may as well just pay the minimum until I'm 65

niknakb

Definately just pay the minimum. I have worked out that I will probably never pay it off taking into account times when I wont be working in life (eg when I have kids). Becasue of this, I have started a part time course while working and I have taken the students loan even though I dont need it becasue as I will never pay off my current loan I might as well add to it so I have a cheap loan to spend on a house deposit. At the mo it is in a high interest savings account earning more interest than it is incuring.

You dont have to pay off more if you borrow more so worth doing.

baby_fuzz

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

What on earth were you studying that you had 30 hours of lectures every week? What about seminars etc?

Engineering - I think our lecturers had it in for us, and used it as a method for picking out the weak ones!
Our course lost almost 50% of its students in the final year :eek:

pavlovs_dog

i have also taken the student loan as a speculative investment. that, combined with money i have saved from my part time job means that i have a nice little nest egg with which to start 'grown up' life.

as repayments are taken through PAYE i look at it as a form of graduate tax. like NI contributions, income tax and pension contributions, its money that disappears before whatever money is left hits your bank account. it is also money that you might not benefit from immediately or even directly, but its still going to be creamed off of my salary regardless. my income, as far as im concerned, is not what i get before tax, but whats left after all the other things have come out. if im not happy with whats left for me at the end of the month, my options are increasing my income, voting for a different government, or putting up and shutting up.

my student loan is the only debt ive ever had to my name. the only other debt i plan to add to that is a mortgage. if properly managed, i dont see either of these as bad debts, but rather as necessary costs for the vast majority. when it comes to repayment, the mortgage will be my first focus. once thats repaid, the pension nest egg will probably take its place.

unless its the only debt you have, i dont think student loan debt should ever be a priority debt. it has no effect on your credit rating, the rate of interest is favourable compared to virtually all other similar financial products, and if you have saved that money then it can work harder for you elsewhere. for those who ARE in a position to repay/overpay on their loans, i suggest you look very careful at how interest is calculated on the account and when adjustments to the account are made. on this forum alone there are a lot of posts which show that the SLC do not believe in making it easy to overpay.

Titch89

You won't pay your student loan off until you're 65 unless you graduated as a 40 year old.

moneymass

JadeCripps wrote: »

You guys should think yourselves lucky....with the new tuition fees, plus having to do a foundation year and masters year...I will be leaving uni with no less than £35k in student loans!

I will be 31 when i graduate (mature student), but graduate salaries in my field are currently averaging £42k (Geology - highest paid industry in the world) a year so god only knows how long it'll take me to pay off but shouldn't be too long!

But you're still doing it because you know of the reward at the end. You sounded devastated at the start of your post

I wasn't keen on the debt that I was getting myself into at first but i knew, as an investment, it would be worth it and it has been

And I didn't know geologists were the highest paid in the world.... even in oil and gas exploration they aren't the highest paid at the companies...

Shoshannah

I will finish with about £35K of debt, having done a 5 year course with the maximum loan each time (poor parents). I would love to have been able to save it but as it stands I can only save about £40 or £50 a month in my various savings accounts. The rest, I have to use to live.

I have no time for a job now as I am working on clinics. I was doing 17 hour shifts last week and I have to cover weekends. And no holidays, except for two weeks at Christmas and a short break at Easter. I expect to start on about £17-20K max, the salaries of recently graduated vets are not the licence to print money people seem to think it is. I get so fed up when people say, 'oh you're going to be rich'. I never expect to be rich.

I guess paying off the minimum possible for as long as possible makes sense. I liked the idea of looking upon it as a 'graduate tax' rather than a debt (sorry, I can't remember who you were who said that or I would have quoted you directly). I had never looked at it this way before. I have been so miserable over my 'debt' at times, even though I owe no money to anyone else - no loan company, no bank, no parents. Just the SLC.