Are student loans broken? What I told Uni Minister Jo Johnson 6 October 2017 at 1:31PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 2 replies 4.8K views

MSE_Eesha

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Are student loans broken? What I told Uni Minister Jo Johnson" Blog.

Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.

Ed-1

MSE_Eesha wrote: »

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Are student loans broken? What I told Uni Minister Jo Johnson" Blog.

Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.

Calling it a 'contribution threshold' rather than a 'repayment threshold' would be the easiest change to make.

Repayment threshold gives the false impression that once you earn over it, you've got to pay off the full loan.

Contribution threshold is like the National Insurance Contribution threshold and more accurately describes the triggering of a 9% contribution towards the repayment of the loan.

Yawn

There is another financial issue here that is hidden from view, but that to me (as a lecturer in a humanities department) is just as urgent: not all degrees cost as much to run but all charge the same fees.

It generally costs less than £9,000 to teach a humanities degree, and more to teach other courses, much more in the case of medicine. Now the world really needs doctors, but this shortfall is not made up by the state. Medicine and science students are effectively subsidized by students doing other degrees, who do therefore not get their money's worth and whose future earnings potential is often less. Are theirs the right shoulders to bear these costs?