The con of the Student Loan

jrrowleyws

Why does it matter. If you earn nothing, you pay nothing.

Couldnt care how much interest they charge me, its not goingto cripple me.

bobothebear

Going back to the post regarding the government holding payment for 12 months I would like say it concerned me as well with my Student Loan.
In my 2nd job after leaving Uni where I worked for a year somehow the SLC said I had not paid any money. I had to provide every single Payslip and my P60 for that year and eventually upto about 8 months later they readjusted my Loan amounts. Now bare in mind at that time I think the statements were a year behind it was pushing nearly 2 years before the problem was corrected. So where was this money?

Then... Come year 4 of my working life in a 3rd job and the same thing happenes again. This time the statements were being sent faster and I had to do the same thing sending in my payslips etc. Eventually this ti me(Months later) they said there was no trace of these payments even though i'd not got the money and they would adjust my Student Loan total accordingly.
So thats 2 years in the 6 yearsI've been paying my student loan back that the payments i made have been unaccountable so where was that money sat whilst all this was going on?

In 2001 when I finished at Nottingham University I paid £2900 for my accommodation which included full board and en suite bathroom. I then also paid £1000 tuition fees.
Im amazed that prices have gone up so fast to £6000, and also the £3000 tuition fees.
That means my degree cost about £12000 in 2001 and in todays prices that would now cost £27000!!!

Fred_Bear_2

NineThreeNine wrote: »

Accommodation - Not subsidised in any way. It is cheaper to rent privately at a number of Universities. Universities are building 'premium' accommodation with en suites, etc. For example, at the University of Birmingham the new accommodation will cost ~£6000 p/a, whilst you can rent for £250 p/m. Saving thousands after bills... heck it's cheaper to live in a B&B.

This may be true but at Birmingham accommodation is available from £3108 p.a. (at the Beeches site) and you get extras such as security included.

p1tse

either way, what annoys me is how those who push and better ourselves have to pay monthly, while those who don't, get away with it

Lokolo

Fred_Bear wrote: »

This may be true but at Birmingham accommodation is available from £3108 p.a. (at the Beeches site) and you get extras such as security included.

Same at my uni. £2285 for the year. Whereas next year I am paying £225 a month for 11 month contract, not including bills.

Oldernotwiser

p1tse wrote: »

either way, what annoys me is how those who push and better ourselves have to pay monthly, while those who don't, get away with it

Who are you referring to?

p1tse

just in general

Oldernotwiser

p1tse wrote: »

just in general

Yes, but who in general?

tbs624

bobothebear wrote: »

I paid £2900 for my accommodation which included full board and en suite bathroom. I then also paid £1000 tuition fees.
Im amazed that prices have gone up so fast to £6000, and also the £3000 tuition fees.
That means my degree cost about £12000 in 2001 and in todays prices that would now cost £27000!!!

No, your degree cost you £3,000 , ie. the tuition fees. Living costs are there whether you're at University or at work.

melancholly

NineThreeNine wrote: »

FYI, all of the below is from my experiences at 2 Universities.

Sports - A good portion of this is paid for in 'Society fees', ranging between £4-15

Accommodation - Not subsidised in any way. It is cheaper to rent privately at a number of Universities. Universities are building 'premium' accommodation with en suites, etc. For example, at the University of Birmingham the new accommodation will cost ~£6000 p/a, whilst you can rent for £250 p/m. Saving thousands after bills... heck it's cheaper to live in a B&B.

Food - If this is subsidised, then it barely is. At Birmingham it is cheaper (usually by ~£1/2 a meal) to buy stuff to eat outside of the University. The campus stores are more expensive than the Tesco Express (technically a petrol station) just round the corner.


Despite this, undergraduates get it good. When complaining about their 'debt' situation they should look at the problems postgraduate students will have. Postgraduates get NO STUDENT LOAN; thus have to rely on other loan schemes which are basically bank loans with high rates of interest. For example, my CDL is interest free for 12 months, but after that rockets to ~13%! Yes, I will be moving it elsewhere!

i'd suggest that brand new halls with ensuite versus private house with shared bathroom isn't a fair comparison!! accommodation is very often subsidised by using it for conferences in the holidays - this is not going to be the case for every hall of residence and obviously not for privately run ones. and you cannot honestly think that £4-£12 a year will go anywhere near subsidising gyms/pools/outdoor lit hockey or football pitches/athletics tracks/staff to maintain grounds! perhaps Birmingham food is expensive, but i can vouch for the 3 universities i've been to to say that a full hot meal at lunchtime can be done for under £2 in university food outlets and that i can't get that at a tesco express! as i said before, it's the things like security, careers service, counselling service, library facilities, admin staff, cleaning etc etc that all contribute to fees. the important thing is that the £3000 is not all about paying the lecturing staff (if it was, they wouldn't have gone on strike over pay 2 years ago ).

but what you say about postgrads is true - i've self funded a masters and now am doing a phd, luckily with a stipend. sadly there are a number of students who don't take advantage of all that their university offers, which is a shame as it's the best way to get value for money from paying huge fees.