Student Loans 2012

setmefree2

Universities will be free to choose how best to increase their diversity, such as making lower offers to students from state schools. But they face being stripped of their right to charge higher fees if they fail to hit targets.
Institutions will draw up access agreements with the Office for Fair Access (Offa), which will set out specific goals for each university. Thirteen of the 16 English Russell Group universities are below existing benchmarks for state school access. The sharpest disparity is at Oxford, where nearly 47% of the intake are privately educated.
Universities will also be subject to more regular scrutiny, with the access agreements reviewed annually rather than every five years as at present.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/10/universities-state-school-targets

Do you think there is going to be a big demand for high performing state school pupils? Maybe my sons will benefit from going to state schools - very money saving

Oldernotwiser

setmefree2 wrote: »

You still haven't told me what your VI is?

I haven't got a vested interest any more than most people who post here. I have an informed opinion, which is a totally different thing.

Why do you keep ignoring the vital point that student loans do not need repaying when the graduate's income is beneath £21,000; do you not think that this is absolutely crucial?

jennifernil

setmefree2 wrote: »

Thanks for your post Jennifer. It's great to know what other parents have done. I don't think I'll be buying a flat but it must be great to know that your daughter is living somewhere nice and not living student squalor (do students still live in squalor?).

Buying a flat only works these days if you are prepared to keep it for a good number of years, so that price fluctuations become less important. With a typical English 3 year degree, it probably does not make sense, but DD's was originally a 5 year Masters, so buying made more sense. Most degrees in Scotland are 4 years in duration, and of course Medical degrees are even longer, so it can be worthwhile. And since she is now into her 8th year in the flat, we/she have/has saved a lot on rent. Low rates on savings lately have also made it a sensible decision.

Quite a few flats in her building were originally bought by or for students, and many are now rented out privately as she is very close to Uni, but personally I would not have considered keeping the flat and renting it out as being a landlord is not my idea of a relaxing life!

The degree of student squalor is very variable, I have seen a few real dumps, but students generally expect a better standard these days, hence the popularity of en-suite rooms. With the fairly demanding HMO rules we have in Glasgow, a lot of the awful, old, huge student flats have been sold on or split into smaller units, and renovated.

Here more than 2 un-related persons sharing means it is an HMO, if the owner lives there, then there can be owner + 2 at present. Large student houses with 6 or 8 sharing are very uncommon now in the private market, but the Unis still have shared type "flats" in Halls where there may be 6 or more sharing. I don't think these are so popular now.

setmefree2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I haven't got a vested interest any more than most people who post here. I have an informed opinion, which is a totally different thing.

I'm not meaning to insult you. I just wondered what your VI is. It would seem obvious that lecturers and academics have a strong VI in large numbers of students continuing to go to Uni, that's all.

setmefree2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Why do you keep ignoring the vital point that student loans do not need repaying when the graduate's income is beneath £21,000; do you not think that this is absolutely crucial?

Because the average graduate starting salary is £21,311 (source The Times Good University Guide 2011 - John O'Leary). There are many professions in which the starting salary is more, for example Denistry £29,805 and social work £23,834 and some professions in which the starting salary is less for example Law £19,322 and sports science £18,217.

If a student thinks they will never pay back these loans because they are never going to earn enough, then the student loans 2012 are a good deal (maybe).

The_One_Who

setmefree2 wrote: »

Because the average graduate starting salary is £21,311 (source The Times Good University Guide 2011 - John O'Leary). There are many professions in which the starting salary is more, for example Denistry £29,805 and social work £23,834 and some professions in which the starting salary is less for example Law £19,322 and sports science £18,217.

If a student thinks they will never pay back these loans because they are never going to earn enough, then the student loans 2012 are a good deal (maybe).

I'm not going to bother looking into how they worked that out (ie, did they only look at the "graduate jobs" or all jobs?), but most people would be happy to even start on £18,000. There are simply not enough "graduate jobs" for the demand, and there are even less graduate schemes, which are basically a fast-track to a management-level job.

No student wants to be on a low-paying job, but in the current climate (which isn't getting any better since more and more graduates are coming out of university), a lot of people are just happy to have a job. Doesn't matter what job, just any job.

Lokolo

The_One_Who wrote: »

No student wants to be on a low-paying job, but in the current climate (which isn't getting any better since more and more graduates are coming out of university), a lot of people are just happy to have a job. Doesn't matter what job, just any job.

Exactly! I've had to tell my housemates this. 2 of them both got a job with the same company. The pay was below what they wanted so they were going to reject it. I told them don't because if you do and can't get another job, you'll be sat at home wasting away madly trying to apply for other jobs!

Luckily they've now accepted it and are going to apply for "better jobs" after they've started.

Oldernotwiser

setmefree2 wrote: »

I'm not meaning to insult you. I just wondered what your VI is. It would seem obvious that lecturers and academics have a strong VI in large numbers of students continuing to go to Uni, that's all.

I'm not an academic, I'm a retired careers adviser. No "VI" whatsoever.

Oldernotwiser

setmefree2 wrote: »

Because the average graduate starting salary is £21,311 (source The Times Good University Guide 2011 - John O'Leary). There are many professions in which the starting salary is more, for example Denistry £29,805 and social work £23,834 and some professions in which the starting salary is less for example Law £19,322 and sports science £18,217.

If a student thinks they will never pay back these loans because they are never going to earn enough, then the student loans 2012 are a good deal (maybe).

But it's not just a question of salaries is it? Think of all the graduates who are going to be earning less than this at some point because of illness/ disability/redundancy/childcare/travelling etc.

Apologies for repeating myself but you keep ignoring this point; commercial loans will still need to be repaid in any of these circumstances, whereas student loans will no. It's an enormous risk to take to save a possible couple of percentage points on the loan rates.

amiehall

Definitely agree with above comments! Considering the size of most peoples student loans, they'd be sizeable commercial loans particularly for people on lower/no income to contend with. The repayments would be hugely restrictive which yes, would mean total sums of interest are reduced, but it also carries a high chance of default.

That said, I think it's a disgrace for the government to squeeze terms of student loans knowing full well students don't have any alternative so basically have to sign and take whatever's offered.... I also think raising repayment thresholds is an honestly bizarre move. Compounding is a nightmare and it's what ends up costing you all that money. Small payments while you're on a lower income that go towards interest payments reduces the compounding and can drastically reduce the total sum repaid.