaranteed it would grow faster than you could pay it off. They'll say technically 18 is 18, and you're an adult, you should be able to understand the Ts&Cs but I don't see how functionally it's much different from PPI or other underhand financial mechanisms that people were "supposed to understand".
 
mexico1970 said:
Back in the day the education was free but you still had to fund digs and pay for your food and living expenses. To most working class people that was unattainable and the biggest obstacle UNLESS you got a grant or was sponsored.
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Grants were most of the 60s 70s 80s and 90s, they were frozen start of the 90s and the first loans replaced the real term drop, so it was peanuts initially and not many bothered. I know parental income also started coming into it, but it only really went pear shaped at the end of the century with tuition fees. Around 2 generations got it for free and close to free, but it got so popular in the late 80s that the system was unaffordable.
 
tweety said:
If only we didn't spaff billions on foreign aid, net zero, illegal immigrants etc we could look after our own so that they didn't have a financial noose around their necks.
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Immigrants subsidised a lot of courses, when I was their it was about £2k a year for UK citizens paid by their LEA, those from abroad paid about £8k.
 
Corky said:
Immigrants subsidised a lot of courses, when I was their it was about £2k a year for UK citizens paid by their LEA, those from abroad paid about £8k.
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But they weren't illegal, What's your point? I remember overseas students on my course in the early 80s, they paid, we didn't.
 
It is brutal. Mine is plan 2 and it’s only gotten worse.

Mine went up by >£10k whilst I was doing my course due to interest rates.

I’ve been paying it off for 7+ years now post-uni and it has only just gone below what was owed initially.

I currently lose close to £1500 a month from my pay into student loan.

My brother went to uni a year earlier and his accrued basically no interest whilst he was there and cost about £12k for the same course (mine was £70k).
 
There must be an MP somewhere willing to take this up,

Irresponsible lending
Stealth Tax
Ridiculous repayments

This is crippling the country and stopping people getting onto the housing ladder, a very short sighted solution to a long term problem.
 
Giovinco said:
Mines at around 50k. Depressing really.
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If my sums are right
The interest on 50k is about 350 a month
Assuming a £35k salary the repayments are about £50 a month
Thus the debt accumulates

But it doesn’t matter as it gets written off after 50 years or so ?

What guarantees are there that the government will not introduce rules such as being able to claw back from inheritances received etc ?
 
One of my three sons is at university and it is an absolute rip off. Finished early May and goes back late September.
His slightly older brother was kicked out of 6 form so didn’t get the option. He now earns 40k as an employed roofer with a van and fuel thrown in too.
I can’t see uni lad earning that for a long time.
 
When I was at University in the 90s I got a grant which covered rent, bills, books and some left over to live a basic life. Luckily my Mum and Dad helped out and couple with an overdraft lived pretty well. I then did a Masters and got paid(!) £400/month to do it. I came out University education with an overdraft of £3k but a BSc and MSc. I could get a job and comfortably afford a 2up/2down no problem.

The Student Loan thing is an utter scam. It should be scrapped tomorrow and anyone paying it should have the debt cleared. I work with people who have nearly £70k in Student Debts - how can we expect them to buy a house (ha!), save for a pension and live? It's disgraceful. The additional tax on their income means that once/if they get to be higher tax payers any extra income is not far off taxed by 50% - that's wrong.

I've been to plenty of conferences/talks where they say that even degrees/Masters/PhDs in things like medicine, law, accountancy, engineering, software development which were almost guarantees of a good job are also some of the biggest ones at risk from AI which means it's going to get even harder for younger people to do well.

The whole system is a scam. You should be able to learn for learnings sake, not just to make money from it.
 
stablemcfc said:
It is brutal. Mine is plan 2 and it’s only gotten worse.

Mine went up by >£10k whilst I was doing my course due to interest rates.

I’ve been paying it off for 7+ years now post-uni and it has only just gone below what was owed initially.

I currently lose close to £1500 a month from my pay into student loan.

My brother went to uni a year earlier and his accrued basically no interest whilst he was there and cost about £12k for the same course (mine was £70k).
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That must mean you're on about £250k a year. Think you're doing alright.
 
Giovinco said:
Mines at around 50k. Depressing really.
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My daughter is at Uni now, and will end up with similar. I've told her not to consider the overall figure as it's just going to feel like a burden. Given the amounts involved and the way most people make payments, it's essentially a graduate tax. That's not brilliant, but I think, psychologically it links it to how much you earn, rather than being the ball and chain of a debt.
 
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