Finished Uni!

RE: Plus,

Oh dear. The feeling of 'why bother' eh?!

 

RE: Plus,

Obviously not from Tarn

 

it does make you wonder whether some of the people who go to Uni

... would have been able to gain entrance 25 years since.</p>

My Son completed his degree in English last year. It's been about as much use to him in the job market as a chocolate fireguard.</p>

It's either no experience or too highly qualified ... ho hum !</p>

</p>

 

Ahhh Green stuff !!!

drinks cabinet from MFI... (titter)

 

The answer to that is easy

Many more people go to Uni now than 25 years ago.
So lots now gaining places would not have been offered one 25 years ago.

But that does not mean, they should not be going to uni. or that we should not be sending them to uni. or that degrees have been dumbed down.

But all of these may be true. but I could not comment.

 

How valuable do you feel a University education is compared with the level of debt incurred ?

... bear in mind that I'm 50 left school at 16 and did all my further education on study leave, day release and own time.</p>

Oh and I'm a really miserable cynical old get ! </p>

 

Thats a b****r of a question

I am just glad, I went to uni when I did and was given a beer/book grant.

Leaving now with massive debts that will take years to pay off; yes you seriously have to question if it makes financial sense.

But there is more to life than cash (so long as you have enough of it)

 

You might have my brother-in-law as a lecturer then! nt

 

Isn't this massive debt thing a bit of a misnomer though?

In that it's supposed to be interest freee and should not be treated like say a personal loan.

The other alternative is to amend tax codes in a similar way as is done with car tax etc. But I suppose that would mean HMRC administering it more than they already do...but if the tax code is changed, you would never see the payment.

 

Its defiantely not interest free mate

Repayment is linked to your earnings and when you start off it seems immaterial but as you progress in your career it soon bites. Between me and the missis we pay £280 a month which is a considerable amount of money. That said we would still do it all over again because both our jobs require a degree and uni was the best time of my life

 

I thought that the interest was pegged with inflation...

which basically means that it is interest free.

 

Not interest free...

... although you don't repay until you earn &pound;15K pa.</p>

Also if collected through your tax code at say &pound;150 per month then wouldn't you miss it ?</p>

Son lived at home ended up approx &pound;12k</p>

Daughter lives away will end up with over &pound;20k.</p>

 

Its all very smoke and mirrors too

You get so little information from them. If you want to find out your balance too it takes 6 weeks following a written request. The money owed certainly doesn't seem to go down very quickly. Its all run by this company in Glasgow. I can't remember what the interest is but I remember being quite shocked by how high it was. I'm generally not a suspicios person but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some kind of scandal in the future about the way it is administered

 

It's effectively interest free...

Basically it increases with inflation. It was supposed to decrease with deflation but they've decided to keep it at 0%. It's all to do with the purchasing power of money and that. £3000 now isn't the same as £3000 in a few years, so the rate just supposedly reflects that. It's not supposed to produce a fall in your buying power, if that makes sense. That's also why the fees keep going up by the amount of inflation every year, so effectively it's £3000 per year at 2006 prices.

So if your first year loan was £3000, and inflation was 2%, then you'd owe £3060 after a year. Plus if you have a situation of hyper-inflation like Zimbabwe, then £3000 this year could end up being £1 next year, so the interest rate based on inflation attempts to keep it at the same price in real terms.

 

RE: Its all very smoke and mirrors too

The rate is supposedly the lower of inflation and (I think) the Bank Of England Base Rate. It's also supposed to pay itself off in times of deflation, but they've decided they don't have to do that. That's been my experience with it anyway. Anytime I've been sent an update on the amount owed it's been the right rate.

 

I'v been studying Building Surveying mate, spent a full year out on placement so i'm hoping that experience will help in my search for a job but there is not a lot around at the moment.

 

I'v been studying Building Surveying mate, spent a full year out on placement so i'm hoping that experience will help in my search for a job but there is not a lot around at the moment.

Apologies-This was in reply to Mossman who asked what i had been studying!

 

Welcome to the world of work.

You'll regret it.

 

RE: Welcome to the world of work.

Just finished a BSc Computing degree yesterday and very luckily landed on my feet with a job.

So grateful just to have the chance to work with the current economical mess.

Hope you get something sorted mate.