Proofreading - student loans article

tyllwyd

Hi - I'm trying to get my head around the new student loans and I noticed a few typos in Martin's article

"
While studying: Accrue RPI inflation plus 3% on the outstanding balance. This continues until the first April after graduation when it changes to…
After studying earn under £21,000: Accrue RPI inflation.
After studying earn £21,000 - £41,000: The interest rate will gradually rise from RPI to RPI plus 3% the more you earn (the interest rises 0.00015% for every extra pound you earn or, put another way, if you earn £1,000 more you accrue 0.15% extra interest).These thresholds are likely to [STRIKE]will[/STRIKE] rise with average earnings from 2017.
After studying earn over £41,000: Accrue RPI inflation plus 3%.
It's worth noting all the above scenarios assume inflation is positive (prices are rising) - it's not yet known what would happen in a period of deflation (prices falling). "

If it was me editing the article, I'd put the statement about the thresholds changing either before or after the bullet list, because it will apply to all three bullet points, not just the second one.

tyllwyd

kermitfrog - I don't know about you but I think the difference between 'are likely to rise' and 'will rise' is pretty important, so to avoid confusing readers it needs to be right.

Martin - this is feedback directly for you for your article. In the the table where you calculate how much students will repay, I couldn't work out why your figures were so much lower than the ones I've seen elsewhere on the internet. (For example http://www.candidmoney.com/articles/article170.aspx)

I think I've worked out that the difference is that you have assumed that the thresholds will rise by RPI every year. That assumption is not included in the information above the table.

"How much will you repay?
Borrowing £6,000 for fees & £5,500 living costs per year, so £34,500 in total
With 3% inflation & graduate earnings growing at inflation + 2% per year"

I think it is a fundamental point - although the thresholds are likely to rise, they are not guaranteed to do so, and it would be an easy target for a future government which wants to claw back a bit more cash. If you are going to explain your figures truthfully, I think you need to include that assumption in the table caption.

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi tyllwyd,

Thanks for the feedback - I think you are talking about the £21,000 threshold above which you begin to repay the loan?

In which case, the tab button above the table titled 'assumptions' contains the info on this - you are right that we increased it by average earnings, which we assumed at RPI+1%.

The good news is we are currently building a calculator which will let everyone vary these figures themselves, to see the consequences of various amounts of borrowing, or RPI etc etc

Dan

tyllwyd

Thanks for your reply - yes, sorry, you are right that I'd missed the assumptions tab with the additional info (maybe you could put it in a different colour to emphasise that it is different to the two tabs to the left of it, or add something to the table caption to point readers towards the assumptions tab).

Looking back at it, I think I'm probably wrong in my theory of why Martin's figures are different to those of candidmoney and the ones that the BBC published earlier this year (http://www.lovemoney.com/news/the-economy-politics-and-your-job/politics-and-finance/11430/the-84000-cost-of-a-degree), so if anyone could explain I'd really appreciate it!