Student Loan 2015 Discussion

jennie65

Lokolo wrote: »

Although the loans are seperate in their title they are all considered as one when being paid back and having interest added on.

So for example I have taken £3k tution and £3k maintenance each year, so around £6k. My student loan debt in statements is £21k, they bunch it together.

If you are on £19k (and lone parent) then they will get grants and bursaries to help them.

I am confused as to why you have a house now but when they leave you cannot afford to keep it, were they paying rent to you?

I currently get tax credits and child benefit and housing benefit for a family which helps pay for the rent when I lose this i lose about £800 a month, I already work 40 hours a week and bring home £1200 but when the rent is £800 per month plus bills it can't be done on just my salary.

Have considered a mobile home but they don't like you to have teenagers and most are for the over 50s, and i'm not quite there yet either. But they are cheaper to rent than a house, and could get a 2 bed place, i can sleep on the couch when they are home.

setmefree2

MSE_Dan wrote: »

Hi folks,

Just wanted to let you know we have now added tables for fees of £6,000/year and £9,000/year into question 17. Hope that's helpful

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes#17 (may take a few mins to update)

Dan

That's Fab It really is!

It's now very easy to see the effects of varying tuition fees and salaries on the total amount repaid, both in actual money and todays prices. Very interesting.

Unitoons

Hi Martin,

Excellent guide - it is nice to see some of the myths busted as the press in this area is overwhelmingly negative.

I have read through the comments and there are obviously some very strong feelings about the new system but it is important that the correct information is out there in order to allow people to make informed choices.

I think there is far too much emphasis on the level of debt rather than focussing on what it will actually cost graduates in terms of repayments - yes some will repay more than they borrowed but most will not.

When I graduated in 2001 I started on a salary of £13,500. I now earn £30,000 in a graduate job and to be perfectly honest I am earning more than most people I know (including my parents).

If I was lucky enough for my degree to enable me to be earning £40,000 on graduation and £165,000 in 30 years (as the table in section 17 suggests) then I most certainly would not be moaning about my student loan repayments!!! Even the example of someone starting on £25,000 and increasing to £103,000 is a big ask for most of us!

People also seem very concerned over their sons/daughters ability to get a mortgage. It is interesting that people are happy to take out a loan for £250,000 to buy a house (subject to high interest rates, no protection if income drops, property value could drop) but not £40,000 to buy an education and possibly a better future!

On a final note - the support for poorer students in terms of grants and bursaries/scholarships has increased. These students could realistically live off the grant and bursary alone (and perhaps a part time job) and they would not need the living cost loan. These students could leave with less debt than those under the current system.

mrs_deadline

MSE_Dan wrote: »

Hi folks,

Just wanted to let you know we have now added tables for fees of £6,000/year and £9,000/year into question 17. Hope that's helpful

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes#17 (may take a few mins to update)

Dan

Can you confirm whether your figures take account of the RPI+3% interest charged from the moment tuition fees are paid, i.e. while still studying? Thanks!

From Directgov:

Interest is charged on your loan while you’re studying. Until you start repaying the loan, interest is charged at the rate of inflation plus three per cent.


When you're due to start repaying your loan the amount of interest you're charged depends on how much you earn.
You will be charged the following rates of interest:

• if you earn less than £21,000 – interest at the rate of inflation
• if you earn between £21,000-£41,000 – interest at the rate of inflation plus up to three per cent
• if you earn over £41,000 – interest at the rate of inflation plus three per cent

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/DG_194804

jamesallen

melancholly wrote: »

but repayments are fixed as a percentage of income. they may well be less than the interest, but at no point will any repayment be 'crippling'. the loan amount may continue to increase, but no matter how much money you owe, the SLC will take a percentage of income (9%) above the repayment threshold.

i'll just repeat that as the suggestion that a student loan will stop people getting mortgages and make their lives unaffordable aren't really true and only serve to put people university, harming access from families on lower incomes: at no point will any repayment be 'crippling'. this isn't commercial debt - you lose your job; you no longer have to make repayments.

Oh OK. I wasn't quite getting that - I guess it is very much more a tax than a loan.

invisibleyousee

Useful guide, but it would be great if more information could be provided for part-time students - we do get overlooked quite a bit and for myself, I still don't really know how it is going to affect me.

For instance - I'll refer to my own situation here:

I earn 14k (pre tax) income a year. I have a mortgage, and money is very tight.
My employer currently sponsers me to attend uni for 1 day a week, so long as make up 3.75 hours unpaid a week. So really, I only get .5 of a day to go to Uni.

