Good luck to anyone getting results today. Makes me sad that the country has hung students out to dry with 27k of tuition fees though. Sad state of affairs imo.

I borrowed £40k for education, but often wish I’d borrowed £40k and started my own business.

Odd how the banks are so keen to throw money at students, but not those wishing to create business/opportunity/jobs.

*other cheaper universities are available. In the end they pay back their loans like tax, probably the product of some idiot called Tony suggesting that half the population should go to uni and get qualified in stuff that has no relevance and doesn’t aid the general cause.
God bless Labour and their Tuition fee idea, solidarity brothers 🙂

other cheaper universities are available

Virtually nobody will ever pay back their entire student loan, so you may as well take as much as you can.

The repayments are virtually nothing, especially when compared to the “pay it back over five years” repayments I made.

Cheaper uni’s not really available in the uk are they?
Repayments are not peanuts either. I wonder how many suggrsting they should just suck it up benefitted from fee free or very low fee courses.

And lets notforget thats just tuition fee debt the other debt will be paid back larger and faster.

Virtually nobody will ever pay back their entire student loan, so you may as well take as much as you can.

The repayments are virtually nothing, especially when compared to the “pay it back over five years” repayments I made.

Eh?

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t paid back their loan. Do you have any evidence of this or are you just taking a wild, uneducated (excuse the pun) guess?

Also, repayments are set at 9% for the Student Loan. That’s not “virtually nothing”, it’s 9%.

benefitted from fee free or very low fee courses.

bailed after 2 yeas and paid plenty of tax since, also seem plenty who got nothing useful from having their bit of paper other than debt and hangovers before getting jobs that are described as graduate but would struggle to tax anyone with reasonable a-levels or an ability to tie their own laces.

University has become a scam.

9% over 21k.

bailed after 2 yeas and paid plenty of tax since, also seem plenty who got nothing useful from having their bit of paper other than debt and hangovers before getting jobs that are described as graduate but would struggle to tax anyone with reasonable a-levels or an ability to tie their own laces.

would you write that again when your sober?

9%!!!!

Sober here :), sorry that I disagree with you though

Just plugged £9k fees and the maximum maintenance loan (£7675k a year to live on) for a 3 year course, into the governments calculator, with the “average graduate salary” of £25k:

Estimated Results
First monthly repayment: £22.58
Repayment start date:April 2017
Time to repay: 30yrs 0mths
Total amount borrowed: £50,025
Total amount repaid: £159,899

£160k repaid over 30 years? What a joke.

£160k repaid over 30 years? What a joke.

luckily for the tories if you earn more you pay back less!

Mikewsmith so you disagree, I see. I couldnt really understand what you were on about

Mikewsmith has a good point.

Just a criminal is the actual tuition time given. The Uni’s (most) are geared towards numbers and generation of income.

Mikewsmith has a good point

I’m sure he does, but what is it?

Mikewsmith so you disagree, I see. I couldnt really understand what you were on about

I went to Uni while Tony Blair wanted 50% of people to go to uni for no good reason. Heaps of courses in appeared giving Ba’s in nothing very useful and bsc/beng’s in BS and middle management. All that did was tell employers to ask for degree’s for jobs that don’t need anything. Uni became something you did not what you do get into a career.

The numbers who went, racked up debt and came out no better off than when they entered is the problem. Society has made people think that without a degree you are useless and worthless. As if advertising a “Graduate” position makes the job any better or attracts a better quality of applicant. When we were giving people media studies and geography degree’s we should have been getting plumbers and builders and people who could actually do something.

Life is more fun consulting to companies who wouldn’t employ you because you don’t have a degree 🙂

The Uni’s (most) are geared towards numbers and generation of income.

I agree with this to an extent.

My university was aware that a significant number of people who graduated from their LLB course were unable to find training contracts and therefore couldn’t become lawyers due to increasing numbers in the profession. This was in 1999 and it’s become worse.

No university has decreased its LLB places, in fact I think many have more places now, meaning that an even higher percentage of people graduating are unable to find jobs in an even tougher market.

