Riots in the UK about tuition fee increases - an observation

[Scoobes]

kowenicki said:

Scoobes said:

You do realise how quickly the interest will build up? What if they decide to do a post-grad degree? Or can only get a job that amounts to slightly more than the £21,000?

Already, a lot of graduates on the current system come out with debts of >£15,000 and get jobs paying approx. £22K. Do you know how quickly the payments pay off that amount? They don't. They all go on interest payments. With £40-50,000 debt they'll be losing money on the starting salaries. Most students will be in debt for the majority (if not all) of their professional career.

Utter garbage.

The interest rate is low and it is the cheapest unsecured debt anyone can get.  If they earn average professional earnings they will pay it off in a fraction of their professional lives.

There is so much mis-information being thrown around it is ridiculous and irresponsible... these are the main features as posted by the BBC.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3013272.stm

In England and Northern Ireland, and for non-Welsh students in Wales, full-time undergraduates are liable to pay tuition fees of up to £3,225 a year (2009-10 rates).

The poorest students are eligible for non-repayable support at up to the same amount.

It works like this:

• annual tuition fees - which were a flat rate of £1,175 - have, since September 2006, been varied from nothing up to a maximum of £3,000 (index linked)
• families earning less than £25,000 are eligible for a grant of £2,906 a year, which tapers away to nought on family incomes of £50,020
• universities charging maximum fees have to fund bursaries of at least £310 for the poorest students
• unlike previous tuition fees, students no longer have to pay "up front" - while at university - unless they want to
• instead fees are covered by a loan, repayable by graduates once their annual income passes £15,000
• repayments are a minimum of 9% of all earnings over that figure per year

 

So you can see that the poorest students have little to pay.  This new sytem is actually BETTER for the poorest students.

 You only repay once you earn more than 15k at a rate of 9% of your earning over £15k for that year.... so if in one year you earn £20,000 you will have to repay £450 of that toward your student debt, 30k and you would have to pay off £1,350 for that year.

No can you tell me why someone should leave Uni with a debt of £50k? I'm curious how you get to this figure? especially given the sliding scale of fees in relation to parental earnings. 

 

@ underlined

That's exactly what I'm talking about. You say the interest is the lowest around (true), but that £450 you pay back is still less than the full year of interest in the current system let alone the greater debt students will now find themselves in. You literally end up paying interest for the first few years of of your professional career and that's with the current system. All my mate's have found this when we enter our first jobs. The first few years are spent on interest. 

And just because some universities will keep to only £3000, doesn't mean they all will. My university will almost certainly charge the full £9000 (in fact the provost would love to up it even further). What I also hate is the fact that it's always been done by parental income. A good number of parents are bastards (and won't pay, I say this from numerous fellow students experience) and fees of this amount will force those students to not get a full education.

As for £50K: Avg. course Tuition fee for my university will be £9000 X 3 yrs = £27,000

approx. £15,000 for 3 yrs living expenses loan = £43,000

For a 4 yr undergrad (e.g. undergrad MEng, MSc; the most common types of undergrad degree in my department) the cost of tuition fees alone at my uni will be £36K let alone the medical school (5 yrs).