Student loans - do we have to pay it back?

[piemaster]

Absolutely no idea where all the hate towards the OP is coming from.  We're talking about a debt that he doesn't legally have to pay back as per the terms of the loan when he took it out.  This isn't an angle shot, he simply isn't earning enough taxable income to trigger the repayment schedule.  I would bet that over half the people giving it the 'pay what you owe' rhetoric would con far more out of the government with very little guilt if they felt they could get away with it.

[DMorgan]

True, I'm sure if the haters in this thread were offered a loan for £19k that there was no legally enfocable way for them to have to pay back they would snap decline.

Land prices on the moral high ground are souring

[Acidmouse]

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

100% agree pity the funding for the top University's is getting a right royal shafting and the standard of degree's and research will be severly effected for the coming years unless they can increase the cost to the student that attends i.e lift the cap.

Wait until the 1st Uni goes boom!? will the governent bail them out?

[Jon MW]

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

100% agree pity the funding for the top University's is getting a right royal shafting and the standard of degree's and research will be severly effected for the coming years unless they can increase the cost to the student that attends i.e lift the cap.

Wait until the 1st Uni goes boom!? will the governent bail them out?

Like I suggested before the big problem was the governments decision to massively increase numbers going to university, without having any idea how to pay for the extra - when the system as it was already had difficulties with financing.

[Longy]

I have never understood why we now have close to 50% of the population going to uni. 50% of the jobs in the uk require someone to be educated to degree level?

I personally go back to a system where only the top 15/20% go to uni and they are given grants to do so. The rest can learn a trade/job which will actually be of benefit to them and the country as a whole.

I understand none of this will happen because any government doing this will be political suicide. As this will annoy the classic swing voting lower middle class families who's little Johnny can't fuck about doing Media Studies for 3 years at the University of Lands End or some such place.

[Jon MW]

I have never understood why we now have close to 50% of the population going to uni. 50% of the jobs in the uk require someone to be educated to degree level?
...

because the government decided that 50% of the population should go to university is the nominal reason

impossible to work out anymore than that, because there was never any further explanation to it.

It would have 'helped' a lot if they'd thought about why this was meant to be a good thing, and a bit more consideration into how they were going to do it - specifically, how they were going to pay for it.

[StuartHopkin]

Lolaments

Hopefully they will change it one day so students have 5 years to pay back the debt in full.

The whole only over 15k thing just shows how many people waste three years of their life at university and are still unemployable.
They could have used that 3 years to get experience on both the checkout and the stock room.

Average graduate wage is £22k and you think its fair to have students pay back ~£4k a year out of what could very possibly be a small pay packet from an intermediary job after uni?

The prevailing attitude seems to be that students are given this money for the hell of it to go and get a degree and have a jolly holiday for 3 years and that the taxpayer gains nothing from this. If the social returns to higher education were not greater than the private returns then the government wouldn't fund it which is the situation we had years ago when only the rich or the very very talented went to university.

Over the years as the european economy has become more and more services and skills based, the UK needs more skilled labour as we shift away from intensive procedures like manufacturing and agriculture. Therefore the social returns to higher education rise and the government starts opening up higher education to more and more people with grants etc.

The resulting massive influx of people going to university has reduced the marginal social benefit of graduates so we now don't get grants, we get loans instead.

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

Im not lynching students as a whole.
Im sure a certain number are needed by the UK for economic gains and increased productivity.

I just think that too many people get no real benefit from the three years, and these people definately do not increase economic gains or productivity.
In fact they probably hinder it in general.

[DMorgan]

I have never understood why we now have close to 50% of the population going to uni.

Its nowhere near 50%.

In 2006 only 58.5% of people passed 5 GCSEs


The figure is about 35% at the moment but thats set to fall when the cuts come in

[lazaroonie]

I have never understood why we now have close to 50% of the population going to uni.

Its nowhere near 50%.

In 2006 only 58.5% of people passed 5 GCSEs


The figure is about 35% at the moment but thats set to fall when the cuts come in

95% of them are doing media studies..

[boldie]

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

Media studies, History, English lit, Latin, greek etc.

why should I have to pay for people to study them?

[Woodsey]

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

Media studies, History, English lit, Latin, greek etc.

why should I have to pay for people to study them?

Culture innit.......

[Acidmouse]

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

Media studies, History, English lit, Latin, greek etc.

why should I have to pay for people to study them?

Not heard this one before...maybe they should be on claiming benifits instead

[StuartHopkin]

Absolutely no idea where all the hate towards the OP is coming from.  We're talking about a debt that he doesn't legally have to pay back as per the terms of the loan when he took it out.  This isn't an angle shot, he simply isn't earning enough taxable income to trigger the repayment schedule.  I would bet that over half the people giving it the 'pay what you owe' rhetoric would con far more out of the government with very little guilt if they felt they could get away with it.

I have no hatred to the OP at all.
I dont know what he studied and he is obviously making $$ of his poker so good luck to him.

In all honesty if I was him I wouldnt be in a rush to make any effort to pay it back.
Saying that unless he is clever and showed he would benefit from further education I wouldnt have lent it him in the first place.

As Longy said, if people had to fight to do well at school and then college to get a place then I would be happy if the country fully funded everyone and even gave them a weekend beer allowance.

[boldie]

Bottom line is that the UK needs graduates and the economic gains from increased productivity affect everybody positively.

Media studies, History, English lit, Latin, greek etc.

why should I have to pay for people to study them?

Not heard this one before...maybe they should be on claiming benifits instead

But they will be after they come out of uni as all their degrees a are pointless. Unless of course they go for a job for which they don't need their degree, in which case.."why am I paying for them" is a valid question. We need more science students, not media studies.
I have no problem paying for people to go to uni but it would have to be a course which actuallyhas some benefits. If the UK is short of scientists we should be encouraging people to stud something in the science area.

If we were short of journalists or other muppets wanting to work in the media we should pay for that, until then I maintain that paying someone 19k to go and do media studies is wasted money. Especially when the budget of every dept is being slashed by approx 25%, I reckon this is an area that we can save a bit of cash on.

[boldie]

True, I'm sure if the haters in this thread were offered a loan for £19k that there was no legally enfocable way for them to have to pay back they would snap decline.

You are taking out a loan, your intention therefore has to be that you will pay it back when you can. Otherwise it would actually be a gift, no?

This can't possibly be difficult to comprehend and has nothign to do with being on the moral high ground.

IMO, you're a benefit cheat if you don't pay it back when you actually have the means to.