MSE News: Guest comment: How banking bonuses have hit student loan repayments 22 October 2014 at 12:23PM in Loans 42 replies 8.3K views

quebe

does anyone know if there is any leeway with the threshold?

as i said earlier, I'm £5 over it but there's no way i can find £150 a month just like that. i haven't budgeted for it and i can't afford it. what are we supposed to do?

nemo183

There must be a mention of it somewhere, but surely the threshold has gone down because 60% of graduates are in non-graduate type employment? It's a major f**k up, which will have devasting consequences for all involved.

They've been sold down the river. For over two years, each time a politician has got up in the House and said "The loans will be more than repaid by the increased earnings graduates enjoy" they were told an untruth, a fib, a lie.

Way back when, when the supply of graduates was relatively low, demand meant they could command a premium. As supply went up, demand stayed where it was. Here's the thing, the model at the student loans company stayed the same. It assumed all graduates would be getting high wages. Wrong, wrong and wrong.

The idea that graduate jobs would appear in the economy, to match the number of graduates leaving education, is fanciful nonsense - ridiculous. Look around you - do 50% of the people you see require degrees to do their job?

I read this headline in the Independent: "Students forced into taking jobs where they cannot make use of their talents." What absurd rubbish. Those with a "BSc in Gluing & Sticking, 3rd class Hons" are doing the jobs they are suited for.

The 60% had better wise up. That is their life. Forever.

Since the target is to put 50% of students through higher education, doh - it means some of them will be of less than average intelligence. As my granny might say. "You can't polish a turd". How useful will their dumbed-down degree be? It's just a worthless piece of paper. It's not as if our intelligence has improved, if anything, that's gone down. (Reaction times are down by over 20% in 100 years, likewise concentration spans, from 12 seconds twenty years ago to 8 seconds today. Both are associated with IQ)

Talking of granny, I reckon I could get her through clearing easily, and she's been dead 20 years. Students don't realise how absurd the system has become. Previously, you fought to get on the course you wanted. Now, the universities are fighting over the students. They need as many as they can fill their boots with, because of the funding system.

The total student indebtedness will peak in 2040 at £1 trillion pounds, according to the government. Except that assumes that turkeys vote for Christmas every year till then, which they won't. When students realise, they've been had over, right royally screwed; they'll they'll stop going. At which point the whole university system will collapse.

In contrast, I spoke to a young chap the other day who said he'd just signed up for an apprenticeship on £18k. No loans required, future looks bright.