MSE News: Martin Lewis to head new student finance taskforce

MrsAverage

Did anyone else just see this? They did a spot with a girl thinking about going to Uni in 2012 who had no clue as to the finance and how it would affect her. It showed vice chancellor of Cumbria Uni saying yes she should go as it would get her a 23k job as opposed to a 15k one and her repayments would only be £18.00 a month - no mention of 30 years term! In her case looking to child care career and a life time of notoriously low paid work with a career break or 2 for own children it would make sense for her to go to Uni as she will repay only a tiny fraction of cost, but no mention that the VC is probaly desperate to fill places - he has a business to run and needs the govts £8400 per year even though she'll only repay perhaps half that over the 30 years!.
He'll get money upfront and wider tax payers will foot the bill as the student won't.
Not only do we need someone like Martin to educate student - perhaps he should educate govt that figures like this DO NOT ADD UP. I cannot see there wll be sufficient higher earning graduates who will repay their own loans in full, let alone those thousands of other students who will not earn enough to repay their own. This is just building up more trouble in 10, 20 or 30 years time for all us in Uk, not just 2012 onwards graduates.

As far as I can see this new system only favours students going into low paid 'careers' and is to the detriment of absolutely everyone else.
Please tell me if I'm wrong - for once in my life I'd like to be!

setmefree2

'Reassuring' advice could exacerbate fees fears

Advice designed to allay fears about graduate debt may actually deter many students from applying, an expert on university access has claimed.

Speaking at a conference on education and social mobility, Richard Harvey, director of admissions and outreach at the University of East Anglia, said statements from the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information were likely to put off many prospective students from low-income backgrounds.
The task force was launched in June to "tackle myths and misunderstandings" about the costs of university when tuition fees rise to up to £9,000 a year next autumn.
It is headed by the personal finance guru Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, and includes representatives from the National Union of Students and Universities UK.
But Dr Harvey told the conference in London last week that the task force's guidance on debt repayment would actually exacerbate the fears of many.
His criticisms centred on Mr Lewis' advice that some graduates will be better off under the new system, as they will face lower repayments during their working life before the remainder of the debt is eventually written off after 30 years.
"We are employing Martin Lewis to say [to students], 'Do not worry because the loan is so big you will not ever pay it off'. The idea that they will never pay off a loan is bad news for them. They want to pay it off," he said.
"If you start with the fees message, it is overwhelmingly negative. You need to say, 'Do what you want, so you can be all you can be'."

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=418508&c=1

Unintended consequences?

GuyBrown

Access to student loans is potentially great news for part time students, however, more guidance in required. For example are employers able to access the loans on behalf of their employers. What happens if an employer wishes to sponsor their staff?