to think that mums should get some sort of concession for student loan repayments?

[bubbleymummy]

I just got my student loan statement and yet another big whack of interest has gone on. I haven't been able to make any payments since I went on maternity leave 3 years ago because I only worked PT after ds. Now I have ds2 and who knows when I'll be back to ft work. dh on the other hand has paid back over half of his. It just seems a bit discrimatory to me...most women will have to take a salary drop at some stage to have a family and won't hit the threshold for repayments while the interest just piles on...shouldn't we get a bit of a break?

haha howto! I really don't need to change them for the good of the country...do you honestly think anyone in power listens to anything I have got to say on this matter?
Therefore, I will continue with my priorities as they are, they affect no-one in real terms, I can't see me getting into power any time soon.

(or on any matter, lets be honest)

pav- it was joke

For every person choosing not to be working in paid employment, someone else is working to pay for that choice.

That's absolutely fine in a marriage or partnership, where two people are committed as a family unit and where one partner earns enough to support the other while they stay at home.

It becomes something entirely different when you expect to have that choice paid for by other people.

but pav- how do you know I am not Harping Harriet ( Harman) or even Hazel Blears- maybe I am listening to you!

(mine too, especially as I WILL be PM one day)

howto well, if you are Harriet Harman, then I doubt very much you are listening, you would already have made up your mind. (are you Harriet Harman? )

"maybe the slc needs some competition"

It has PLENTY of competition. You can borrow money from any high street bank. You might not find the banks quite so amenable with payment holidays though. And the interest rates will be MUCH higher.

no- Hazel Blears actually.

Sorry Hazel. You see, i have a pregnancy brain which means by the time I write my post, I have forgotten half of what I am replying to. I knew it had a H in it. Thats a good start for me. Had Blears in me head, Harman on the tongue. Same answer to both women mind you.

sorry - ds1 called...

Nothing to do with sahm vs wohm - fwiw I'm a wahm at the min so a happy medium.

also wondering about ronaldinhio's point - how many of those against the idea of some sort of student loan interest break for mums had their education subsidised completely or even partially. I happen to fall within the 8/9 years of students who have to pay fees and don't have their debt wiped after 25 years - it's there until I'm 65 - more than enough working years to put back into the economy whatever tax break it offered me while I was raising my children for a few years!

But that argument could be applied to every generation bubbley!!

I was of the generation where there was 3 months statutory maternity leave, an extra 3 months unpaid if you could afford it (which most of couldn't) - does that mean I'm against changes in legislation to extend ML? Course not!
My DH got no paternity leave - didn't exist then. Does that mean I don't think men should be allowed it now?
Course not!
Nursery vouchers didn't exist in my day. We all had to shell out the full whack.
Working tax credits didnt exist.
And during the late 80s/early 90s when many of us started our families, mortgage interest rates were regularly in double figures - if you think having kids is hard now, my god you should have tried it then!!

See? It's pointless to take that line of argument. We all benefit in some ways through the generation we're born into, and lose out in others. I don't see how you can just expect the rules to be rewritten just because you have reached a particular phase in your own journey!

I just happen to be aware of it because I'm at that stage. If anyone had come to you at your stage and asked you whether you should get tax credits and/or childcare vouchers to help you out a bit would you have said - no the poor govt is already overstretched I'm alright thank you - or would you have said yes please thank you very much?

btw I do realise there are people much worse off than me out there so I'm not just moaning from an individual point of view - I think a lot of people would benefit from a temporary break and some are definitely more deserving than me. Riven, your situation should definitely entitle you to some sort of reprieve.

Ok - I see your point bubbley, we are all of course affected most by whatever is hitting us, and yes, of course if someone had come along and made childcare tax deductible in some form I'd have jumped at it!! Having said that, I do genuinely think that's a more clear cut case, because it's a direct expense incurred through working, and is applicable to any parent who works.

I think your argument has become muddied by the gender thing, which I really do think is irrelevant. Yes, more women may take time out of work, but they don't have to, it's still a choice (apart from the relatively short amount of time in ML).

I think we all need to keep some perspective though. I never hand on heart expected as a right to have all sorts of considerations just because I decided to have kids. It was my choice (and one 'accident' too!) and I just got on with it. To be honest I think these days, too many people are encouraged to take out a student loan and study when they might be better off going straight into work or an apprenticeship. But on the other hand, there is masses more help and support available to working parents on lowere incomes than there used to be, and I really don't think you have it too bad.

I haven't read the whole thread but just to add that loans are clearned if you don't earn enough to pay them off after...........I'm not sure how many years.

Perhaps some one has already started this!?

Eighty years ago of course the arguments raged over whether women should be able to go to university at all if they were going to "waste" their education by leaving the professional world to stay at home with children...

VH, I do agree - I don't have it too bad at all. TBH I'm glad that interest on sl is all I have to moan about

I am lucky that when my boys are older I can go back to a fairly decent salary and while it won't be as good as it would have been if I hadn't taken time out - I do have a higher earning potential so it was worth it. (although not as much as it used to be - I agree that the market is flooded with graduates)

I fully intend to pay back my loan and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go to university because of it. However, I do still see the gender side of this and while I realise most of you disagree it still exists for me. Just because I'm sticking to my opinion doesn't mean I'm not listening to all of yours though...

tryingtobe - it's 25 years for people before 98 and after 2007 - for all the ones in between (me incl) we have it until we're 65. Personally I'd like to think I'd have it paid off long before then though!

thanks bubbley!

BM, if they didn't add interest though, wouldn't the value of what you have paid back be less than the value of the loan when you took it out (since the interest rate is set at the rate of inflation)? So under your scheme mums would pay back less (if not in £££s but comparative value) than non-parents. How is this fair?

LB- I made that point several posts ago- unless interst is added, the loan would not be paid at full cost tothe tax payer- might not seem much per individual case, but added over 1000s it would be.

I keep coming back to the same thing- the country does not- and will not have- in the foreseeable future, for generations, any spare cash for anything like this.

As has been said before, we all feel the same about banks and MP's expenses,but that is not a good enough reason to spend more on something like this. The money is NOT THERE!!!!

BG- from what you have said, it would not be impossible for you to fund the repayment from your joint earnings- you appear not to want to and think the system should be changed to suit your choice.

As VH has said, things change all the time. When my DCs were small, there were very few if any nurseries for young children where I lived- that is going back 20 years- and I took a long time off work as I did not want a child minder- only other option. What we lost in potential income from me is huge, and will always be so, as my pension is index-linked. Our lives now would be completely different had nurseries/more available childcare been around, or the financial help that is there for working parents.

However, it was my choice not to employ a child minder, just as with you BG it is your choice to have children whilst you have a loan to repay.

I received my statement also Saturday, I have no issues with it. I'm not paying atm as I am a carer and the system allows for it. When I earn enough I will repay (uif) and that's also fair enough, with inflationary interest levels.

It has cost the taxpayer in general cash to have me study; the system is in place for those of us who are on alow incometo have examption... can't see the problem myself.

Not paying atm isn't a choice- DH part time after recent redundancy- but my tutors at college advised us tool upon it as a delayed tax on the extended opportunities we received which seems fair to me.