Just wow at the student loan changes… eeek

[juliajo]

Students beginning university study this year upon completion of their studies will have to pay back 9% on earnings above £25,000 (aka, almost all full time wages now pay rises have been granted - national living wage is not far off that even if you decide to work in a supermarket after going to uni). It will now need to be paid over 40 years too so most of your working life, right through the expensive mortgage years and childcare years etc

I think this is catastrophic tbh and removes some of the incentive in education. I really hope schools spend time making sure cohorts fully understand the financial implications of university study, and think really carefully about what subject they choose. It’s a huge decision to make at 16/17 (when applying)

I paid mine off a few years back and because I had always paid it my wages were my wages and it made no difference. When it was finally paid off it didn’t take that money long to be swallowed up by something else.

What is a Mickey Mouse subject or a pointless degree? I have an English degree, I love having it. Are only maths and economics and business degrees seen as worth it these days?

How long do you think it will take her on a non graduate wage to save £60k or so?

Student loan deductions become like any other deduction. Like pension, NI and tax, you don't really notice it.

Mine will be wiped before I pay it back, I'm barely paying off the interest as it is.

I don't really get your point about mortgage/childcare.

The current loans are paid off over 30 years, the generation before that over 25. Most people go to uni before they are 21. Most people have kids before 45- so everyone is paying off their loan during that period.

Loans are a pain in the arse when you are trying to get a mortgage, but not catastrophic.

I think it is quite punitive and will affect those in their 20s coming through. I have a colleague who has now hit a £50k salary. She was expecting to start making roads into her student debt but the payments are still less than the interest so her debt is rising. I don’t think she’ll ever pay it off. High inflation will hit those on student loans. Her starting salary when she joined as a graduate was less than mine was ten years before. Her lifestyle for a similar wage was significantly worse than mine was at the same age.

My student loan was pretty massive for the time- max loan for living on a 4 year course but I had my £1k fees paid so it was just the living expenses. I paid mine off just after my first maternity leave. I would definitely notice the payments coming out now if I still had it.

Well, another reason voting Tory is a mistake.

Nearly everyone I know has paid theirs off and I graduated in 2008. I'd paid mine off before I had children. The amounts differ between us though - e.g I took maximum I could whilst others did not.

That’s so agist and patronising. A nurse practitioner single parent earning £50k in London will definitely notice £200 a month going out from her pay packet. If they suggested raising taxes on pensioners like this, you can bet there would be outrage

Direct her to read about it on the Martin Lewis website. Get the clear facts. Plus she can get a job whilst at uni.

Its pretty disgusting. Both Labour and the Conservatives have a lot to answer for.

I went in 1999 and mine already lasts til I'm 65 if not paid off. It also kicked in at lower levels but it's not a massive amount.
I see it like a graduate tax. It's gone down a depressingly small amount and I suspect many of the larger amounts borrowed in today's climate will never be repaid.

The only time it annoys me is the jump on the rare occasions I've had a small bonus!

I have a plan 1 and plan 2 loan, as I retrained as a nurse. so again threshold is lower for repayments. I’m 36 now so will likely never pay it off, the interest rates are just too high. The payments can be manageable but I do think it puts young people off investing elsewhere ie. Pension.
higher education is not a given right and I feel students should contribute but fees are far too high, especially for the level of service offered by many uni’s.
I feel desperately sorry for the covid era students who have had so much disruption and are in such a lot of debt for the so called privilege

I wonder how many of those saying this is reasonable enjoyed the fruits of a system where even their rent was free back in the day, degree and all , lol.

I am a strong believer in free education for all.

As a university academic, if this stops DCs seeing HE as just a rite of passage and a 3 year delay to adulthood then that's good. Many students don't want to come to uni, but do so due to parental pressure or not knowing what else to do. They end up depressed and in debt, where's the sense in that?

The sector is also running things with the funded from 10 years ago, it can't continue.

We need to stop students going to university as it is a waste of time and money for most.

University should not be the default option at 18 after A levels.

If this makes people think then good.

We need to shut down all the rubbish universities as they are costing too much.

Totally agree with this.

We have too many rubbish universities which need to be shut down and the money spent on the good ones.

For all those saying stop students from going to university. What should they do instead? There are not nearly enough decent apprenticeships.

We now hire 17 year old apprentices on £25k a year. They then study and gain qualifications at the company’s expense. So many young people assume they need to go to uni when there are professional paths open without a whole host of debt.

She is very sensible. If she is that bright then she will get a good apprentiship where she can get paid and do a degree at the same time.

She is very sensible. If she is that bright then she will get a good apprentiship where she can get paid and do a degree at the same time.

Three cheers for living in a backwater of the uneducated, who scoff at high falutin learning! Down with Shakespeare, down with Descartes, it only gives people ideas above their station.

How can students who do courses like medicine and dentistry get a part time job? They have to be in clinics 9-5pm, some evenings and their holidays are only 3 weeks in the summer after the first year. They need to study outside of this time too. Their courses are 5 or 6 years. It is totally unreasonable to have to rely on a part time job to cover expenses if the course is full time.

That’s so agist and patronising. A nurse practitioner single parent earning £50k in London will definitely notice £200 a month going out from her pay packet. If they suggested raising taxes on pensioners like this, you can bet there would be outrage

It wasn't intended to be ageist or patronising, sorry if it came over like that. A PP said that the repayment was £38 on a £25k salary, that is what i based my comment on, hearing what many of the graduates i know personally and through work spend on their nights out and other leisure activities. It's not ageist to base it on what i actually know to be fact about a small sample of graduates; it would be ageist if i said 'they all' or 'that generation' Was just trying to put it into context. If it is £200 on a £50k salary for a single parent then I can appreciate that is quite a dent, and is way more than £38 on a £25k salary.
And by the way there have been plenty of suggestions on MN about raising taxes for retired people as the working population resent being taxed to fund the older generations. I wouldn't know where to start looking for links to prove it but there have been many heated discussions on that topic.

It's misleading to describe it as a 'graduate tax' - graduates whose parents were wealthy enough for them not to need a student loan won't be paying it.

It's a tax on graduates from low to middle-income households only. In other words, a tax on those who can least afford it.