Huge student fees to limit house prices further?

Jonbvn

It will obviously reduce the number of students. So BTL/HMO properties must surely be due a cull?

Graham_Devon

Absolutely anything that takes more money out of peoples pockets reduces the ability to spend on housing. How much of an impact this in particular will have I don't know.

May be that it reduces student numbers, so reduces demand for student rents.

mbga9pgf

Brit1234, I was one of the first on the "new" student loan system, back in 2001. To be honest, for someone who is very debt adverse, I wasnt too fussed. It took 6-7 years to pay off and was hardly noticable. It totalled 9 grand when I finished. It is NOT declarable for the likes of mortgages, the mortgage companies arent interested, all they are interested in at the moment is a solid savings history and ensure your net pay is suitable.

So much so that we maxed out the missus's student loans and cashed the lot. She is unlikely to pay it off over 25 years and after that, it gets cancelled anyways.

dopester

University is going to become unaffordable to so many students, or/and their families. Or just not worth the debt/investment, with fewer opportunities in so many employment sectors.

Mark Watson has seen the future - and he can't afford it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZFTSCLzGTE&feature=related

ultrawomble

Lokolo wrote: »

A lot of people I go to uni don't know the different between they're, their and there.....

I'll bet that you're not at a Russell Group establishment.

tomterm8

I don't think it will make a huge difference to house prices to be honest. I think it will mean a lot of people start to do part time courses, instead of full time.

blueboy43

dopester wrote: »

University is going to become unaffordable to so many students, or/and their families. Or just not worth the debt/investment, with fewer opportunities in so many employment sectors.

This is a good point. Approx 10 years ago it was estimated that a graduate earned £400k more over their lifetime.

Now the average estimate is down to £100k. For many people it simply wont be worth the investment - or more correctly it is likely that people will study part-time, or live at home rather than go on the lash in another city.

We could go back to doing what we did in the days of Polytechnics, when studying could be mixed with practical paid work.

toby3000

Isn't the real problem going to be the increased interest rates? I thought they were going to charge Inflation+2%? If so, it significantly changes the situation. At the moment, there is no reason for me to use savings to pay off my student loan, but if I was paying 2% more interest there'd be no point it having savings.

The problem for universities will be the market economy aspect of it- noone's going to pay £6,000 to go to Edgehill or somewhere, but ofcourse the less they can charge the worse they'll be. They also seem willing to allow universities to fail; I think the University of Cumbria & the Leeds Former-Poly are both in severe financial problems, but what happens if you're in second year at a uni that closes?

lostinrates

I was thinking about this in the car. I was actually thinking about it as regards salaries too, and wonder f graduate jobs will reflect this. e.g. in law its sort of accepted US lawyers in international firms get paid more, the understanding being they often have bigger debts to pay from education.

I wonder how many of us would have gone to university paying over £7k a year. I know I benefitted from having something to pay, it made me realise the value of the work and education. But I think it would have impacted on my course choice. In fact, I know it would. Ironically I think the course I would have done instead would have been one of the more expensive ones, but with a greater chance of employment afterwards.

TBH, I think, reluctantly, it had to happen.

eta: it will be interesting to see what happens now...with grants for ''disadvantaged students'', future employers funding and educational foundations.

tomterm8

I think if the government was sensible, it would start establishing endownment trusts like the US has, with significant tax breaks for those who donate, to fund tuition fees for the brightest students in the most worthwhile degrees.

Normally, with modern degrees they are affiliated with CATS, so if your university fails you would be able to transfer earned credit over to other degrees.