Fees for my 2nd year (September 2011) have gone up nearly £900 and I am not yet guaranteed any funding from my employer.

The 3rd year of the course begins in September 2012 - I presume for this year I will stay on the current tuition fees (although as I said, these went up around 30 or 40% in a year anyway!)

Because the course is split into a 3 year FdSc, then a 2 year top-up for BSc, I guess that from 2013 and for 2014, I will be on the "new" tuition fees.

I can't afford to pay for tuition fees as they are now, let alone when they increase in price even more.

Student finance don't seem to be able to offer any advice - it is as though they all focus so much on the full-time students, that they don't really know what to do when a part-time student asks for advice/help! So knowing "where we stand", and what help we can get, really would be very useful indeed...

Former_MSE_Dan

mrs_deadline wrote: »

Can you confirm whether your figures take account of the RPI+3% interest charged from the moment tuition fees are paid, i.e. while still studying? Thanks!

Yep RPI+3% from day 1 until 31 March 2016, then between RPI and RPI+3% after that depending on your salary.

TheBees

This is a very useful guide but I'm finding the whole 2012 tuition fees thing quite frightening. Our son hopes to start uni in 2012 and I understand that the debt is his and he won't have to repay until he's earning a certain amount , blah, blah, blah..etc.....

In my view, having this type of debt hanging over you for so many years goes against everything we have taught ourselves and our children. We repay our credit card in full every month and our only debt is our mortgage which is very small. Our two teenagers have had part time jobs since the age of 14 and have learned to save for things and now know the value of money we think.

So why are we being discouraged from supporting them? What parent wants to see their child lumbered with debt? I would love to pay the tuition fees for them and them pay us back once they start earning rather than getting involved with a debt company but cannot find £9k per year for this. Some parents, I have heard, might borrow against their property to fund this? Another alternative is for us to put some money aside each month until the he starts repaying the loan to pay it off early but I understand there may be an early repayment penalty which is appalling. What if a youngster inherits a lump sum for a deceased relative and wanted to use that to repay? It seems so unfair not to allow this. Or if he's not allowed to repay it early it has been suggested that any savings we have accumulated for him would be better used for a future deposit on a house rather than repaying the loan?
Sorry to ramble but these are the thoughts spinning around my head at the moment. I'm sure other parents will be thinking the same as us.

Oldernotwiser

setmefree2 wrote: »

Of course she can't. Any more than you can know those things will happen. In all likelihood they won't.

.

Nobody knows what lies ahead but illness, redundancy and caring responsibilities are not uncommon situations and affect most people at some time or the other. It's not as if I'm suggesting that they might be struck by lightning or abducted by aliens!

It makes more sense to me to allow for the normal vagaries of life and not to assume that one's children will sail straight into graduate jobs after leaving university, never to leave the career ladder until they retire. Life isn't like that any more and hasn't been for many years.

Oldernotwiser

invisibleyousee wrote: »

Useful guide, but it would be great if more information could be provided for part-time students - we do get overlooked quite a bit and for myself, I still don't really know how it is going to affect me.

For instance - I'll refer to my own situation here:

I earn 14k (pre tax) income a year. I have a mortgage, and money is very tight.
My employer currently sponsers me to attend uni for 1 day a week, so long as make up 3.75 hours unpaid a week. So really, I only get .5 of a day to go to Uni.

Fees for my 2nd year (September 2011) have gone up nearly £900 and I am not yet guaranteed any funding from my employer.

The 3rd year of the course begins in September 2012 - I presume for this year I will stay on the current tuition fees (although as I said, these went up around 30 or 40% in a year anyway!)

Because the course is split into a 3 year FdSc, then a 2 year top-up for BSc, I guess that from 2013 and for 2014, I will be on the "new" tuition fees.

I can't afford to pay for tuition fees as they are now, let alone when they increase in price even more.

Student finance don't seem to be able to offer any advice - it is as though they all focus so much on the full-time students, that they don't really know what to do when a part-time student asks for advice/help! So knowing "where we stand", and what help we can get, really would be very useful indeed...

The current threshold for getting a fee grant and course grant for part time study is £22,000 based on household income so, if you're single, you wouldn't be paying any fees anyway, or for the rest of your Foundation degree.

I would expect your "top up" study to come under the new rules but you'll then be able to take out a loan from the Student Loan Company so you won't have to pay anything up front to finish your qualification.

http://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/funding/undergraduate/costs/bis-pt-flyer.pdf