Page 20 | Student loans- feel sick

Lazy56789 · 2025-07-29T06:15:21+00:00

I did a degree around 15 years ago, and a Masters around 10 years ago. A repayment is taken out of my salary each month based on my earnings, but when I received a letter from student finance today I saw my balance was 41k! And over 2k in interest was added in the last tax year. It's terrifying, I'm not in a position to pay off huge amounts, how does anyone do it? The figures are eye-watering, I feel like i must've done something wrong for it to be so high?

Fetaface · 30/07/2025 20:05

Juniperberry55 · 30/07/2025 19:35

If you look back at the post which was a reply to one of your posts I showed that between 2006 and 2012 the tuition fees tripled. Minimum wage went up 50 something pence
I worked when I was at uni as I previously stated. You have achieved to get through uni debt due to lower tuition fees and working. As I stated in my previous post that would be basically impossible just 6 years later. I earned £7.5k working at least 18.5 hours a week that wouldn't even cover the tuition, I also had to pay board to my mom, travel to work and uni and I also needed to buy food. There was no way of working full time or I wouldn't have physically been able to attend university because I would be at work.
I was telling you it may have been possible to achieve debt free uni through working in 2006 but nearly impossible 2012 onwards.
I am not pissed I didn't manage to do what you did, I accepted the fact I went to uni at a different time when student loans were different.
But your argument about it being easy to get through uni debt free sounds like when people managed to buy a 4 bed house in London on a postman's wage in 1980 and not understanding why a lawyer and a doctor in a joint household income are now struggling to afford the house next door. Times change, things that were manageable before are no longer manageable now due to massive increases. I can also say I'm incredibly lucky with managing to purchase a house when I did, low interest rates at the time. I couldn't afford to buy my own house now if I was starting again. It's about recognising it's not just lazy people who couldn't be arsed to work as hard as you. Some are working just as hard but still can't achieve the same outcome

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And at that point you do what I did when I went back to study more - you work flat out for a year to save and then use that money. So yeah it really is possible. I have been to uni 4 times now and each time saved and then paid.

You being financially irresponsible is not my fault. Don't blame me because you took the path of least resistance at the time and now do not like the outcome.

Yes times change but also brains haven't and there wasn't much common sense back then for some and it seems that still applies. That hasn't risen either.

You took the first thing offered to you, you did what 'everyone else did' without any thought about the long term. I didn't. I considered all options. I saved and then did uni as I worked almost full time. Then took a year out to save some more before going back.

Listen it is an option for kids today, just because it means saving up and working alongside uni doesn't mean to say it is not a decent option to consider to come out debt free.

Peachhearttree · 30/07/2025 20:11

It is a never ending debt in my opinion, despite of what Martin Lewis says

ShesTheAlbatross · 30/07/2025 20:14

MidnightMeltdown · 30/07/2025 20:02

It was suggested by people earlier in the thread, including @UpDothat older graduates who went for free should pay the graduate tax because it’s ‘fairer’. I don’t agree.

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Oh I missed that. I agree that would be grossly unfair.

FancyLimePoet · 30/07/2025 20:15

I’ve seen medics with up to 150k, I mean they will just never pay that off. It’s a graduate tax. Reason 1067 why we don’t live in a meritocracy…… and working hard doesn’t pay.

XenoBitch · 30/07/2025 20:17

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:03

You pay it back after your salary hits £26k. If you do not expect your salary to hit that having done a degree I genuinely don’t understand why you would do it.

As it goes, we are going to pay for ours so they don’t have any debt (after school fees it will be a joy) but if they say to me they are doing something that doesn’t lead towards a career I will be asking them if they would be doing that if they were paying for it themselves.

Well, some people dropped out of uni, and will never earn enough to pay it back either.

noctilucentcloud · 30/07/2025 20:19

PeapodBurgundy · 30/07/2025 18:35

I just looked at mine out of interest. I owe £25000 on plan 1 and just under £14000 on plan 2. I'm not making any repayments due to working only part time on account of being a single parent of two DC with additional needs. Mine will keep going up as interest is added on, and will never be repaid. I don't really think about it, there's nothing to be done about it. I needed those qualifications to do the job I'm doing, the situation is what it is.

I never planned to only work PT, but I could not have anticipated becoming a single parent, or having two high needs DC. I'm better able to support them in the job I'm in at present (I earn slightly over the FTE for minimum wage, but only work 24 hours within the school day which allows me to do both school runs). I would not be in this job without that debt, and we would be struggling massively without it.

