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Fed up/worried about student loans

Hi guys,

I'm writing an article on student loans, and the worry and anxiety they can cause.

There have been several pieces published recently about the interest people will be paying in the future (up to £50k, according to some reports), and I'd love to speak to some students about their feelings on the matter.

I'd like to know about your response to student loans. Do you feel you're paying too much? What are you getting for your money? (When I did my degree, I paid thousands a term for six hours of tuition a week). Are you worried about paying it back? Do your parents help out, or did you turn to them for a loan? Will you take a lower-paid job when you graduate to avoid paying it back? Have you given up on the idea of uni because the loan will cripple you in the long run?

All stories are welcome. Either way, please give me a shout - would love to hear from you.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

niteninja1

Original post by Tabbeh

Hi guys,

I'm writing an article on student loans, and the worry and anxiety they can cause.

There have been several pieces published recently about the interest people will be paying in the future (up to £50k, according to some reports), and I'd love to speak to some students about their feelings on the matter.

I'd like to know about your response to student loans. Do you feel you're paying too much? What are you getting for your money? (When I did my degree, I paid thousands a term for six hours of tuition a week). Are you worried about paying it back? Do your parents help out, or did you turn to them for a loan? Will you take a lower-paid job when you graduate to avoid paying it back? Have you given up on the idea of uni because the loan will cripple you in the long run?

The publication I write for is helping to change the world of finance (power to the people and all that, though not as w*nky), and all stories are welcome. Either way, please give me a shout - would love to hear from you.

I actually couldn't care if the loan was 200k as the repayments are the same no matter how much you borrow.

Why should the tax payer especially people who don't go university pay for me to go for free.

By having loans it stops people from continuously taking degrees and makes them choose wisely.

Also I don't need to borrow any money, work or use my 4.5K savings as I budgeted correctly

£10702
- £5240.20

Leaves
£5461.80
Divide by 38

Leaves £143.73 a week

-35 for food and toiletries/laundry items
-7 for phone
-20 for travel

Leaves me

£81.73 a week

Reply 2

Tanqueray91

Original post by Tabbeh

Hi guys,

I'm writing an article on student loans, and the worry and anxiety they can cause.

There have been several pieces published recently about the interest people will be paying in the future (up to £50k, according to some reports), and I'd love to speak to some students about their feelings on the matter.

I'd like to know about your response to student loans. Do you feel you're paying too much? What are you getting for your money? (When I did my degree, I paid thousands a term for six hours of tuition a week). Are you worried about paying it back? Do your parents help out, or did you turn to them for a loan? Will you take a lower-paid job when you graduate to avoid paying it back? Have you given up on the idea of uni because the loan will cripple you in the long run?

The publication I write for is helping to change the world of finance (power to the people and all that, though not as w*nky), and all stories are welcome. Either way, please give me a shout - would love to hear from you.

Whilst yes they do leave a fairly large amount of debt, it's important to remember you only pay this back when you're earning over a certain amount of money, and that after 30 years, whatever is unpaid is written off... As it's also taken off before you even see how much you've got at the end of the month, it's hardly like you have the money and then see it disappear, it's just taken...

I don't really see why so many people get so so worked up about it. If they don't like the terms, then they should try and finance their university years through some other means/finance...!

Reply 3

Lkathryn08

I really wanted to go to university and it was the only option to fund it so it's definitely a better option than not going at all!
I feel slightly lucky in the fact I still get a maintainance grant and I get pretty close of not the maximum grant and loan due to my low family income! It covers my accommodation and I have enough to live off so I can't complain about that!
The terms of paying it off are pretty fair as you don't have to pay it if you simply don't earn enough money and when you do pay it off it's not a massive amount of your income! Also with it being written off eventually, if this does t change then it's pretty fair!
What worries me is what changes the government may make in the future. Luckily the abolishment of maintianance grants doesn't effect me and they're not changing that but what annoys me is the retrospective changes they are making to the student loan contracts. We have made the agreement with the government and they can change it whenever they see fit even after the contract has been agreed to! The increase in interest rates scares me but as long as the repayments stay the same it will be okay... Most students don't have another option to fund university and if the government can just make retrospective changes, it scares me and I wonder what else they could do...

Reply 4

username1799249

I don't see it as a loan. I see it as a tax. The amount you pay back is related to pay, not how big the loan is. I am going into teaching this year and expect to be in the hole by £20k after 1 year. I don't expect to ever repay it. After 30 years it is written off. Happy days. The only worry I have is the government retrospectively changing the terms at will as Osborne did this year.

Reply 5

niteninja1

I wanted osbourne as PM 😢

Reply 6

Tabbeh

Thanks so much for getting back to me, everyone - the article's now live. Not sure if I can post links here, but it's been featured on The Lifehouse.Co's Twitter and Facebook. Cheers again!