How much does it cost?

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Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by Marylou »

Guest55 wrote:Thanks Marylou.

Just started to read it and there on page 3:
The regulations may change from time to time and this means the terms of your loan may also change.
Thanks Guest55 - you'll see from the time of my post that I wasn't really of a mind to plough through it chapter and verse! :lol:

This clause is pretty despicable IMO. The terms of a mortgage can also change because of changes in legislation, but such changes would theoretically be beyond the control of the mortgage lenders so, much as we grumble about it at the time, there is not much we or they can do about it. However, tuition fee loans are made by the government, which is also the body in control of the legislation that governs them and therefore has the power to impose new terms any time it pleases. Something not quite right there... :evil:

(And also, incidentally, why I find it hard to understand how a normally competent and independent financial advisor would seem to be vigorously supporting this system...it just doesn't make sense!)
Marylou
solimum
Posts: 1420
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 3:09 pm
Location: Solihull, West Midlands

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by solimum »

My daughter has just signed her student loan application form for her first year, hopefully to read biochemistry at Manchester for which she needs AAA

She almost burst into tears at the thought of "signing her life away". If she does (as she hopes) go into research she will probably never earn enough to pay it all off, but it will be hanging over her for the majority of her working life.....
Looking for help
Posts: 3767
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by Looking for help »

Waiting_For_Godot wrote: I think that most parents cannot get past the figures when the reality is that it's not that bad and completely fair.
How is it fair - on what basis ?

It's fair if parental income is less than £25K - when the student gets help. Who has decided that the student from an impoverished background is any less likely to pay off their debt than one from a middle income family with no help towards tuition fees etc?

My daughter has also just signed her life away, solimum, but I don't think at 18 and with parents paying for everything to date she has any real idea what she has signed up to.

I have 2 degrees and am a qualified chartered accountant (sorry - no tips on how to avoid repaying this ). Due to having my family it's probably only now at the age of 47 that I would be repaying anything meaningful in terms of student debt., and since these were done more than 25 years ago, I expect that the government wouldn't be getting much from me.

It beggars belief that those who are running this country think that this system is in any way useful in terms of providing finance for universities, when for say 50% of the student population they probably wont get the costs back anyway :lol: I'm not sure it has been thought through.
Marylou
Posts: 2164
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:21 am

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by Marylou »

Looking for help wrote: I'm not sure it has been thought through.
It most certainly hasn't!

I think what might happen in the future is that graduates will be looking very carefully at their career structure, as I suspect that "paying off the loan" could become a feature of employment packages, presumably in return for being tied in for a few years, though such schemes would probably take a while to get off the ground and only once the economy has returned to a healthier state. Those who are self-employed or start their own business will have ways and means of investing income, putting it into pensions, etc. or whatever just to avoid going into the higher bracket at which more has to be paid back. At least until they reach the later stages of their career when it's all written off anyway. Which of course I don't believe will happen anyway!

Either way, if those that don't end up earning big salaries won't pay much back anyway, and those that do will be doing what they can to reduce their liability, then the whole system probably isn't going to save much in the long term and could end up costing so much more. A pig in a poke, as my mum used to say.
Marylou
ChessDadPlus
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:02 pm

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by ChessDadPlus »

Did we get an answer on Total Cost covering a breakdown?
hermanmunster
Posts: 12817
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by hermanmunster »

ChessDadPlus wrote:Did we get an answer on Total Cost covering a breakdown?
Sorry don't understand the question!
Tracy
Posts: 1123
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:28 am
Location: Bexley

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by Tracy »

Can someone tell me what 'income' means.
This is all new to me and I would like to know what's about to hit me!

Does 'income' mean what you earn, gross or net, before or after pension deductions, savings and interest and anything else that I have no idea about?

And in what tax year? :roll:

Sorry, guys, totally new to all this and I don't have a clue. :oops:

Thanks
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by moved »

Guest55 wrote:My concern is that with a 50K debt that mortgages will be difficult to get. 'They' say that student debt is not taken into account but no-one has had this amount of debt yet so how can they assure us that this will be so?

I do think the system is mad; my DC would be better off if I retired ....
Our concern exactly. I entirely concur with £50k too. We have two, one year apart and our paltry state salaries will not be able to help them.

For any engineering courses there are sponsorships available nationally and some firms are now looking at local students with a view to future employment. We have a friend who has procured a third of his fees and a summer job each year, all finished off with an offer of employment if he gets his MEng.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12817
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by hermanmunster »

Tracy wrote:Can someone tell me what 'income' means.
This is all new to me and I would like to know what's about to hit me!

Does 'income' mean what you earn, gross or net, before or after pension deductions, savings and interest and anything else that I have no idea about?

And in what tax year? :roll:

Sorry, guys, totally new to all this and I don't have a clue. :oops:

Thanks
Just had a go at filling in the calculator on the .gov.uk site - seems to be total household income, I think it is usually the last tax year. Put in household of 10k and got this back:
You could get per year:

£9,000 Tuition Fee Loan
£3,823 Maintenance Loan (for living costs)
£3,354 Maintenance Grant (for living costs)
Tracy
Posts: 1123
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:28 am
Location: Bexley

Re: How much does it cost?

Post by Tracy »

Hi Herman,

I have been looking at several sites and not one gives a clear definition of 'residual income'.
So I don't know what figures to type in.
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