Debt Free!

stickyfiddle

9k a year is hilariously poor value for money for most courses. I can't see any possible argument that "the experience" is worth it if you're not going into a field that specifically needs the knowledge gained during a degree to do the job.

I was at uni just before the previous round of increases, so my total loan was about 13k at the end of it. 

ThorpyFX

massive congrats, its a big deal and i bet you feel so much happier because of it!

Teetonetal

stickyfiddle said:

9k a year is hilariously poor value for money for most courses. I can't see any possible argument that "the experience" is worth it if you're not going into a field that specifically needs the knowledge gained during a degree to do the job.

I was at uni just before the previous round of increases, so my total loan was about 13k at the end of it. 

I would agree, the current system seems crippling for not much value at the end of it. Degrees surely only worth it in certain careers and subjects, even then lots of multinationals want to see a masters.

I can think of an awful lot of experiences for 9k a year I'd rather have - I do wonder if those of us that have grown up with student loans will not be so keen to push Uni onto our kids. It did very little for me and I ended up taking an OU degree is something more useful later on (thankfully part funded by my employer)

Anyway, congrats the OP being debt free is awesome and a fine achievement.

boogieman

DefaultM said:

Apart from the mortgage I'll be debt free in July 2018, and I'm never getting a credit card again. What was supposed to be a £2k spend paid off in 18 months turned in to £3.5k going on to a balance transfer after the 18 months.

C/cards are great if you use them responsibly and pay them off religiously. Ours gets us air miles and free flight upgrades. Wouldn't get that with a debit card. 

stickyfiddle

boogieman said:

DefaultM said:

Apart from the mortgage I'll be debt free in July 2018, and I'm never getting a credit card again. What was supposed to be a £2k spend paid off in 18 months turned in to £3.5k going on to a balance transfer after the 18 months.

C/cards are great if you use them responsibly and pay them off religiously. Ours gets us air miles and free flight upgrades. Wouldn't get that with a debit card. 

Same here. A year's spending has got us 2 business class flights to Japan for about 150 quid in fees. Everything we can possibly put on there goes on and it's paid in full every month without fail. Granted you can't get quite that good a deal in the UK, but still the only good reason to have a credit card other than keeping something positive on your credit score.

UnclePsychosis

Other than mortgage and student loan I'm debt free. Really looking forward to getting the student loan dealt with, I could easily have a posh holiday with a year's worth of repayments and that's what I intend to do!

I refuse to pay for "luxury" things on credit. Its absolute madness down that path in my opinion. I have a credit card for practical reasons but always pay it off in full.

chrispy108

fretmeister said:

chrispy108 said:

fretmeister said:

In 6 years I'll have to find money for university fees for my eldest.

Good parent: I will find a way to pay, no matter what.

Why? She might need a bit to live off but student loans will cover the fees.

I don't want her starting her working life with a shit load of debt.

It's not debt, it's a graduate tax.
It gets cleared after 30 years, so the only people paying it off will have earned some serious money.
Her quality of life would be so much better having a £27k lump sum and paying a student loan than having no student loan and no cash.

stickyfiddle

chrispy108 said:

fretmeister said:

chrispy108 said:

fretmeister said:

In 6 years I'll have to find money for university fees for my eldest.

Good parent: I will find a way to pay, no matter what.

Why? She might need a bit to live off but student loans will cover the fees.

I don't want her starting her working life with a shit load of debt.

It's not debt, it's a graduate tax.
It gets cleared after 30 years, so the only people paying it off will have earned some serious money.
Her quality of life would be so much better having a £27k lump sum and paying a student loan than having no student loan and no cash.

Until they move the goalposts AGAIN and suddenly it's costing you double, or worse. 

chrispy108

I know they've changed the interest rates, but have they ever made the repayment terms on existing loans worse?

stickyfiddle

chrispy108 said:

I know they've changed the interest rates, but have they ever made the repayment terms on existing loans worse?

I have no idea - I've paid mine off! 

All I know is the provision is there in the contract and the Student Loans Company is the most gigantic clusterfuck of an organisation I've ever dealt with. I wouldn't want a debt of 30k to them under any circumstances.

chrispy108

It's not a debt of £30k. It isn't debt. It's not hanging over your head, it's just sitting there taking a small slice of your pay if you're earning, and happily being left if you aren't.