You could argue that not everyone who does an LLB wants to be a lawyer, so you shouldn’t cut places, but I’d reckon the actual figure stands around 95%. Who the heck would want an LLB for anything else?

Universities aren’t managing peoples expectations very well, they’ve got their own interests to look after.

Mikewsmith was obviously in bed the day they taught how to construct sentences at Uni 😉

Are you drinking? His only crime was writing iffy grammar/type as you speak’.

Move to Scotland.

PSA – there is no time-limit for when you need to live in Scotland before your University start date. As I found out after we moved here, when enquiring for my son. 🙂

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t paid back their loan.

You don’t know anybody who has paid back under the new system, because they won’t have graduated yet.

The previous system had cheaper fees, but a lower starting point for repayments. There have been graduates under that repayment system for a while, but only people on huge salaries will have paid their loan off. Both my sisters, who went to uni under this scheme, don’t earn enough to cover the interest payments.

Prior to that, the total amount was paid off in five years. I suspect you know a lot of people who have paid off their loan under this system, including me 🙂

Do you have any evidence of this or are you just taking a wild, uneducated (excuse the pun) guess?

I teach in a sixth form college, so know a little bit about the student loans system 🙂

Also, repayments are set at 9% for the Student Loan. That’s not “virtually nothing”, it’s 9%.

As above, it’s 9% of what you earn over £21k.

I’d be paying £112 a month back, on my current salary. Now, that’s quite a lot, but not really when compared to all the other deductions made. It’s also about £70 a month less that I paid back every month for 5 years when I was earning almost half of what I currently earn as a new graduate.

I’m sure he does, but what is it?

I can’t be certain but I thinks it’s ‘don’t blame the Tories blame Labour instead’. Or “some idiot called Tony” as he put it.

He clearly doesn’t support tuition fees as this comment sarcastically reveals : “God bless Labour and their Tuition fee idea”

Sadly it would appear that a Tory government can do nothing. Well I say nothing but they can of course run with the idea and increase tuition fees even more. Which is precisely what they did.

Peterfile back in 94 my Uni had a deal with someone on Halls. They actively pushed it on newbies/parents- rent in a shared house was £25 or £90 in a small box room in a box building called ‘halls’. Almost prison-like. Guess this is the first scam parents encounter at some places.

I can’t be certain but I thinks it’s ‘don’t blame the Tories blame Labour instead’. Or “some idiot called Tony” as he put it.

He clearly doesn’t support tuition fees as this comment sarcastically reveals : “God bless Labour and their Tuition fee idea”
More of a remember who started it, if you want 50% of kids to go to uni it will cost more, trying to fun an ever expanding higher education system without charging wont work. There also needs to be a payback to the country for their investment, tax payers invest in students (even with fees) and deserve a reward. The number of graduate vs jobs that require a good graduate needs to be better matched. Simply getting a degree doesn’t mean you will be better at a job that someone without one. I agree with charging fees as it may make a few think twice before taking on a course that will end them up with nothing more that when they started. The rich kids will still go but now they at least pay some more to it.
A smaller system focussed on quality with a vocational training sector would be a much better balance.

sad that the country has hung students out to dry with 27k of tuition fee

bit of a generalisation there. At present ‘the country’ includes the big bit up here where we don’t have tuition fees 😛 although maybe not for much longer on either point. However with a daughter just starting 2nd yr Law at Edinburgh and renting a flat with her mates I feel the pain !!!

The Uni’s (most) are geared towards numbers and generation of income.

I think you’ll find all secondary, further and higher education is focused on numbers and funding.

Have been in the crazy position where a student wanted to leave to start a job but managment wanted him talked into continuing into the course to make the figures look good.

Its not just uni they have to pay for. 24 and over year olds have to get loans to fund any course at college now.

Massive debt isnt directly related to too many students doing shit courses though. Surely it would be better to take the most talented not the richest.

if they richest can pay let them, it’s their decision but fund the ones that are good enough but can’t pay. Just don’t fund the ones that will end up contributing nothing but vomit stanes to the carpet.

