To not feel very sorry for some student loan whiners

[Viviennemary]

There's been a lot of complaining about student loans and its wrong they seemed to have move the goalposts re paying back. StillI I read about this woman complaining her student loan is £120k and is going up every year. She was a student for 10 years fgs. Just as well the tax payer wasn't funding her. I hope these folk arent just going to be let away with not paying.

No, I fully support the current crop of students and think they've been treated awfully, even if they manage to find the occasional 10 year student. The RPI +3% was always appalling but the fact that they've moved the goal posts by not raising the thresholds with inflation is worse.

If someone suggested putting up income taxes nearly 10% there would be absolute outrage, but for these students they're just supposed to suck it up for what, in many cases, has become a new entry-level qualification. Don't get me started on the fact that we now don't fund nurses so they have the honour of paying £9k a year to get qualified while also working full time.

For a lot of people it is the only way to go to university. Should they not go because they are poor? It is a national disgrace and any politician who went to university for free should be ashamed of what is happening.

It’s become unfair because the premise was that the education was an investment that would be beneficial overall so when graduates don’t earn more it becomes problematic.
I have three academic DC but only one went to university and the loans were a big factor. Two managed to get apprenticeships instead and it’s hugely financially beneficial now they are on same salary as the graduate but without the debt. DC 1 is plan 2.

Is this because your degree is in a subject that doesn’t lead to a decent paid job? Can you tell us what your degree is in?

My post-grad means that now have a solid, stable career helping people as part of the NHS. We need people to do a wide range of roles for a functioning society. Some of those roles require post-grad qualifications. Who do you think develops the medicines and treatments that will cure you when you get ill?

But during their life time, the less educated will have a lower salary ceiling on average (according to research). We need people to do all the roles. From those that don’t need qualifications at all to those that require post-grad qualifications. In a society where we want full representation in positions of influence and power, finances shouldn’t be a barrier. Higher Education should be accessible.

No what I am saying is earn way more than the threshold. Don’t choose a low paying career if you’ve got to pay 60k for the privilege. What’s the point in going to uni to earn less than 30k a year.

Too many people went, often to lower ranked unis, who didn't have the academic profile for getting traditional "graduate jobs". So their degrees haven't actually enabled them to earn better wages.

Also we need to revisit uni costs, particularly accomodation, and move towards a european model where its more normal to live at home while you study rather than racking up 20 grand of debt for a student flat.

Fuck me….heres someone moaning about pensioners again! Maybe pensioners don’t want to fund child benefit things like nursery places, schools, health visitors, midwifery services…they certainly don’t want to fund teenagers who fancy living away from home for a few years!

@Gall10 fuck me…..here’s another moaning pensioner moaning about the young.

@Viviennemary You sound very resentful towards graduates

Do you actually know anyone within your family/friendship circle who has been to university? There must be one, surely?

If you earn less than £30k per year your repayments will be much lower. It’s being a slightly higher than low earner where it’s a trap, you earn little enough that you really feel the deductions, and you earn high enough that the deductions can be quite large but still not large enough to clear the interest.

Nurses, social workers, and teachers will most likely make a large repayment throughout the course of the career, but never repay the loan. Should they all just decide to go into higher paid jobs instead?

I think you need to do a little more research, OP.

There will always be the outliners in anything. But you need to remember, most of these loans are being paid back, but the interest rate is extortionate.

One of my sons was the first in our extended family to go to Uni. We encouraged him. His Grandad at the time, said he would pay his tuition. We told him not to because Martin Lewis said student loans were the way to go. Six years later and whilst he’s been paying his loan since his left Uni, it’s more now than when he started.

Due to us being a low income family, he qualified for the full amount as we couldn’t afford to pay his accommodation. He now owes £90,000 - how can that be right? He’ll be paying it until he retires probably.

some courses you can get funding for a 2nd degree

for example. 1st degree was English - you then do a nursing degree. You can get student finance for the nursing degree. If you did nursing 1st you wouldn’t get funding for the English degree 2nd

I just borrowed the fees alone, so £12,000. I was working full-time and studied around my job - the degree was work related.

I still owe £12,500.

Look at nursing salaries. The majority will be band 5 their whole career - but to do that job you need a degree

Course it isn't, but the alternative since fees came in (and went up hugely after 2011) is either job market changes vastly so jobs don't require a degree, or fees are reduced, or people continue to get into debt with a student loan so they can gain the degree that hopefully gets them into their field of work. Of course not everyone uses their degree but most go into it thinking they will.

Almost exactly same as my ds! Band 6 NHS graduated 5 years ago. Because of his loan repayments he can’t save any money, he just about pays his rent, bills, petrol and car maintenance. He regularly has to provide cover at another hospital an hour’s drive away, no buses go there of course (🙄) so he’s using his own car.

YANBU

So don't go into nursing or any healthcare sector.

That will work out well for the people who choose law, earn a high wage but cannot get an ambulance if they have an accident on the M1....... or in time, any private health care either.

It's yet another way the next generation are getting screwed over. Saddling 18 year olds with a lifetime of debt is unconscionable.

Every year the UK becomes more like the USA ( I have a friend in the US graduating from veterinary school, and has $480,000 of student loan debt which she said is not uncommon in her class!!)

It's yet another way the next generation are getting screwed over. Saddling 18 year olds with a lifetime of debt is unconscionable.

Much of the west will need skilled workers due to demographics so the ones who can should go abroad for opportunities.

My DD and her partner have a decent car with low mileage, its the only car they have, he sometimes uses it during the day.... & why should she wreck her own car?
If the job requires driving and pool cars were provided, then the NHS takes them away, thats their problem, not hers.

Add in the additional loan payments and she wonders why work in the UK s NHS, she was was never treated like this when she worked in Australia, once her Grandparents are no longer with us, she'll go back.

I think it's worth pointing out with this post all the efforts about introducing the vote to 16 year olds. If a 17 year old who is bright enough for uni doesn't understand issues with interest enough to take out a loan, why the hell are 16 - 18 year olds being given the vote? Why are they allowed to leave home? Why are they allowed to make a variety of potentially life changing decisions? Understanding interest is such a major issue when it comes to being a grown up for a variety of reasons. It's utterly depressing in terms of the state of education.

I'm going to say this is an issue with education itself though because clearly we aren't making sure kids have an understanding of maths which is used daily and in significant ways because we are too busy teaching a lot of maths related stuff that's pointless day to day.

The number of adults - including university educated adults - who do not understand compound interest generally is thoroughly depressing and frightening. Better understanding would help with pensions, mortgages and taking out loans. This is one of the number one things people should know.

Being unable to understand at 17 therefore isn't the excuse I feel it's being made out to be here, because quite frankly I know so many people in their 40s and beyond who went to uni and still don't understand interest. If we are talking about making sure people understand properly before taking out a loan then maybe we should do some maths tests as part of the loan process so if you fail you can't get credit.

Somehow I doubt this is a vote winner nor something that the industry would go for because of accusations that it disadvantaged too many people. Personally I think it's a good idea as it's be a sure fire way to stop so much exploitation and to improve teaching but a cup of cold sick springs to mind.

If this was a private sector scenario it would be the latest mis selling scandal. It’s inconceivable to me that someone can make regular payments and end up owing more than when they started. Unless it’s sorted out - and fast - the effect on healthcare, education and technology development will be catastrophic.