It's daft to pay off student loan

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with inheritance when you are SAHM? friend says they did this...can't help thinking it is a shame as they could do with the money. they are in their 40s and surely student loans get wiped off after a certain number of years.

*All of those arguments could be made about A-levels and GCSE's. Why aren't they?

It's three more years. What's the big deal? It can be funded by taxation.*

I hope you don’t mean universities are the same as schools because surely you don’t believe that.

Professors, services, research funds, Phd scholarships, equipment, prestige.... all cost a lot more than standardized A-levels.

The naivety and entitlement on this thread is amazing!

And the naivety if your post amazes me! The loan system is calculated on the basis that less than 40% of that loaned is repaid. If you're not one of the 40% then you've done the same as someone on basis rate tax deciding to pay higher rate tax just because!

People don't think they're outsmarting the system by earning under the threshold. As if anyone is going to purposely refuse to earn more and rub their hands in glee at the thought of never earning above the threshold. It's a side effect, not a motivator.

All those decrying people who aren't paying it back, what is your suggestion? Lowering the threshold?

Yes it can if we pay more tax. Will you do that squeezy?

I started university in 1998, when I graduated the payment threshold for repayment was 10,000. Interest rates at one point were at 4.3%. I worked out at one point that if I worked full time, never took any time out and got a 2% pay rise each year, I'd pay off my student loan at 63!

The total amount of borrowing and interest rates may not matter if you'll never come close to paying the debt off but at certain income levels the calculations aren't so favourable.

No, universities are far more complex. They have the capacity to make money in many ways that schools do not. Undergraduate teaching is just one of several strings they have to their bows.

All of this is spectacularly missing the point anyway. We as a country need to complete on a world stage. For that we need an educated populace. There will be fewer and fewer low skilled jobs going forward. There aren't enough now. We can't afford not to invest in our young people. This should mean that everyone is entitled to funding for a higher education course. Be it academic or skilled or practical.

Anything else is a false economy.

If you are paying back £120 per month you must be earning a very decent salary. At the moment someone who earns £30k p.a. only pays back £87 per month. Not a debilitating amount on £2500 per month income. Also your uni education probably led to you earning your salary so it was a gold investment?

30k per annum is about 1850 per month after tax and typical pension contributions, so 1760 after the student loan deduction.... 30k is just slightly higher than the average salary.... hardly a Gold investment and if you do earn a decent salary, you'll be paying a lot of tax too.

tbf those saying that students shouldn't complain, should reflect on why we have had v high skilled immigration (across all sectors) in recent years and have 100,000 vacancies in the NHS, 9 out of 10 employers cannot get the skilled staff they need.

Interesting topic, the only thing I'm deeply shocked at is the poster who is happy her debt will hit 125 and never intends to pay it back.

That's a shit load of books or teachers for struggling schools or cancer treatment for sick kids, but hey she volunteers so it's all good.

tbf those saying that students shouldn't complain, should reflect on why we have had v high skilled immigration (across all sectors) in recent years and have 100,000 vacancies in the NHS, 9 out of 10 employers cannot get the skilled staff they need.

I agree.

Today we have more young people than ever going on to HE/FE and still huge skills gaps in the workforce that are filled by immigrants. Universities should look at where there are gaps in the market and offer those courses, and perhaps consider running fewer courses like media studies/film studies.

Haven't rtft yet but has anyone pointed out that elsewhere in Europe more people go to university yet they still manage to fund it through general taxafion? And that here, since we introduced fees, vice chancellor pay has soared - that's where our precious fees go.

www.theguardian.com/education/2017/dec/19/england-embarrassing-tuition-fees-germany-no-fees

the only thing I'm deeply shocked at is the poster who is happy her debt will hit 125 and never intends to pay it back.

Thatd be the poster with multiple complex disabilities - yeah you're right why should the tax payer fund education for the disabled. What a waste.

About £5 per student goes on VC pay.....

I did think twice about whether someone would take the hyperbole of 'that's where our precious fees go' literally, in an attempt to ignore the main point. And lo.

Also wanted to ask about that £5 figure. Given that courses cost different amounts to deliver yet students pay a flat fee, I'm actually quite interested to hear the workings behind the £5 figure.

All about opinions I guess, but when you work for a university you do get frustrated with the misinformation and ignorance regarding the student funding system.

