The Student Room Group

Why i'm reconsidering going to uni!!

I've been researching student finance and uni fees today and came across the loan repayment calculator.... I realised I'll be £50k in debt in loans which starts gaining interest from starting university and despite the fact that the interest is relatively low at 3%.. over 30 years the original £50k will rise to £130,000... that's the cost of a house!. I know that you don't have to pay a penny until you're earning £21k but it's still a heck of a lot to pay, why is it so expensive??!! Is it just me who is put off going to uni because of this??
You must consider that against the long term benefits that most graduates end up in better paid jobs. University can be an expensive, but ultimately worthwhile, investment.
It didn't put me off initially but after I dropped out I was like, "Crap, that's a HUGE loan I would have had". People say "Ohh it's such a tiny payment each month" but it's still a payment that you don't want to be making. It's definitely too expensive in my opinion.
Reply 3
It's an investment which will pay off at least in most cases, as the income boundary protects the ones who haven't really got anything out of going to university. However, if the fees in the UK feel far too high, it probably pays off to do some research about university degrees in other European countries. Studying in say Holland, Germany or Sweden costs far less and there's plenty of tuition available in English :smile:
Don't take a loan?
Reply 5
It depends what you want to do as a career. If you want to do something that you don't need a degree for then it may be more worthwhile to not go to uni.
Reply 6
That never puts me off. Not like a loan shark's going to knock on your door at 4am and ask you to pay it all back. Most people don't even pay the whole of it, because of the time thing. :dontknow:
Reply 7
Original post by EatAndRevise
Don't take a loan?


Yeah, why don't you have 50,000 in your back pocket OP?
Reply 8
You don't pay anything back until you earn over £21,000 and you then pay 9% ONLY on what you go over.

For example.

If you earn a salary of £21,001 per year. You will pay back 9 pence that year, because you've only gone above £21,000 by 100 pence.

If that salary stays the same for 30 years, then in total you will repay £2.70 before it gets wiped off by the government.

Hence, the worry over student loan repayments is over the top.
Original post by TSR561
Yeah, why don't you have 50,000 in your back pocket OP?


How am I supposed to know what their financial status is? It was just a suggestion.
Reply 10
Original post by EatAndRevise
How am I supposed to know what their financial status is? It was just a suggestion.


If she took the time to research how much money she'd have to pay back, something tells me she'd have to take a loan. I'd say the vast (VAST) majority of students take out a loan.
Original post by TSR561
If she took the time to research how much money she'd have to pay back, something tells me she'd have to take a loan. I'd say the vast (VAST) majority of students take out a loan.


Fair enough, I see where your coming from.
I agree with you!
I'm surprised how many people in student room aren't aware of the riots fought in 2010 just so they could have free education at uni. Your paying for someone else's education at the end of the day for years unless you have 50K off the bat. It's a stupid scheme by the government & even recently they said its going to go wrong aka loads of people aren't going to pay back their loans.
To easily solve this problem get back to (the 80s) only letting the hard working actual high achievers in anyone below a B would go to a technical college(many have turned into so called unis now) or a job so then uni would be more about the degree as it should be and it would be free (less pupils/dumb degrees)
But the government have been letting anyone go to uni simply because it makes them more money and the unis and 6forms get more money from the more students admitted to uni as well. Good for them bad for you!
So instead do an apprentice, work in a menial job to gain work experience, start your own business or for pretty much any job (90% in fact) DO NOT REQUIRE A DEGREE only doctors, vets etc who need degree for there jobs! Also don't forget study abroad in the cheap European union.
Everyone else its how you are on the day of the interview if someone else who's worked hard for 3 years(many employers say they care the most about work experience) is enthusiastic, is more confident they will get the job.
Around 60% of graduates get a degree which is unrelated to their job and many adults have at least 4 jobs in a life time!
You can gain the real major skill (the academic writing) for uni on the open university website for free or teach yourself (library, online lectures etc) also free.
And anyone who says going to uni for the social life has clearly never had a real social life after uni you will be forced to go outside into the area (may it be to clubs, pubs etc) to make your own friends not have some fresher's ambassador force you together.
Btw to anyone who says £9000 is fair look at Scottish pupils they pay £0 how is that fair? Simple it's not.

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