Government stuffing young people again, student loans

[Binjob118]

Great day to bury the news that from next year student loans will be repayed over 40 years instead of 30. This makes a massive difference. Hate this government and Tony bloody Blair for stopping free tuition. Of course, won't affect all the rich kids who never take out the loan. This on top of impossibility of young people ever being able to buy a home makes me want to scream. Totally screwed. Certainly don't think IABU!!

And in that vein, these changes are welcome because the interest will only be RPI, not RPI+3

RPI is always the higher figure and is way over the bank rate or what the Govt borrows at... which is where the money is coming from.

So why is the student loan interest rate so high? Surely the Govt don't want to be making money out of our students?

@worriedmum2022 not everyone has a local uni and its not students faults the courses are 3 years , many many work alongside uni and in the holidays so there not all dossing around as you put it and not everyone can put aside the child benefit a fair system
Would be better for all rather than everyone criticising students and not looking at the bigger picture

@Alexandra2001 yes people don't get RPI , funny how the government don't use that when looking at public sector pay or benefits
Clearly some read and full for the goverment bullshit of how much fairer this will be and how much it will save taxpayers , etc

@Alexandra2001

So why is the student loan interest rate so high? Surely the Govt don't want to be making money out of our students?

Typical redistribution by stealth. Those who make the repayments subsidise those who don't.

@SartresSoul

Blair was a wanker for making students pay but Cameron was an even bigger wanker for tripling the debt.

Barely anyone pays it all off before they die anyway so it isn’t really a big issue. Most people don’t even notice it leaving their salary each month, I know I don’t.

But the idea behind Cameron's increase was that there'd be different charges for different courses/different Unis. He failed to see the inevitable consequence that all would charge the maximum regardless. Typical politicians failing to see the blindingly obvious!

@worriedatthemoment

Yes I responded to your comments about teachers. I explained the monthly repayments. But you then jumped all over me for suggesting people should be paying their student loans back.

I've read alot of your posts and you seem to feel incredibly strongly about teachers being seemingly hard done by when it comes to degrees and loans. Are you a teacher yourself by chance?

I dont ask to be a snipey know it all, I'm asking because I agree that teachers are utterly essential and there must be some other way of preparing teachers with the educators requirements they need to go into teaching without all the attached debt.

@Westerman

The majority of student debt is never paid back so I don't see why it should be written off after 30 years; 40 seems much fairer to me. Uni kids nowadays will probably be working into their early 70s so they have more time to pay Do people want to go back to the days when only the academically gifted or rich kids could go to university? My parents certainly couldn't have afforded to send me when I was 18. And why aren't we encouraging kids to stay at home and study locally, instead of moving to the other end of the country and paying mortgage numbers each month to live in one room? Universities should spread the courses evenly across the nation to help make this possible.

100% this. Even after 40yrs most wont have cleared it all and the taxpayers foots the bi.

I think that is quite fair.

Those who go on to earn lots of money will pay most if not all of it back. Those who just over the threshold won't.

@worriedmum2022

I'm just saving all the child benefit now and trying to top it up so I'm saving £100-150 per month probably won't be enough but it's a good start

I'll also be telling mine that as they actually spend so little time in university they can go to a local university and live at home and there will be an expectation to have a part time job - not dosa around for 3 years when to be honest it could be done in 2 years!!! Saving people a fortune

To be fair in my first yr I didnt work, second year I did part time and by my last yr I was practically working full time so I think your approach is a good one.

@Frankola no I am not a teacher and don't have a degree nor have i been to uni
But yes I do feel the system is unfair and wrong and having a 16 and 18 year old , all those saying get an apprenticeship work your way up etc , if only
Plus many being duped by the never pay it back, when many will pay back whats borrowed just not the huge amounts of interest that go with it
Only a few go to uni with no intention of working , but we have people who do that anyway

@Frankola i never jumped over you for paying back , it was your statement that if course a teacher can afford to pay it all back and will
Yes most likely whats borrowed and some interest as well but just unlikely all due to how high these loans are
I agree with paying back but just think if we had lower fees and lower interests that would be easier to do

@Dreamstate mortgage numbers to live in a room? Like to know where people have mortgages that low for whats included
My ds student room wouldn't get him a bedsit room around here
Its all this for the taxpayers to pay etc like you actually know how much it costs you , its probably very little per taxpayer when broken down
And as many have said time and time again its the high costs and interest etc that means many don't pay back al of it and low pay in many jobs especially some public sector ones
Nurses have huge student loan debts and social workers etc many won't pay all the interest no, but they provide a needed service and the degree is the route you pretty much have to go for so many roles now , so what should the youngsters do
Not all of us live near university's, not everyone gets the luxury of having a home

