Student Debt Soars

kwisstan

I've just received this in one of the newsletters I subscribe to. It doesn't make nice reading. It does seem to me, that debt is being forced upon the students. It doesn't give them the best start in life.

"TOP-UP FEES SEND STUDENT DEBT SOARING
Students starting university this year will pay record bills for their degrees, figures revealed yesterday. Undergraduates now expect to pay an average of £33,152 to fund a three-year degree course, a 17 per cent increase on last year, according to the latest Nat West Student Money Matters survey. These costs will leave them with average debts of £14,779 by the time they complete their education. Most of the rise is due to the introduction of top-up fees, which allow universities to charge up to £3,000 a year"

Times Article

cathybird

£33,152? blimey. not what you'd call cheap

lynzpower

So depressing. Im still paying off half that, almost ten years on from starting my degree. I shudder to think how the system and society is going to cope in the next 5-10 years. the repercussions are likely to be enormous.

:eek:

skippie

I would immagine that a lot of parents would subsidise the housing costs.

Technically speaking the student isn't expected to "pay as they go" as I did, but pay when they have finished and started earning. This should allow their student loans to go a bit further.

Also there will be supposed burseries to pupils who come from less well off families.

So yes in the longer term it will be considerably more expensive, but during the course it should be easier for students, who will no longer have to worry about meeting tuition fees, or risk having their course suspended.

Iriahm

this is where all my debt stems from. left uni and then didn't walk into the fabulous graduate job everyone hopes for, then consolidated etc etc. I had friends who's folks gave them £500 a month to live on but it was too easy for them! i have no regrets, best 4 years of my life and I would never discourage anyone from going for financial reasons.

i had to pay £1k "fees" in my first year, but really parents paid that. In 2nd year in Scotland they decided the "fees" would be free. Instead your student loan magically reduced by the same amount. SO instead of my parents paying the "fees" I ended up paying it as I was entitled to less of a student loan. Who ever thought politicians should be running the UK finances....and don't get me started on student loans!

why is it means tested??? just because it says on a bit of paper your parents can afford X doesn't mean they do. Honestly the system is creating a whole generation of people up to their necks in debt when they are just starting out.....don't get me started on labour and their economic policies!!

grrrr, good luck to any new students this year!!

piglet6

This does make depressing reading, and makes me realise just how lucky I was. At university between 1991-1995, I was lucky enough to be there at the beginning of the student loan "phenomenon" (when we were all feeling hard done by because our grants were being cut right back...!:o I know, I know, "grants? what are they?!":rotfl:). I graduated with about £1500 debt (the result of 2 years of loans at approx. £700 and £800 p.a.) and thought at the time it was horrendous - I realise now just what a good deal I got!;)

It makes me so mad :mad: - I know for a fact that I'd think twice about going to university today (and I came from a traditional "middle class" family - although I was the first to go to university, my parents worked and saved like mad to help support me and I had every encouragement). I can't help feeling that the people who are so quick to remove assistance from today's students all benefitted from a "free" higher education :rolleyes: (when grants were actually enough to live on - and by the time I got my minimal grant, it wasn't enough to cover my term's rent, let alone eat or buy a book!). What chance do today's students have of ever getting onto the property ladder or starting a family, when it will take them the first 15-20 years of their working life to pay off the debts which they start out with...?!?!:eek: :eek: :eek:

:mad: :mad: :mad: GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Sorry, am getting off my soapbox now, before I get started properly and stay on it ranting and raving all night!

Students of today - you have my sympathy, and I take my hat off to all of you brave enough to battle on to further education...:T :T

Piglet

bargainbetty

Scary isn't it? I couldn't afford Uni when I left school, as my parents were 'means tested' and I wouldn't have qualified for any grants. However, they couldn't afford to subsidise me, and I couldn't do it alone.

13years on and I'm doing the Open Uni now.... can work and study at the same time, but it'll take six years to finish. Oh well, if I want the degree, I'll have to do the time.

Got to feel sorry for the kids though. A levels get slated, and then they sling debt around their necks....

lil'H

It is really sad, and it's the people in beetween income brackets I feel sorry for. I have just finished my degree, and as a student parent (single at that) I also had childcare costs to consider. I got awarded 80% of childcare costs in grant plus usual loan amount, however despite being a parent myself they still took my parents income into acocunt. In my first year (b4 my bro started uni and they had to take that into account) student loans took nearly £5000 off me saying my parents should pay it. They simply couldn't afford to, they are both retired and have some properties they let out, hence the income used in calculation. However most of that income my Dad needed to reinvest to build up enough security as he'd canceled out all his private pensions in order to pay for the properties. They paid my fees (1175) but no more. As a result I ended up worse off than when I was on income support, and there was nothing anyone coudl do, even with my Dad confirming he wouldn't pay. Under the new system I dread to think how badly it could go for people in my situation. I have over £17000 student debt, and whilst I got some hardship elements on top I don't have to pay back it is going to continue to affect me for years. Yes my earning power may be more, but in the area I live in rent house prices, and childcare fees are all some of the highest in the country. Having a degree with first class honours still hasn't given me enough to get off housing benefit, hence having to now do a 2 year masters on top in a bid to get my earning power enough to cover rent and childcare. I'm glad I've gone down this route, if only for my personal satisfaction and achievement, but as for financially, who knows?

lil'H

kar

I'm borrowing an extra £7000 this year That's on top of the £13000 I owe from my 3 year degree as my PGCE counts as a NEW course. OH is only borrowing the £4000 as his was a 4 year degree which means in total we will owe £33000 next July when we graduate (without the interest that has been building up while we are still taking the degrees). That is so frightening.

Although I have to be honest I also get a bursary this year and am planning on saving the whole of my loan (other than the 3000 Tution fees) for a deposit on a house. I would dearly love to have 10K next summer.

Still scarey though to know how much we will owe the SLC when we graduate. I think the most important thing to remember is that most people are seeing this as an extra tax rather than a loan, as at the rate they take it back my repayments on graduation wont even cover the interest. I would dearly love to pay it back one day but in all honesty at least I know that some of it'll be wiped out when I'm 49 and the rest when I reach 65.

I read somewhere that this is really designed to give the government money to play with. If they have 'leant' people the money they can still say that they have that amount of money to spend on other things (borrow from elsewhere) but if it is classed as a 'grant' they have to right that money off straight away and not in 25 years. Something along those lines anyway.

Gemmzie

Oh no

Have all that to look forward to *cries*