Amen to this! Amazing how many people are 'experts' in something they know very little about. Teaching UG degrees are only a relatively small proportion of what universities actually do. I'm a senior lecturer and I can go weeks and weeks without having anything to do with UG teaching yet i contribute more financially to my department than the majority of my colleagues.

If you are paying back £120 per month you must be earning a very decent salary.

Depends how old your loan is. Mine is one of the really old ones and once you're over the threshold you pay it back at the same instalments whether you're 1p over the wage threshold or 100k over it. They look at your total debt and divide it by 60 instalments I believe.

I've just got off the phone to them to set up payment details. Will be paying it back at £95 a month. They've confirmed it will be written off in Oct 2022. So I will pay roughly 36 instalments and then the rest will be wiped.

*All of those arguments could be made about A-levels and GCSE's. Why aren't they?

It's three more years. What's the big deal? It can be funded by taxation.*

Universities have the added advantage of being able to make money themselves through research and development.

If you are paying back £120 per month you must be earning a very decent salary.

In the UK I was earning £23k and was paying it back at over £100 a month. I don't think my payments even covered the interest.

If you are paying back £120 per month you must be earning a very decent salary

No.

I think a lot of people assume we're all on Plan 2 and that repayments don't kick in until you earn c£27k. But that's not the case- repayments for Plan 1 start when you're earning £18330. Even when I was earning £14k in 2004 I was repaying, the threshold was about £10k then.

*Interesting topic, the only thing I'm deeply shocked at is the poster who is happy her debt will hit 125 and never intends to pay it back.

That's a shit load of books or teachers for struggling schools or cancer treatment for sick kids, but hey she volunteers so it's all good.*

@bluntness100 That would be me. It is not that I never intend to pay it back...it is that I will never earn enough to pay it back. I have published a few books, write for some very niche and specific areas and this affords me a small income between £8-14k a year. I volunteer because I can not commit to full time work. I have already had one surgery this year and am now booked in for another in the next few months. No employer would take me on in my current state as very few workplaces within a 30 mile radius to me are fully accessible to my needs. HOWEVER I do hope to do my teacher training just as soon as I can do it on a part time basis over two years as up to now I can not find a single provider that will allow this, all courses are 1 year and not 2. But I am an excellent teacher and could likely manage to work part time on agency (to allow for time off for my 1-3 surgeries a year, autoimmune diseases, joint disorders and mental health issues.). But even If I gained QTS, a majority of schools are not accessible.

So really, is that my fault? my wheel chairs fault? Or is it society? Now society could spend £10 million making schools more wheelchair accessible and then I could possibly earn enough to make some repayments but realistically my loans will never be repaid and that is fine, as it is within the terms of my loan agreement if you are not happy then write to an MP.

I am fucking proud as punch with what I have achieved, and it is not going to waste. It has made a massive, massive difference to my happiness, self confidence, self worth and that is priceless to me.

YANBU

If I came info a significant sum of money I'd definitely use it toward a house deposit or pay off the credit card rather than chuck it at my student loan!

To me, it's nothing more than a graduate tax, when I started to earn over a certain amount it automatically started to be taken out of my pay.

I think the older ones were more of a mortgage style where you set up monthly repayments for the next X years.

Also, I think the loan gets wiped 25/30 years after it was taken out?

In any case, really pointless to chuck large sums of money at it!

People earn what they earn, but I do think that the 30-year thing should be extended, otherwise it is unfair on the schmucks paying back their fees. Perhaps the fees could be taken out of someone's estate when they die.

Some people become SAHMs and never work again, or at least not full time. Others work in family businesses or jobs where you can manipulate your income to be below a certain level. I know two examples of the aforementioned, and both have a great deal of capital.

Also I'm not sure of the "hit-rate" of pursuing foreign students for their fees. A fair few must be hard to track down.

(a) The £9250 a year of tuition fee is never seen by the student - it goes straight to the University.
Most courses cost much less than that for the University to run but they can charge that so they do.

(b) The maintenance loan is means tested

(c) The repayment threshold is set at the "average" wage - which is more than 62% of the population earn

(d) Higher education is a public good. Those who benefit the most (high earners) pay the most.

(a) The £9250 a year of tuition fee is never seen by the student - it goes straight to the University.
Most courses cost much less than that for the University to run but they can charge that so they do.

Lots of courses cost much more than the £9250 fees

Also I'm not sure of the "hit-rate" of pursuing foreign students for their fees. A fair few must be hard to track down.

International students don't access the student loans system like UK/EU students do. They pay higher fees and pay them upfront.