Student loan worries

Former Member

Does anyone else have these?

I know getting a loan is a necessity for most to go to university but does it bother anyone else that they will be leaving with around £16000 worth of debt?

This has just been bothering me more and more lately because I'm just scared that when i've finished uni i still might not find a high paying job and then find myself fucked in some minimum wage job with no money to move out on my own but still paying back £16k that i can't afford...

Former Member

I'm not 100% sure, but according to an ad that's going round on TV at the mo, you have to be earning at least 15k a year before they start taking money off you, and even then it's only quite a small percentage.

Former Member

nah doesn't bother me at all.

Former Member

If you want to go to Uni then you're going to be in debt at the end (or even the start!) of it all; so it would've been worth bearing that in mind before applying if it's terribly worrying to you. Everyone is pretty much in the same boat, everyone has these worries and battles on. As Rubberskin said, you only begin to repay your student loan as and when you're earning a salary over a certain amount, otherwise you defer and defer until you're in a position to begin repayments. So it isn't as if they turn up on your doorstep demanding £5k the week after you graduate. A lot of people I know have hit 30 and are still deferring their student loan repayments... not that that's anything to aspire to, of course as they should've got a haircut and a real job years ago

There's good debt and bad debt in life; the cost of going to Uni is managable debt that is necessary to get you where you want to be. Running up credit card bills etc for frivolity while you're there isn't so great, it's when you start to get into that kind of consumer debt that your anxiety would be warranted. As long as you're sensible then it's not a major issue, just concentrate on Uni for now and worry about repayments etc when you're actually in a position to do so... after all, that's the time you'll be expected to!

Former Member

icey wrote:

Does anyone else have these?

I know getting a loan is a necessity for most to go to university but does it bother anyone else that they will be leaving with around £16000 worth of debt?

This has just been bothering me more and more lately because I'm just scared that when i've finished uni i still might not find a high paying job and then find myself fucked in some minimum wage job with no money to move out on my own but still paying back £16k that i can't afford...

I owe loads and loads of money due to 4 years of student loans and overdrafts. I'm not yet earning enough to pay back my student loan but it comes out as a proportion of your earnings. I don't really think about it to be honest. But when they say there's no interest on student loans they are lying. There's loads, I've seen it on my statements.

If I had to go to uni now and pay £3,000 tuition fees, I wouldn't go. It's not worth it.

Former Member

PussyKatty wrote:

But when they say there's no interest on student loans they are lying. There's loads, I've seen it on my statements.

It's virtually no interest and a hell of a lot cheaper than any other loan you can ever get.

I wince when I compare it to my Career Development Loan: I borrowed £8000 for that and am paying it back over 60 months ath £181.10 per month, even though my income is under £13k. Ouch.

Former Member

Meryn wrote:

It's virtually no interest and a hell of a lot cheaper than any other loan you can ever get.

The interest is lower than commercial rates, but it still exists.

And when you start off on a low pay and can't start paying the loan off, it certainly adds up. I was very surprised when I got a statement to realise how much it has been bumped up.

Former Member

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Former Member

Think I'm worried more about the fact mine's hasn't arrived yet. Bastards.

Former Member

I didn't know you paid interest on student loans. That's bloody crap.

Former Member

PussyKatty wrote:

The interest is lower than commercial rates, but it still exists.

And when you start off on a low pay and can't start paying the loan off, it certainly adds up. I was very surprised when I got a statement to realise how much it has been bumped up.

It is zero real interest, i.e. it matches inflation so the value of your loan does i not increase in real terms........

Former Member

Toadborg wrote:

It is zero real interest, i.e. it matches inflation so the value of your loan does i not increase in real terms........

I know that's the official explanation of it but the charges are very real to me and I don't get pay rises like that every month.

Former Member

RubberSkin wrote:

I didn't know you paid interest on student loans. That's bloody crap.

How they going to make money otherwise. All banks need to make a profit somewhere along the line.

Since I'm repeating 1st year now I'll have 5 years worth of debt which will amount to 15k so that's a bit shitty. My teacher in A-level was 40 till he had all his debts paid off. Bit scary.