[quote worriedatthemoment]@Dreamstate mortgage numbers to live in a room? Like to know where people have mortgages that low for whats included
My ds student room wouldn't get him a bedsit room around here
Its all this for the taxpayers to pay etc like you actually know how much it costs you , its probably very little per taxpayer when broken down
And as many have said time and time again its the high costs and interest etc that means many don't pay back al of it and low pay in many jobs especially some public sector ones
Nurses have huge student loan debts and social workers etc many won't pay all the interest no, but they provide a needed service and the degree is the route you pretty much have to go for so many roles now , so what should the youngsters do
Not all of us live near university's, not everyone gets the luxury of having a home

[/quote]
I have no clue what your asking me to be honest or if your asking me something.

If you can't pass English or maths you shouldn't be going to university. Possibly, it depends on the course whether it's less intensive. More likely you should be going down a different pathway if you're not good with pressure/exams.

@worriedatthemoment Yes, I agree that the interest on student loans is absolutely ridiculous. It's nothing more than a money making exercise for the government.

I have a Sd who is about to start uni in September. We have saved money for her but she is still going to need to get the loans and get a job while studying. Its the same for my dd. We are saving each month for when her time comes. But again, loans will be required.

It's pointless of them to make it so that these loans won't get fully paid back over someone's working life. They'll never get back what they think they "should"

I know people who retook either GCSE or alevels. That's life. Good luck finding a job out of school with no qualifications- although respect to everyone who failed and tried hard to succeed in the end.

@loveyours

If you can't pass English or maths you shouldn't be going to university. Possibly, it depends on the course whether it's less intensive. More likely you should be going down a different pathway if you're not good with pressure/exams.

This is ridiculous. Plenty of people return to Uni as mature students after poor schooling up to 16. Often down to circumstances or parental ( lack of) expectation rather than not bring the sort of person that can’t cope with exams.

Erm - Scotland, Ireland to name a couple.

@Aishah231 Not free here in Ireland unfortunately, It costs 3k a year for your first degree, there's talks that this might soon be reduced to 2k though. I believe that we have the highest fees in the EU since Brexit.

Plenty of people return to Uni as mature students after poor schooling up to 16. Often down to circumstances or parental ( lack of) expectation rather than not bring the sort of person that can’t cope with exams

Mature students are exempt from the Maths and English GCSE requirement.

There's lots of things the country can't afford to subsidise anymore.
Why don't they look further up the age range and have a go there too?

@Blossomtoes

Plenty of people return to Uni as mature students after poor schooling up to 16. Often down to circumstances or parental ( lack of) expectation rather than not bring the sort of person that can’t cope with exams

Mature students are exempt from the Maths and English GCSE requirement.

I was taking issue with loveyours Would you agree that people without Maths and English can go to Uni or not? Maybe uni only counts if you are under 21.

@loveyours

I know people who retook either GCSE or alevels. That's life. Good luck finding a job out of school with no qualifications- although respect to everyone who failed and tried hard to succeed in the end.

A lot of people who bad badly at GCSE and A levels turn to self employment as they're effectively frozen out of the current job market. Funny how so many of them excel at self employment, when they were failed by the education system and couldn't pass the school leaving exams, isn't it??

Funny how so many of them excel at self employment, when they were failed by the education system and couldn't pass the school leaving exams, isn't it??

Not really. Academic ability and entrepreneurial talent aren’t the same thing, you only have to look at Alan Sugar to see that.

The thing with student loans is that it's middle earners who are hit hardest. The lower earners don't pay much back (if at all) and the higher earners pay it back relatively quickly so the compound interest doesn't affect them as much. It's the middle earners, on say, £40k-£50k, who are paying for the full 30 years (soon to be 40) because their repayments are barely touching the capital due to the punitive high interest being added, so they're just constantly paying interest and never any of the underlying debt.

@Blossomtoes

Funny how so many of them excel at self employment, when they were failed by the education system and couldn't pass the school leaving exams, isn't it??

Not really. Academic ability and entrepreneurial talent aren’t the same thing, you only have to look at Alan Sugar to see that.

But you don't need academic ability to work in a call centre with your degree, nor do you need entreprenneurial talent to be a successful self employed plumber or electrician. I'm looking at the bog standard middle of the road majority of people, not the extremes.

Isn't having basic maths and english skills essential for life?