Things have certainly changed since my day. I think my final year was the first year of student loans and if I recall it was something like £550 for the year (reduced for your final year) which was paid back over 5 years at £14 a month or something silly. I didn’t earn over the threshold (one of the few in my year to get a graduate job in the last recession, or come to think of it any job unlike the current downturn) but started paying it back anyway Back then £400 overdraft was about the maximum you could get too.

There’s a lot to be said about going to university as most people posting here are not even earning the threshold to start paying the debt back. Getting a degree certainly has not improved earning potential.

“most people posting here”

eh? – wanna count them again?

Disagree strongly mrmojo.

I couldnt get the job im in now without s degree . I could scrape by doing it without one although i do a fair bit of design work as well as field work – but the next step up the ladder requires one no ifs no buts

Ad i like to think im doing alright for my self from it.

trail_rat – Member

I couldnt get the job im in now without s degree

what he said.

my pay’s not great – it’s distinctly average, but i’d be earning much less without my degree (mechanical and materials engineering).

I see a theme here…. Mechanical engineering BEng for me.

Would still make more financial sense to keep the lowest interest loan, which is usually the student loan, til last Trail Rat. But if you’re tax free or off shore in Africa (or even just getting a decent day rate I guess) I’d imagine that your takehome allows you to overpay on a lot of debt*

*Assuming you have a mortgage and other debts of course.

I suppose what I’m saying is that it not only depends on how much and when the student loan was taken out, but also on earnings (as mentioned before) and personal circumstances (dependents etc).

FWIW I have an engineering degree as well, and IMO the quality of teaching at good universities offering good degrees hasn’t diminished, so I’d dispute Daveky’s comments, but I would say that employers now have to sift through a lot more garbage to find the worthwhile degrees now.

Veedubba – you have no choice in your repayments .

They take x% of my wage be it a basic momth or a month ive been away . Some of the deductions the took would make you cry – if i had my way id have stuck it into my mortgage every time

Sodding typical i thought they were never going to start. Taking it – i started paying last year( without notice the same month i bought a house – was a bit of a shock 🙁 ) after graduating in 2008. Went off the radar cycling round nz then moving house 3 times quickly – got a job and worked 3 years without paying – so me paying it off in a year isnt strictly on a newly graduated wage.

Fair dos. Just sounded like you were overpaying. Hundreds of quid a month is good going!

Engineer here, a BEng was absolute minimum to get any job in Engineering design when I graduated, not there were many as I graduated bang in the middle of a recession.

A degree isn’t essential for the job I do, but I’d not have got where I am without one, although its actually totally unrelated (Transport Planning degree, work in insurance), so totally worth it for me. I think of the loan as more of a tax, be bloody glad when I’ve paid it off, but I’ve always had it deducted, so just one of those things.