Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Interest on Student Loans to pay fees during Covid

14 replies

Yarboosucks · 05/01/2021 14:01

It is one thing for student fees to be charged on highly compromised university learning due to Covid, but for them to be still charged interest on student loans seems to add insult to injury.

OP posts:
contrmary · 05/01/2021 14:16

I agree that they shouldn't be charged tuition fees at all (the number one reason I swore NEVER to vote Labour, after Blair et al brought them in). BUT if someone takes out a loan, they should know that they are going to be charged interest, so I don't have any issue with that.

user1497207191 · 05/01/2021 14:21

I agree with the OP. Bad enough that students are having to pay £9k for substandard tuition, but then to charge an extortionate and unexplainably high interest rate on top of that is completely absurd and unacceptable. Before covid, there was some kind of research/report re student loan interest which recommended a reduction in interest rates but it's obviously been side-lined due to covid. Interest rates generally have been falling and are now at historically low levels, and may well be negative in the foreseeable future, but student loan interest rates haven't come down at all.

Given the awful Uni experience being suffered by students at the moment, a reduction or temporary waiving, of interest is the least that could be done.

Brighterthansunflowers · 05/01/2021 14:21

I don’t see the connection. They’re paying the fees. They have the loan. The loan provider is sticking to the terms of that arrangement. They’re still getting a degree out of it

Cali369 · 05/01/2021 17:16

Definitely recommend reading Martin Lewis's piece on Student Loans - he says calling them loans is pretty misleading as many people won't ever pay them off, he's campaigning to get the name changed to 'graduate contribution'

"The truth is what we call a student loan isn't really a debt like any other, in fact it acts far more like a tax than a loan. After all...

It's repaid through the income tax system.
You only repay it if you earn over a certain amount.
The amount repaid increases with earnings.
It does not go on credit files.
Debt collectors will not chase for it.
Bigger borrowing doesn't increase repayments.
Many people will continue to repay for the majority of their working life."

SnackSizeRaisin · 05/01/2021 17:21

You only pay it back once earning anyway, so it's not really affected by covid.
Is the level of teaching going to affect the degree you get?

kazillionaire · 05/01/2021 17:52

Yes it is, the level of teaching at my university has dropped considerably, not just on my course but across the board, so it will definitely affect the degree we leave with

FTEngineerM · 05/01/2021 17:56

Two words:

Open University.

OldCow1 · 05/01/2021 21:47

The tuition my "child" has received from university has been like watching You tube. The same on line lessons will probably be used for next year's students. Plenty of students are tied in to paying for accommodation they're not allowed to be in. Lots of students have lost jobs that were helping pay their living expenses. Those without bank of Mum and Dad are stuffed. They need some sort of help financially and not just access to even more loan with massive interest building up.

Username198 · 05/01/2021 21:52

It does impact mortgages and some do pay it off (I did). It’s scandalous students are being charged £9k a year for the tuition most are receiving.

claracluck1978 · 05/01/2021 22:01

My OH went back as a mature student in 2019. It is galling that we are spending nearly £10k a year for him to be watching online lectures; placements have been cancelled; field trips cancelled; exams are now open rather than in a hall so possible anyone can cheat.

He's devastated - it was such a huge decision to return to uni and he feels he hasn't had any support from the university.

Thankfully, this is a 2nd degree & he's not 18 and away from home for the first time as I dread to think how those kids are getting on.

Original poster
Yarboosucks · 06/01/2021 18:24

It is not the paying of the loan that seems unfair, it is the accruing of interest on fees where the services are not being fully delivered that is bothering me.

OP posts:
user1497207191 · 07/01/2021 11:42

@Yarboosucks

It is not the paying of the loan that seems unfair, it is the accruing of interest on fees where the services are not being fully delivered that is bothering me.
I agree, unjustified to charge such a high interest in normal times but completely unacceptable to add interest to what is basically a ridiculously expensive online learning course.
user1497207191 · 07/01/2021 11:44

@OldCow1

The tuition my "child" has received from university has been like watching You tube. The same on line lessons will probably be used for next year's students. Plenty of students are tied in to paying for accommodation they're not allowed to be in. Lots of students have lost jobs that were helping pay their living expenses. Those without bank of Mum and Dad are stuffed. They need some sort of help financially and not just access to even more loan with massive interest building up.
Hundreds of students at Lancaster University are threatening a rent strike. Good on them. Unis need to sit up and listen. The ones who are treating their students as nothing but cash cows will really suffer in a couple of years as their "student satisfaction" ratings fall through the floor and will struggle to attract the best students.
cyclingmad · 07/01/2021 11:47

Its a loan so of course interest will still apply. Most will never pay bsck the full amount anyway so its a moot point

New posts on this thread. Refresh page