MSE News: End to interest-free student loans as 1.5% rate revealed

atypical

FATBALLZ wrote: »

I agree the NUS are a bunch of tw@s.

I don't think I said that.

callum9999 wrote: »

Or maybe they are just being realistic?

I'm poor and heavily relying on student loans, but even I don't see 1.5% as "robbing me". Where else would you get that amount of credit for less?

They are too realistic. When you're negotiating, say for a car, you don't start off with the price you're realistically willing to pay. You go way under, the dealer goes way over and you negotiate to a point where you're both happy.

The NUS would be expected to make concessions when they negotiate. But if they start off with what they actually want in the first place they don't have much room for manoeuvre.

The_One_Who

NUS really are money-grabbing. They do not offer anything for students. My university had a referendum on NUS-affiliation and the results were staggering, especially when considering the generally low turn-out for normal student elections. The 'Yes to joining' camp only received about 15 votes, whereas 'No' got thousands.

Dragonrat

Is this altering the terms of our loans or not? (mine were 91 - 94) If so, how can they do that?

Poolie

Dragonrat - There are no changes to the terms of your loan. The interest for your loans will increase from -0.4% to 4.4% from 1st September

Butterfly_Brain

kolin wrote: »

unfortunately, thats unlikely as the banks own the government.

I thought we owned the banks :mad: - shows that the banks are too powerful and should have been allowed to fall.

How much more are the ordinary man and woman in the street going to be made to suffer for a bunch of greedy scumbag bankers :mad:

My DS will now leave Uni with a debt of £30,000 + and we can't afford to support her so does that mean that the poor will now be pushed out of University education again.

How much lower will this carp government go? (I use a small G because they are a minority coalition and we should demand a General Election)
First the lies on V.A.T. then winter fuel allowances, bus passes, pension age ( I have had 5 years added to mine), pushing the disabled out to work when there are no jobs or the jobs that there are are taken by Eastern Europeans for low wages

JimmyTheWig

FATBALLZ wrote: »

I agree the NUS are a bunch of tw@s. I can't decide whether it's because they are retards or because they are taking bungs, they consistently back up the government when it robs students.

While I don't like the language, I think this is a good question.

I don't think they are taking bungs specifically, but if you look at the number of NUS presidents who have gone on to become Labour MPs (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:NUS_presidents and click on a few at random) then it looks to me like there is a deal (maybe unspoken) that if they don't rock the boat they've got a cushdy life set up for themselves...

Oldernotwiser

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

My DS will now leave Uni with a debt of £30,000 + and we can't afford to support her so does that mean that the poor will now be pushed out of University education again.

Actually, the poor do rather well out of university funding these days - it's those in the middle who have the most difficulties.

The_One_Who

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

My DS will now leave Uni with a debt of £30,000 + and we can't afford to support her so does that mean that the poor will now be pushed out of University education again.

No, the poor are relatively well supported. It is the middle-classes, or rather, those who earn just over the thresholds that really suffer. Also, that debt isn't going to harm their credit, isn't going to stop them from buying a house or a car, etc. In the UK we are incredibly lucky with the system of student funding we have, even though it's not perfect.

N1AK

iblametheparents wrote: »

Do you have a pre or post 1998 student loan?

Post. Frankly, it's still a fantastic loan even with what they did last year. In principal however, I still find it entirely unethical. A generation of MPs who got (given money) grants, elected by a generation that were given grants, decides to remove grants for the next generation. They replace grants with a loan. Then they change the terms of the loan after people have taken it.

MiserlyMartin

If you ask me, uni is just an extension of school for many who don't want to face up to the responsibility of work yet. In the past only the gifted went to uni. Now virtually everybodys kids are going. Employers find that many of them haven't a clue in the real world, lacking common sense and work skills and I have worked with many of these clueless ex grads. Its about time the government stopped messing about having the taxpayer subsidise these students by giving them such a bargain loan way below inflation. They ought to be charged rpi + 1.5%!

Think how much it costs to go to further education in the USA, some people are never happy.