I'm the same - I work part time because of ill-health and am also on about the equivalent of FTE minimum wage so don't make any repayments. Like you my degree means I have a job that pays me enough to live on and has flexibility to work round my health needs. I feel very fortunate to have this.

BrendaSmall · 30/07/2025 20:26

Lazy56789 · 29/07/2025 07:20

I only repay about £55 a month but I don't earn a great deal, I'll try to just not think about it too much I guess!

You must be earning a fair amount each month or they wouldn’t be taking it out of your wages!
My daughter occasionally has her repayment taken from her wages if she does extra shifts and earns more one month than the other!

TeenLifeMum · 30/07/2025 20:34

Dodeedoo · 30/07/2025 19:42

They factor it into your affordability

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I asked the question at the time and was told student loan wasn’t included. You can keep arguing but my experience was my experience. I think it’s because it’s a loan that times out and you only pay a small percentage unless your earn lots. I’m on my third fixed mortgage and it was never included.

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:34

@XenoBitch i don’t really understand your point. Only 5.3% drop out. And if you don’t earn more than £26k having completed a degree it was a total waste of time.

ShesTheAlbatross · 30/07/2025 20:34

BrendaSmall · 30/07/2025 20:26

You must be earning a fair amount each month or they wouldn’t be taking it out of your wages!
My daughter occasionally has her repayment taken from her wages if she does extra shifts and earns more one month than the other!

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“A fair amount” is subjective. Depending on any salary sacrifice options, and the exact repayment threshold she’s on, repaying £55 a month is probably an annual salary somewhere around £35k.

XenoBitch · 30/07/2025 20:37

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:34

@XenoBitch i don’t really understand your point. Only 5.3% drop out. And if you don’t earn more than £26k having completed a degree it was a total waste of time.

My point was that you can pick your degree based on a good career after, but you could drop out and find your plan change... but you still have the debt.
Or you could finish your degree and you end up ill/disabled.

Juniperberry55 · 30/07/2025 20:41

Fetaface · 30/07/2025 20:05

And at that point you do what I did when I went back to study more - you work flat out for a year to save and then use that money. So yeah it really is possible. I have been to uni 4 times now and each time saved and then paid.

You being financially irresponsible is not my fault. Don't blame me because you took the path of least resistance at the time and now do not like the outcome.

Yes times change but also brains haven't and there wasn't much common sense back then for some and it seems that still applies. That hasn't risen either.

You took the first thing offered to you, you did what 'everyone else did' without any thought about the long term. I didn't. I considered all options. I saved and then did uni as I worked almost full time. Then took a year out to save some more before going back.

Listen it is an option for kids today, just because it means saving up and working alongside uni doesn't mean to say it is not a decent option to consider to come out debt free.

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You being financially irresponsible is not my fault. Dont blame me because you took the path of least resistance at the time and now do not like the outcome.
Pretty sure if you check my posts I never blamed you. Path of least resistance would surely be sitting on my arse and never working surely?
I am also not financially irresponsible, I have a mortgage, I pay my bills on my own. I could be accused of many things but financially irresponsible is not one of them
I do however think the student loan system is flawed and think the government needs to do something to make it a fairer system
I could have worked for years to save enough to pay £27k of tuition fees and then continued to work part time. But that would have meant I would have left home later, house prices and interest rates would have meant I was unable to afford the same house as what I currently live in.
I imagine you'll come back with I should work every hour of the day and get 2 hours of sleep to earn more money, but the point is, you didn't have to, so it was comparatively easier for you to be debt free through uni than someone who started just a few years later.
I also nearly burnt myself out that year trying to work and go to uni as I was undiagnosed and living with an autoimmune condition, if I tried to work anymore at the time I'd have landed myself in hospital more than I already did.
There are plenty of reasons someone doing the exact same thing as you, doesn't necessarily result in the same outcome. But I don't think you're humble enough to admit it. I can say you worked hard and achieved a positive outcome, well done, but you seem to find it impossible to accept that someone could work just as hard as you did and not achieve the same thing.

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:43

Ok and that seems to affect 5.3% of students. 44% won’t pay it back and the value of outstanding loans is £267 billion or more than the whole NHS budget. It should be repaid. People who get degrees should look to earn decent salaries. Otherwise it’s a total waste of time and energy

Juniperberry55 · 30/07/2025 20:47

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:43

Ok and that seems to affect 5.3% of students. 44% won’t pay it back and the value of outstanding loans is £267 billion or more than the whole NHS budget. It should be repaid. People who get degrees should look to earn decent salaries. Otherwise it’s a total waste of time and energy

How much of that £267 billion is just the crazy amounts of interest they add to the loans?

