Student Loans discussion

rambojones

The_One_Who wrote: »

Maybe I'm just weird but I like to have my own copy of terms and conditions, contracts, any agreements, etc.

If you could survive without the loans then why take them? Because you'd effectively be getting free money for ten years? Students nowadays couldn't go to university if they didn't have loans. I certainly couldn't. I have little choice in taking one or not. English, Welsh and N. Irish students have even less of a choice.

You would have gone to university just like those before you because you would have had the grant that those before you had. When I went they had just begun to phase the grant system out. So I only had to 'lend' a little bit. I still had a grant albeit a decreasing one. Education is in a lot of trouble; it needs overhauling from the top, down. And loans should be top of the agenda. It is a most unfair system, designed to look 'fair'.

rambojones

Idiophreak wrote: »

Wham what? Someone starts taking a couple of quid from you each month? I'm entirely confused.

£80 a month X 60 months, for me, is not a 'couple of quid'. It might not be so bad if I had a partners wage also but I do not. I am 56 and have very little pension to speak of and only 9 years left to save for one. That £80 would be much better off in a pension don't you think?

melancholly

rambojones wrote: »

You have misunderstood. I went to an office on campus and spoke to a Rep. twice as i recall and spoke to someone over the telephone. This was in 1991, so do not know how it's done now. Lot's has changed since.

well that's a university representative, not a SLC one then, surely?!

The_One_Who

rambojones wrote: »

No! Just because you can does not mean everyone else can. Come on, get real. Why are so many people losing their homes right now? Not you though eh? Because you will always 'read' everything and understand everything. And guess what? I believe you! You sound like one of those who will have all the luck. But just remember, it's because some of us do not get some/any luck at all that folks like you get more, all the luck. Wouldn't do at all if we were all Richard Bransons, would it? Don't think Richard would like that at all. How about a bit of humility and less of the I, Self and Me syndrome. There are still plenty of 'suckers' getting sucked in to this university/loan/debt thing and if you do not believe me just look over this and other sites like it on the web. It may be 15 years later but things are not better, if anything they are worse and how worse we will find out when this recession that we are in really starts to bite. When all you 'young guns' come out of Uni with no jobs to go to. Well not you of course lol!

It doesn't take long to read the repayment terms of a student loan. It's not like it's in extremely small print which requires a magnifying glass to read. No, I'm not losing my home, largely because I'm nineteen, a student and will not be able to own a home for several years.

My life has not been blessed with luck. At all. I've just had to make the best of what I've been given and try to work out of where I am. I'm cautious by nature and think and consider things before jumping into them.

If you want to go to university you have two choices: take a student loan, or take a year or two out and earn some money to pay for it yourself. Neither are terribly attractive. I chose to take the loan because university was right for me. I know that I'll be paying it back once I leave. I know that it's building up interest as I type this.

I am not guaranteed a job when I leave university. Nor is anyone. Some people do go thinking that it is the golden ticket to a well-paying job and it's simply not. I am going to have to pay for a Masters and then hopefully get a job with that. If I could get a company to pay for my Masters (and work for them part-time) then even better but I am not holding out much hope for that.

melancholly

rambojones wrote: »

£80 a month X 60 months, for me, is not a 'couple of quid'. It might not be so bad if I had a partners wage also but I do not. I am 56 and have very little pension to speak of and only 9 years left to save for one. That £80 would be much better off in a pension don't you think?

but without a degree, would you be earning the extra £80 in the first place?

Oldernotwiser

rambojones wrote: »

You would have gone to university just like those before you because you would have had the grant that those before you had. .

You're of an age to know that this is simplistic rubbish! Not everybody got a grant, because it was assessed quite strictly on parental income. If your parents didn't pay their share, you couldn't go and that was the end of it!

Nobody can say which of today's students would have gone to universty in those days because the simple fact is 75% of people at university these days wouldn't have gone under the system that existed when you and I were at the normal age for university.

Personally, I feel that it was a better system in those days but, unfortunately, we can't turn back the clock.

Oldernotwiser

rambojones wrote: »

£80 a month X 60 months, for me, is not a 'couple of quid'. It might not be so bad if I had a partners wage also but I do not. I am 56 and have very little pension to speak of and only 9 years left to save for one. That £80 would be much better off in a pension don't you think?

But you wouldn't be earning over £24,000 if you hadn't taken out the loan and gone to university!

Presumably your salary has taken a large jump since you went into teaching and this has put you over the threshold for the first time. You wouldn't be any better off if you were earning a lower salary but not paying back the loan. Your complaint is so illogical.

Oldernotwiser

melancholly wrote: »

but without a degree, would you be earning the extra £80 in the first place?

Great minds, eh!

melancholly

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Great minds, eh!

well obviously

(and it's not like we've ever had the same discussion on this board with other posters, is it )

gsf600y

Maybe slightly off topic, but seems like a good place to ask the question.....
My wife took out a student loan whilst at university (8 years ago), and when I met her a few years ago we started to pay it off (she'd been deferring for ages).
She seems to be under the impression you have to earn a large salary before you HAVE to pay it back, and that if you reach 40 years old the debt is wiped off.
Anyway, now she is not working anymore, aged 30, to look after kids for probably next 5 years minimum.
She reckons she wont be earning enough money before she's 40 that would force us to pay it back, and so she thinks we should just defer and defer and eventually the debt will be wiped out when she's 40.

Is that actually true? Or should we keep paying it back like I feel we should?
If there is a salary limit, does it increase with inflation over the years?