Finally going to solve this debt once and for all

abaka

I resent the student loans. Let’s just say my degree didn’t provide the opportunities and senior position I’ve managed to get myself in my career to date! 😂😂😂

Tbh, about 7 years, I genuinely believed I’d never pay off the loan because my repayments then were barely enough to cover the interest being added annually!!

ArtyJ931

I have to have a degree and a post graduate qualification to do my job. Saddled with student loans that won’t be paid off til I retire so effectively an additional tax. £400 a month of my pay goes to those. I resent them too!

When you have a system where people who don’t come from wealthy families have to get in tens of thousands of pounds of debt that will never be paid off in order to serve the public as nurses, teachers, social workers, midwives etc you know the system is screwed.

Makingabobor2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82141378#Comment_82141378

So very true.

abaka

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82141378#Comment_82141378

Very much agree on the system being screwed. Especially because the people who are setting the fees now are the ones who got free tuition.

The job I’m doing requires a third level qualification (which I have), but also states that a higher numbers of years experience would be accepted. And I’m lucky that the part time job I did when I was studying opened up lots of experience and opportunities to me, so every job I’ve had has been based on my experience and previous jobs.

My degree was in film making so I never expected to earn enough to ever repay it and those skills aren’t relevant to my career path.

Out of the people who I studied with, me and one other guy are the onlys close to paying our loans off (he went into teaching and now runs the degree course we studied lol).

daisy_1571

Oooh, I understand your frustration, but wee bit of a stretch I think there abaka, student loans were introduced 1990 for living costs so those folks are 54 now. Even if you look at the first year it included tuition fees, 1998, those people are 46 now so there's smaller and smaller proportion every year of people working now who got free university

ArtyJ931

The people setting fees now won’t have student loans because by and large they come from wealthy families, and many will be in their 50s+ and wouldn’t have paid anyway.

abaka

I do agree it’s a lower proportion but as Arty says. A fair few of them are the ones who benefited before fees came about.

Me and my wife both benefited from maximum support in loans and grants for fees and living costs due to our family backgrounds. However we have both realised that our daughters will not have the same opportunities and it will be down to us to support them so another motivator to get rid of this debt!

If I wasn’t about to repay over £50k of debt over the next 5-6 years, I could put that money aside to set both my daughters up in a much better starting point than me and my wife ever received.

abaka

Haven’t posted in a few days.
Dealing with some family issues involving my brother who I mentioned previously. I can certainly kiss goodbye to the money he owes me following this weekends event and if it means he’s out of my life for good it’s a price worth paying!

Anyway, did stick to my 5er a day challenge by continuing to fill up my pots.

Before it all kicked off on Saturday, me and the wife had a lovely day whilst youngest child was in drama and went to a new bakery/cafe opened up near her drama class.

Was able to pay for a sandwich and a coffee for the two of us and it come out of the “days out” pot! I am 100% loving this new way of being!

In other news, I have a bit of money tied up in Bitcoin, not much only about £500 (held since 2021) but today it’s worth £800 after a bit of a rise the last week.

Tempted to cash it out and stick it into my debt repayment. But last Nov the £500 was worth about £950 so I’m also reluctant to cash it out until it reaches that height again.

If unfamiliar with Bitcoin, its price tends to go dip badly for a year or two before it then breaks out and reaches a new all time high. In my 5 years of holding, it’s never dipped below my initial investment! And way I always say, I’ve made a £300 return on £500 in 5 years, I’d certainly not make that return on any type of bank account!

Makingabobor2

If it was me I'd cash it out & pay as an extra debt payment. Yes it might go up, but it could easily go down....strike while the iron is hot!

Sorry to hear about your brother.

daisy_1571

Sorry to hear about family troubles.

Imho, your bit coin isn't worth anything until you sell it and have cash in your hand. Same as a house, a car, an antique picture. All essentially worth nothing until you come to realise the cash value. Nice to have if its something you enjoy like a lovely picture, nice to speculate on what it might bring in when you do sell it so enjoy holding your bit coin but don't count on its value yet 😊