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t paid back their loan.

I went back to college in 1994 when i was 22 for a 3 year electronic/mechanical engineering degree, and took a loan out in 1995 & 1996 as i had rent to pay for, I haven’t paid any of it back yet (approx £3500) as my income has never been high enough, Last week i had the deferment letter through the door and i’m eligible to defer repayment for another year as my income is not more than £2318 a month, in fact my income is less than half of that amount per month so there’s nae chance of me paying it back.

I teach in a sixth form college, so know a little bit about the student loans system

Sorry mike, I misunderstood 🙂 I hadn’t realised they had changed the system, I thought you were referring to people who had already been to university.

My loan (and my friends) were all paid back at 10% over £15k i think. Most have cleared it already, but we’re probably not a very representative group.

My non student loans (e.g. bank loans, to cover professional study/further education fees) were paid over 5 years, kicking in 2 years after I received the money. Those hurt. A lot! I was working as a trainee and every weekend in a part time job for 2 years just to meet all the repayments. 7 days a week for 2 years, just to cover interest on loans. It only got easier after I had qualified. That certainly wasn’t the dream I was sold on the way in 😉

There have been graduates under that repayment system for a while, but only people on huge salaries will have paid their loan off. Both my sisters, who went to uni under this scheme, don’t earn enough to cover the interest payments.

As above, it’s 9% of what you earn over £21k.

Are you saying that you consider £21k a ‘huge’ salary?

The tuition fees are criminal. This is only a first step. At the moment near enough all places charge the maximum of 9k a year. Don’t be surprised if ‘elite’ institutions are soon allowed to increase this, shortly followed by everyone else. Don’t be surprised if loans are restricted or costed based on the earning prospects of the student, so restricting the admission to arts based subjects, this would be a travesty.

There is no point in all you old guys talking about the 90s. Go to a uni now. It is a big industry. They have loads of money. Every one I visited was engaged in a brand spanking new renovation or new building project. Forget box room halls too, lots have lovely new purpose built residences, yes of course we will guarantee a place for 1st years, payable a year in advance natch, thank-you very much kerching.

However, at the moment it is still statistically speaking the best chance based on future earning alone, not even counting softer life skills. So it is bar far your best option, no denying it.

and young llama got her place so no new bike bits for me for the forseeable future

Are you saying that you consider £21k a ‘huge’ salary?

No. Try reading it again. I’m saying only those on a huge salary will have paid it off; those on £21k will not have paid it off.

Makes me sad that the country has hung students out to dry with 27k of tuition fees thinks everyone must go to Uni

Mrs llama only just started paying hers and she graduated in 92

Aren’t the last increases in tuition fees essentially just the next stage in the full scale ‘marketisation’ of further education? As someone suggested above, the ‘elite’ universities were agitating for a lifting of the 9k a year cap, almost immediately after it came in. They want the freedom to charge what they like. Can’t see Dave and chums holding out for too long against that, to be honest. Not that labour will do owt different either.

In the future I can see a further education system closer to the public/private education system you have in schools. You largely get the education your parents can afford.

seems we’re definitely heading that way already

At least the whole tuition fees debacle is another electoral nail in the coffin of this smarmy git, and his useless Tory-lite brethren!

http://www.savethestudent.org/make-money/what-is-matched-betting.html

Aren’t the last increases in tuition fees essentially just the next stage in the full scale ‘marketisation’ of further education? As someone suggested above, the ‘elite’ universities were agitating for a lifting of the 9k a year cap, almost immediately after it came in.

Exactly, we are heading for a place where 9k will seem like bloody good value, so all you students better get in quick!

At the moment the level is such that no institution is going to set it below 9k, because they will be seen as 2nd rate (even if they are 2nd rate). It’s got to go up a fair bit before the fees start varying if you ask me.

Ban fees but at the same time give a credible alternative for people who shouldn’t really be there.

the repayments are tiny*.

can i transfer my student-loan-debt to the new repayment system please? – it would save me thousands.

(*about £20/month for a graduate on a good salary)