Student Loans 2012

Oldernotwiser

Lokolo wrote: »

I doubt it. I think the scale is completely wrong if you look at how much they repay.

£21k pays back nothing
£25k pays back £30k
£30k pays back £68k
£35k pays back £105k....

I think the £30-35k is extortionate in comparison to the £20-30k.

Comparing a £35k to £25k, the £35k is earning 40% more but is likely to be paying back more than 300% more in student loan repayments. I'm all up for high earners to pay back more.... but I think there is a point where it is too much.

Obviously this depends on future earnings and is very approximated.

Right, I misunderstood what you were saying - I knew you couldn't have meant what I thought you did!

atypical

Lokolo wrote: »

The role I got for an investment bank was £33k. Barclays was £36k. The only one I know of that is £40k+ is Aldi. But yes I suppose it is a very small minority.

Are you sure it was investment banking, not retail? It depends on the role as well of course. Front office functions like sales and trading are the most well paid. You can see from the report I linked to that the average is £42k. That ignores the bonus which is typically around the same amount again.

It's only important in that for some time Vince was talking about how those who get the most from their degrees should pay the most back. It isn't actually true.

setmefree2

melancholly wrote: »

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes

key facts article from Martin. not sure why this was only announced on the families board and not on here!

Thanks for that - it's really useful.

setmefree2

University admissions overhaul as predictions fail to make grade

The plan is expected to feature in the long awaited White Paper on higher education – expected to be published by the end of next month.

A radical overhaul of university admissions is on the cards in the wake of evidence showing more than half the predictions of A-level grade passes are wrong.
Ministers want to examine whether the UK could switch to a system whereby youngsters after to universities after they have got their grades – rather than , as at present, be granted provisional places on predicted grades.

The new factor to emerge is a move towards online marking which should allow the results of exams to be brought forward.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-admissions-overhaul-as-predictions-fail-to-make-grade-2296756.html

dizzie

dizzie wrote: »

>>>:mad:

Update: Have now received a letter back from MP to let me know that he is "making enquiries" on my behalf. At least my name is correct this time. Let's hope I don't receive a "generic response" again (i.e. students will not have to pay anything upfront...only when they are earning....blah, blah). I have asked the specific question, "Why did David Cameron tell the voting public that maximum £9k fees would be the exception, when clearly this is what most universities wish to charge). Since no policy/legislation has been put in place to define "exceptional circumstances" then it seems to me that either Cameron misled the public or the government was naive enough to expect that this statement should have been enough to make Universities voluntarily set fees at a lower level.

Ha, have finally received a "non-reply" - a letter from David Willetts which...does NOT answer my direct question but again just explains the system to me.....

....er hello Mr Willetts....I'm not thick.....I understand it perfectly well thank you!" How about giving people an answer to the question they actually ask you? :mad:

Crikey - where else would we tolerate this in society? If you asked your bank what the interest rate on their credit card was, you wouldn't expect them to ignore your question and start rambling on about internet banking or something would you??

Is it any wonder that the general public get so disillusioned with Politicians - what a waste of space they are!

atypical

dizzie wrote: »

Ha, have finally received a "non-reply" - a letter from David Willetts which...does NOT answer my direct question but again just explains the system to me.....

I've drafted replies to queries like yours in the past. It's standard practice to fill the space with an explanation of the system and then maybe answer the question in one sentence near the end. For difficult questions (sounds like yours), you can ignore the question completely but still have written a reply.

I think the best strategy against this would be to set out a series of numbered yes or no questions and ask for yes or no replies with explanations. That only makes it more difficult, I still wouldn't expect any answers to difficult questions. Part of the art of being a civil servant seems to be to say something whilst saying nothing at all.

dizzie

Hi Atypical - I like to call a spade a spade.....I'd say that standard practice is to b*lls*t, waffle...and completely avoid a very simple question!

But it is standard practice to do this, of course, on expensive, heavyweight deep cream vellum, complete with the Houses of Parliament stamp!

atypical

dizzie wrote: »

But it is standard practice to do this, of course, on expensive, heavyweight deep cream vellum, complete with the Houses of Parliament stamp!

Is he your MP? I assumed you sent it to his BIS department address or your MP forwarded to him. If he is your MP his parliamentary researchers will have written it. No blaming civil servants! (and no needlessly expensive paper would've been used either).

dizzie

Atypical - I wrote to my MP - Julian Smith and asked a very simple question. I got an interim reply on his "heavyweight cream vellum" to inform me that he was "making enquiries on my behalf"...

Then the final reply came again from my MP's office - once again on same heavyweight cream letter headed paper - ha - complete with matching envelope!:

The covering letter simply said that it attached a reply to my question from David Willetts....and lo and behold, there was a copy of a letter to "Dear Julian" from "David Willetts" ....two pages long mind you - and with a supposedly "helpful" leaflet thrown in for good measure.

But it did NOT even attempt answer my question!

And we the taxpayers are paying for the salaries of these people, for the upkeep of their offices and for their respectable cream vellum stationary...and they can't even use these valuable resources to be honest and answer the question asked of them...

For Shame!

kayr_2

I've had a different experience of communication with my MP.

I emailed my MP and had a personal email response from her as she had spoken to David Willetts and raised the issue of possible penalties for early repayment (which she opposes too) among other things. I also had a response from a member of her staff confirming they would let me know when the consultation process opens. I had a reply from the DBIS which did actually answer my 2 questions as far as was possible (given that the White Paper is still not out) although they couldn't resist sticking in a pargraph of general information. I then received a paper reply from my MP with a response from David Willetts' office which was a bit general.

I guess it shows that some MPs are more switched on than others. Mine is new and quite keen! But it think the more we give the politicians our opinions, the better. Getting involved in the consultation process when it happens would be a good idea.