OldLadyMelody · 30/07/2025 20:51

When was it? It’ll get wiped out in 25 years anyway.

BrendaSmall · 30/07/2025 20:53

ShesTheAlbatross · 30/07/2025 20:34

“A fair amount” is subjective. Depending on any salary sacrifice options, and the exact repayment threshold she’s on, repaying £55 a month is probably an annual salary somewhere around £35k.

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My daughter isn’t earning anything near that amount, it’s when she picks up extra shifts,they take money from her for the student loan

lackofvitamindd · 30/07/2025 20:53

I graduated 21 years ago and still owe money… I’m loan 1 and It’ll never get wiped … feels awful, but I just try and look at it as a tax.

XenoBitch · 30/07/2025 20:55

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:43

Ok and that seems to affect 5.3% of students. 44% won’t pay it back and the value of outstanding loans is £267 billion or more than the whole NHS budget. It should be repaid. People who get degrees should look to earn decent salaries. Otherwise it’s a total waste of time and energy

And some people who got degrees have found that they can't. I have a relative that got a degree, loads of debt... plans to have good career. Became disabled and can not work at all, let alone pay it off.

There is also a huge issue right now with graduate not being able to find jobs. Several threads on here by worried parents about it. Even newly qualified nurses are struggling to find work.

And if degrees should only exist to provide people with good jobs, then I bet a huge amount of them would disappear. Some people go to uni because they want to study more in depth about a subject they like. It is not always job related.

PansyPotter84 · 30/07/2025 20:56

Think of it as a graduate tax.

Thats what I do.

paranoidnamechanger · 30/07/2025 21:02

Inthemidnighthr · 30/07/2025 20:43

Ok and that seems to affect 5.3% of students. 44% won’t pay it back and the value of outstanding loans is £267 billion or more than the whole NHS budget. It should be repaid. People who get degrees should look to earn decent salaries. Otherwise it’s a total waste of time and energy

You come across as sanctimonious and judgmental. My first two degrees weren’t a waste of time and neither is my (ongoing) third one.

DoveOfPiss · 30/07/2025 21:39

'peoole who get degrees should look to earn decent salaries' - basic grade healthcare roles, think nurses, paramedics, allied health professionals (physios, OTs, podiatrists) etc, all need a degree to even get onto the pay band.
If the higher roles aren't there because there are already incumbents in post, the 'decent salaries' you mention remain out of reach. Also, what is a 'decent salary'? NHS pay is not known for being particularly high.

We don't all complete degrees for the earning potential, for some of us it's a vocation to which the only means of entry is via university.

I currently owe £77k for a degree completed in 2020. I was a single parent so got the maximum maintenance loan and we weren't allowed to work while at uni as we had regular placements.

HappyHen17 · 30/07/2025 21:40

I graduated at 45 as I wanted a career change, I have £60000 loan and they take £20 per month as I work part time, it’ll get wiped when I retire and when I go really part time at 60, I’ll pay none! Don’t worry about it!

PeonyPatch · 30/07/2025 21:42

DoveOfPiss · 30/07/2025 21:39

'peoole who get degrees should look to earn decent salaries' - basic grade healthcare roles, think nurses, paramedics, allied health professionals (physios, OTs, podiatrists) etc, all need a degree to even get onto the pay band.
If the higher roles aren't there because there are already incumbents in post, the 'decent salaries' you mention remain out of reach. Also, what is a 'decent salary'? NHS pay is not known for being particularly high.

We don't all complete degrees for the earning potential, for some of us it's a vocation to which the only means of entry is via university.

I currently owe £77k for a degree completed in 2020. I was a single parent so got the maximum maintenance loan and we weren't allowed to work while at uni as we had regular placements.

Exactly this. I am in an “allied healthcare” role and I had to go to university to be in the profession I am in - caring for others. My salary isn’t that high. That’s not my fault.

DoveOfPiss · 30/07/2025 21:52

PeonyPatch · 30/07/2025 21:42

Exactly this. I am in an “allied healthcare” role and I had to go to university to be in the profession I am in - caring for others. My salary isn’t that high. That’s not my fault.

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Same 😁

Moonquarter · 30/07/2025 21:56

Mines over 100k student debt, but my degree has given me a lot better paid job - so far over 12k difference compared to minimum wage, and my salary will go up as I’m in an entry level position. So for me, going to university has been the best thing I’ve ever done. Mine is on plan 2, so I don’t think I’ll ever pay it off, but at least I can live a more comfortable lifestyle than living paycheck to paycheck as I did beforehand.