My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

to be pissed of about new proposed university fees

20 replies

petal2008 · 12/10/2010 17:35

I've just read about these new proposals and am really hacked off.

They are planning to let the universities charge a lot more than the current rate so possibly doubling the fees. You can claim £3000 or so and an extra £3000 if parents earn £250000 or less. So as per usual it's us in the middle who lose out the most. The richer can afford to find the extra and the poorer get the extra help.

I'm getting more and more pissed off being the ones who have to fork out all the time.

I feel like jacking my job in, claiming tax credits and everything else I can.

OP posts:
Report
reallytired · 12/10/2010 17:57

It is a sad situation. Why do unis need expensive computers and state of the art facilites.

I think the only way my chidlren will be able to afford to go to uni is to go abroad.

Costs have got out of control and I see no evidence that graduates are more talented than twenty years ago.

Report
whyamibothering · 12/10/2010 17:58

Ohhhh how dramatic....

It is the student's loan not yours. And only repayable when student earns over £21,000 and written off if they don't over 30 years.

I take it you'd take out a loan for a car or a mortgage with less favourable terms. Why do we moan about it being spent on education then?

Report
southeastastra · 12/10/2010 18:01

dramatic? bet you got a grant Hmm

Report
southeastastra · 12/10/2010 18:02

and what about mature students?

Report
fortyplus · 12/10/2010 18:03

There'a whole other thread on this already - why not go join the debate there instead of starting another one? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/1058783-Tuition-fees

Report
GrimmaTheNome · 12/10/2010 18:03

Also, just because they will let universities charge more doesn't mean that they all will immediately raise the fees astronomically. They will only be able to charge what the market will bear.

Report
whyamibothering · 12/10/2010 18:07

No, my youngsters probably wont get a grant actually. If they want to go to uni and meet the criteria academically they will pay for it, simple as that. It would be their loan, not mine. I have a loan for a mortgage thanks. I don't see why anyone doesnt see it as a good deal, unless studying for something that doesnt merit a degree. Like I said, to take out a loan on those terms for a car or mortgage you'd jump at, why is education any different. It's the student's loan, nothing to do with parents. Student won't pay anything back if they don't earn £21,000. Can't see the problem

Report
TheCrackFox · 12/10/2010 18:09

I do think it is incredibly generous of children agreeing to pay huge fees for university, through the nose for property and retire well into their 70's O(hopefully) on a pittance of a pension so that today's Baby Boomers can retire when they are 55 on a final salary pension scheme.

Report
vespasian · 12/10/2010 18:12

I agree it is my daughter's loan she will pay it off when she earns enough. She will benefit in all kinds of ways from her degree including financial - and if she doesn't she won't pay it back.

I admit it is upsetting to think she will start life in so much debt but I think we need to change my attitudes. Unless you earn a fraction over the threshold and intend to never earn any more talk of going on benefits is daft.

It does make me worry about affording uni for 2 children, this may be the silver lining to problems conceiving

Report
Remotew · 12/10/2010 18:27

OP where did you read/hear about the help for low income families?

Report
petal2008 · 12/10/2010 18:34

The BBC:

"All students will be able to borrow £3,750 per year - and young people from families earning less than £25,000 will receive an additional grant of £3,250.

There have been warnings that middle-income families will face a particular financial squeeze from such a fee hike.

"There is a feeling that the rich can afford it - and the poor will quite rightly be protected - but people in the middle could find themselves really penalised," says Justine Roberts of the Mumsnet website.

OP posts:
Report
Remotew · 12/10/2010 18:43

That is similar to the current system. A maintenance grant, more under 25K but still some for 25-50K. Then a maintenance loan for everyone. Tuition fees payable via a loan and also bursaries available usually linked with high A level results but the means testing is usually around 20K income.

So this isn't news, sad fact is that it sounds like everyone will be clobbered with tuition fees going up from 3K to around 6K. Now that is news. Will listen because there may be extra help available for low income families if the fees go up.

The only reason DD might get extra help is because I'm a single parent and earning a lowish income.

Report
Diamondback · 12/10/2010 19:29

Maybe we should just have fewer students going to university - then it would cost less for the state. We've gone from 10% to over 40% of school leavers going on to university - has the human race undergone a massive evolutionary step where we all became more clever (or more academically minded, anyway)? Has the job market changed so massively that we all need degrees? I always suspected the push to get 50% of school leavers into uni was more about massaging the dole figures...

Report
hocuspontas · 12/10/2010 19:33

If they don't put the loan up though how will families on £25,000+ afford to supplement the rest of the tuition fees? I already have to top up dd1's maintenance loan to cover her accomodation there is no way I could fork out another £3000 for tuition fees each year and dd2 and dd3 wouldn't even have the option of going.

Report
MadameCastafiore · 12/10/2010 19:35

What you get money if your parents earn less that 250k per year - hoorah - that means there is actually something that we will get money for.

Report
southeastastra · 12/10/2010 19:54

maybe if jobs paid better wages for people without degrees then people wouldn't want one so much, just a thought

Report
GrimmaTheNome · 13/10/2010 00:00

But they do (some of them) - if you get a real practical skill like plumbing you can do better than many a graduate salary slave.

Report
Appletrees · 13/10/2010 00:06

I am sort of with Diamond back. The big push to get students off to uni was partly to get them off the unemployment numbers and was in some ways misguided. The result has been that NOT having a degree has become much much more undesirable, without a degree necessarily doing much to improve the education or employability of the student. The vicious circle is created.

I just don't get it, if graduates are going to earn more, then they will pay more tax in the end. So why this? Tis for money not for a competitive environment or any of that other stuff. It's just for money.

Report
musicmadness · 13/10/2010 00:46

It wasn't a suprise, buts its still crap, and suprise suprise the lib dems who promised to oppose it showed what massive liars they are (not that many thought any different was going to happen when they entered the coalition really).

For anyone saying that its their childs loan, not theirs, the amount you get is dependant on parental income at the moment (as in loan vs grant) and parents are expected to help out if the government deems they can. Mine don't help at all but earn enough that I don't much of a grant. The net result is being massively in debt and living in conditions that most people get het up about any other section of society having to live in. Loads of people are in the same situation. Thats with 2 part time jobs as well and there are thousands of others in the same situation already.

Anyone who thinks this won't put off bright applicants is just plain wrong, so many people struggle as it is and increasing fees is just going to make some people decide that they can't take the risk. Would you really want to start your working life with a minimum of £30000 debt?! Add into that the fact that the student loans company is fucking useless (ie leaving thousands of students without their loan through not fault of their own) and you have one completely messed up system. Its just going to go back to the days when how rich you are determined whether or not you can go, rather than how talented you are.

Most of mainland europe manages fine without paying fees, Scotland either doesn't charge or charges much lower fees than England, its only us (in europe) that seems to think that this is fair and a good idea. Angry

Anyway I think I'm going to hide this as it is a very sore issue for me (as you have probably noticed).

Report
RockChip · 03/12/2010 19:04

Now it is our chance to support them, if anyone wants to act now check out www.familiesagainstfees.co.uk website. You just bung in your postcode and it generates a letter to your MP. Literally takes a minute and you can change the letter if you want. Pass this info on to others please.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.