Total student loan when child finish university?

[luckybees]

What was you or your child student loan total when you finished uni? How long was the course? What year you finished? Did you borrow fees and maintenance? Have you/your child paid it already?

DH and I were lucky not to pay for university fees; not from the UK and lived at home so didn’t get in debt.

DD is at uni now in year 3.
She has 3 years of tuition fee loans at £9250 a year. These start accumulating interest from when they are taken out, not when the course is finished.
Maintenance loan is dependent on parental income so not everyone can / will borrow the same amount. We saved and DD worked so she did not need a maintenance loan but I know not everyone can be in that position. An average amount to leave a 3 year course is £55k - £60k in loans.

Thank you. Those cumulative interest scare me but not much we can do

Four year degree, £40k of loans (full maintenance loan due to my carer circumstances at the time). It makes me lose sleep although she’s earning well now and isn’t bothered about it at all. If I were ever able to pay it all off for her, I would.

@luckybees It makes no odds initially about what you borrow! Repayment is based on what dc earn! So earning the minimum, they pay virtually nothing back so it’s free money! If dc earn £130,000, save up and start reducing it!

Ours were very lucky. GP paid their tuition fees in full from a lump sum investment they made when the DC were about ten years old. We lent them the equivalent of the minimum maintenance loan every year interest free and paid their rent. The interest made on the original lump sum at graduation was enough for them to use to pay off most of their maintenance loan back to us. In the end, I think their degree cost them just less than £3k each of their own money.

….and they worked for their own spending money from age 16.

Mine was about £45k when I graduated, due to not earnings loads / mat leave with DC1 / part-time work I've paid barely anything off so its just growing and growing. I think it was over £60k last time I checked so its unlikely that I'll pay it all off although hopefully will get a better paid career once DC2 is born & both kids are a bit older.

My DCs will be £64k each minimum. We live in Wales, so they can borrow the full whack, which is a good thing because we're nowhere near paying our mortgage off. We'll be able to help them a bit but it'll be a drop in the ocean. I'm not sure it'll even be worth it as they'll never pay the loans off anyway.

I did have a bit of a panic about it last week, but it doesn't make a huge amount of difference whether they owe £48k or £64k. The payments over the threshold will be the same either way.

I left uni 4 years ago, have been qualified as a nurse for 3 years and as of now my student loan balance stands at 90,919.10. Tbh I’m not worried about it though. I got maximum grants and loans as a single parent and don’t earn enough most months to pay towards it as my circumstances have massively changed. My mum died suddenly last year so I now care for my sister who has a learning disability so I work as a nurse part time and pick up extra bank shifts when I can. When I have paid anything towards it it’s been like £30 or when we’ve had backpay. I don’t know if others will have the same view but it is what it is. I wouldn’t have a good job now without it

Over £80k - fees plus maintenance loan, 4 year course finished last year. 1st class STEM. On minimum wage so not yet repaying.

We look at it like a graduate tax, not a debt. Lots of people never pay it off in full.

It makes a difference if they earn a high salary. A higher loan means they will spend more years paying it off. I find it criminal how high the interest rate is for these loans and that you are charged interest from Day One at University. One of my daughters pays £600 a month, she will pay the loan off in her mid thirties. Another daughter is paying much less and will probably never pay it off.

Correct. It is only good if you are not likely yo pay it; otherwise it is a massive debt in my opinion.

But you are allowed to pay it earlier if you have the money?

Yes there’s the option on your account to make any amount of repayments at any point, although it does tell you to bare in mind it’s not needed and warns that a lot of people will never meet the threshold to pay it off, but the option is there if you wish!

This is the exact wording that comes up on the account

Voluntary repayments are your choice
Whilst you may choose to make voluntary repayments towards your student loan, there is no obligation to do so.
If you do not expect to fully repay your outstanding balance during the term of the loan you should carefully consider whether it's appropriate to make voluntary repayments because any outstanding balance is written off at the end of the loan term.
You should consider your personal and financial circumstances and how these may change in the future prior to making a voluntary repayment.
If you are unsure about your decision to make voluntary repayments, you should seek professional advice from a financial advisor. SLC are unable to provide financial advice or recommendations.
A voluntary repayment is non-refundable.

How your loan impacts you
Your student loan does not affect your credit rating.
Your loan will be written off 30 years after the April you were first due to repay.

Oldest got a degree in Scandinavian - no fee.
We helped paying for living expenses as she couldn't stay at home. She worked weekend/holidays.

Next left university last year having done a medical degree and does Foundations years now. No dept. We paid from savings, did extra work and he worked weekends/holidays.

Last child will most likely choose a Scandinavian university which will cost us less than an English university.
The children hold dual citizenship to a Scandinavian country.

It’s very important to know that it is not a debt in the usual form of that word. It’s an additional tax depending on what you earn above the current threshold. Also repayments are exactly the same regardless of the amounts”borrowed”, taken at source so the graduate doesn’t really miss it, no repayments if earning less or nothing. It’s difficult for us parents that had a free higher education but it’s so normal for our kids generation it really is not an issue for them and certainly doesn’t lead to sleepless nights!

Yes, but if you are already paying several hundred pounds a month towards your loan and then want to buy a property, you are also going to have a big mortgage. Not many are in the position to pay out even more….

Your daughter paying £600/mth is a very high earner, given that the repayment is 9% on earnings over the threshold, which is in the middle to high £20k, depending on when and where the loan was taken. She can afford it. My kids don't have ambitions for the kids of careers that would make them that kind of money, so they'll be paying back a fraction of that, but for longer. We're in Wales so they're unlikely ever to pay the interest.

Mine was £6k. Graduated early 2000s.

My parents paid outright for my first year Inc all spending money etc.

I was entitled to the lowest loan of £3k per year for years 2 and 3 and my parents also paid for everything else. They also paid off the student loan after I graduated.

Very very lucky. I hope I can help my child in the same way.

@cotswoldsgal1234 That’s not actually true. It’s anticipated more will pay off the loan but those paying for 40 years will be paying more. Paying off early because you are a high earner is better.

@VanCleefArpels is right. Dc just pay it and that’s it. Dd paid hers off and has a mortgage. Fees were only £3000 then but she had the minimum maintenance loan. Make sure you do the sums - would a house deposit be a better use of the money or not go to university at all? Not every grad earns more then those who don’t go.

I don't understand those who say it doesn't matter how big the debt is. Of course it does - the reason some never pay it off is because it keeps growing at a faster rate than you can pay it off. So the larger the debt is the longer you pay it for even if you are paying the same amount.

9% of your earnings for ten years is very different to 9% of your earnings for 40 years

@user38 In terms of the amount you pay each month it doesn’t. So you just keep paying at a low level if you never earn much. But, you pay for longer. At the moment less than 50% pay it off and we cannot afford that expense hanging over us. Many would be better off paying it off quickly but there has to be maths done because it totally depends on 40 years of earning. A SAHM isn’t paying! So life envisaged matters too.

Much easier to pay off the £3000 a year loans….