Student Loans 2012

setmefree2

The_One_Who wrote: »

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.

I didn't "work" it out - I named my source. As you rightly point out the figures in the Times are for students in graduate type employment.

I looked up what you said. I found that graduate unemployment was already at 10% before the recession began and that even before 2008 many students didn't end up in "graduate type" employment. Graduate unemployment currently stands at 20%. However, graduate "employment" (the other 80%) seems to include people doing nongrad work such as bar work and waitressing and also people doing Masters. So the stastics are masking the real picture of graduate employment prospects, particularly "graduate type" employment.

setmefree2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

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.

All parents and students should do their own research. I can't say it clearer than that.

However, oldernotwiser from 2012 more parents are going to have to contribute even larger amounts to their kids maintenance than they are doing under the current system, as the government is lowering the threshold for partial grants from households earning £50k to those that earn £42K.

This means that the very minimum parents earning £42k (joint) are going to have to contribute is half of their kids maintenance, roughly £4k per year (I'm assuming the minimum loan stays in the region of £3k). Which is £12k over the length of the degree. Since the average UK salary is £25k that probably means a lot of parents are going to have to contribute half of their kids maintenance, which they will have to do either with savings or commercial loans, otherwise their kids won't be able to afford to go to Uni.

The government has chosen to maintain its current system of means-tested loans, which are biggest for students from middle-income households, who get less help from grants but are offered bigger loans than those from wealthier backgrounds.
While loan amounts have been increased, the threshold for those receiving the most generous ones has been lowered from £50,000 to about £42,000.

setmefree2

I came across these figures from the NUS. The NUS estimated that in 2007-2008 the average student living outside London would spend £9,176 a year on regular living costs, including rent, food, personal items, travel and leisure. For those living in london the estimated expenditure was £11,142.

setmefree2

I also came across this.

Total Average Weekly Term Time Costs by Region

London £248
SE £207
Eastern Eng £206
SW Eng £203
Scot £192
West Midlands £186
NW Eng £176
Wales £175
Yorkshire & Humberside £167
East Midlands £166
Northern Ireland £160
NE Eng £157

UK Average £193

Source 2009 Halifax Student Cost of Living Survey

setmefree2

And this is what students spend their money on per week

Accommodation £77
Food £41
Alcohol £22
Transport £14
Utility bills £15
Leisure & Social £12
Materials, bks, & stuff for course £11
Ciggs £1

Total £193


Source 2009 Halifax Student Cost of Living Survey

Oldernotwiser

setmefree2 wrote: »

And this is what students spend their money on per week

Accommodation £77
Food £41
Alcohol £22
Transport £14
Utility bills £15
Leisure & Social £12
Materials, bks, & stuff for course £11
Ciggs £1

Total £193


Source 2009 Halifax Student Cost of Living Survey

Any student who spends £41 per week on food has been very poorly prepared for independence by his/her parents!

setmefree2

But partial grants will only be available to students from households with incomes of £42,000, instead of the current cut-off point of £50,000.
The government has chosen to maintain its current system of means-tested loans, which are biggest for students from middle-income households, who get less help from grants but are offered bigger loans than those from wealthier backgrounds.
While loan amounts have been increased, the threshold for those receiving the most generous ones has been lowered from £50,000 to about £42,000.

As well as reducing the availabilty of loans to students government is cutting grants. Currently, for example, a student whose family has a household income of £42,500k would receive £650 in grants. They will no longer receive anything, so this is £650 more parents/students have to find.

For someone with a household earning £47,708 their child would currently receive c£5100 in student loans. Under the new system the student will receive £3,564. So this family will have to find an extra £1.5K p a. Over 3 years that's £4.5K.

Plus nobody can realistically live on a £3.5k loan so what these familes are actually being asked to find is £4k per child for 3 years or £12k.

All this is assumimg that he government continues to use it's system of tappering. If it scrapped that then the student of parents on £42k would go from £5k to £3.5k, again a difference of £1.5k pa.

I think this is going to make a big difference to some families.

Lokolo

setmefree2 wrote: »

And this is what students spend their money on per week

Accommodation £77
Food £41
Alcohol £22
Transport £14
Utility bills £15
Leisure & Social £12
Materials, bks, & stuff for course £11
Ciggs £1

Total £193


Source 2009 Halifax Student Cost of Living Survey

I would like to know who they surveyed ha.

Accomodation is about right for average.
Food rofl, half that.
Alcohol, sadly about right.
Utility bills about right.
Ciggs, suppose as an average thats right given people either smoke or don't.
Materials - £11 rofl get out of here. I've spent about £30 a year! The library issues books for free!

Oldernotwiser

setmefree2 wrote: »

All parents and students should do their own research. I can't say it clearer than that.

However, oldernotwiser from 2012 more parents are going to have to contribute even larger amounts to their kids maintenance than they are doing under the current system, as the government is lowering the threshold for partial grants from households earning £50k to those that earn £42K.

Still no comment regarding the non repayment of loans when student has insufficient income, I see. I'm not surprised as it's virtually impossible to argue that there is a minus side to this.

setmefree2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Still no comment regarding the non repayment of loans when student has insufficient income, I see. I'm not surprised as it's virtually impossible to argue that there is a minus side to this.

You seem to be extremely confident in telling students to fill their boots with these loans. Yet, really you have backed up your opinion with little more than "one day you might get ill" or "one day you might die".

But if that's your opinion, that's your opinion and there is obviously no changing your mind.....