No one will ever lend you money on nicer terms. I know someone who paid there's off with cash, then got a loan to buy a car! Crazy.

£27k is a really nice deposit on a house, or you could pay some uni fees that you might not of needed to pay.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes

stickyfiddle

chrispy108 said:

It's not a debt of £30k. It isn't debt. It's not hanging over your head, it's just sitting there taking a small slice of your pay if you're earning, and happily being left if you aren't.

No one will ever lend you money on nicer terms. I know someone who paid there's off with cash, then got a loan to buy a car! Crazy.

£27k is a really nice deposit on a house, or you could pay some uni fees that you might not of needed to pay.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes

Yep. Until they move the goalposts, which they're entitled to do. (though you're right - anyone paying it off then taking a loan for something else is just plain stupid)

By the time current high-school students are 25, 27k won't be close to the deposit for a house anywhere where there's work enough to cover a mortgage for that house. It's already not enough in a lot of places. 

While it's on very good terms, it's still debt and you can still be fucked over. I wouldn't be happy owing that amount to *anyone* outside a mortgage. 

It should be a tax instead of a loan- everyone who goes to Uni should just get a "S" added to their tax code and pay an extra 1% forever. It's be far simpler and cheaper to administer. It would also raise more money as those earning plenty wouldn't pay it off and escape the burden. 

chrispy108

I definitely agree it should be a tax, but that is basically what the newest "loans" are. The majority of people will get lots of the loan written off. If you'll only earn enough to pay back £15k before it gets written off does it matter if you've borrowed £15k or £40k? The amount only matters if you earn loads.

It's a messy way of doing it, but that's certainly the government's intention: get more money from high earners, without punishing low earners. It's also made students work harder and chose "better" courses as students want to get value from it. All good things in my eyes.

stickyfiddle

chrispy108 said:

I definitely agree it should be a tax, but that is basically what the newest "loans" are. The majority of people will get lots of the loan written off. If you'll only earn enough to pay back £15k before it gets written off does it matter if you've borrowed £15k or £40k? The amount only matters if you earn loads.

It's a messy way of doing it, but that's certainly the government's intention: get more money from high earners, without punishing low earners. It's also made students work harder and chose "better" courses as students want to get value from it. All good things in my eyes.

Yeah, I just wish they'd go the whole hog and make it a flat graduate tax - it'd be much more transparent. Apart from that they'd probably increase that rate too over time...

prh777

stickyfiddle said:

chrispy108 said:

I definitely agree it should be a tax, but that is basically what the newest "loans" are. The majority of people will get lots of the loan written off. If you'll only earn enough to pay back £15k before it gets written off does it matter if you've borrowed £15k or £40k? The amount only matters if you earn loads.

It's a messy way of doing it, but that's certainly the government's intention: get more money from high earners, without punishing low earners. It's also made students work harder and chose "better" courses as students want to get value from it. All good things in my eyes.

Yeah, I just wish they'd go the whole hog and make it a flat graduate tax - it'd be much more transparent. Apart from that they'd probably increase that rate too over time...

Because it would be rational for (some) people to simply pay the fees up front rather than attract a 1% of income for perpetuity tax. And if the government didn't allow that people would attend private universities. Also I'm not sure on what basis they could force you to accept that because you could contract to he university directly as they do not own universities.   Jeremy C might nationalise them though if they caught him sneaking into an allegedly over capacity lecture theatre.....

Plus someone would loan you the money to pay the fees up front if you wanted etc

mynamesnotbob

fretmeister said:

In 6 years I'll have to find money for university fees for my eldest.

Good parent: I will find a way to pay, no matter what.
Bad parent: If she arses up her A-Levels then she won't be going....

Mmmmm

I've always said, you want really clever kids or thick kids, the first get bursaries through uni, the latter don't go. Its the ones in the middle that cost a shed load!

DavidRees

being debt free is indeed the path to contentment ... 

lloyd

Agree with Chrispy on the student debt thing, I get what sticky is saying about moving the goalposts but, I'm fairly sure wholesale changes aren't going to be able to be made, with millions of students having entered signed contracts and agreements, there would be massive uproar, not to mention millions of now qualified lawyers prepared to fight their cases on a pro bono basis.

Given the choice if I was lucky enough that my parents would have offered me a student loan debt free start to my working life or 30k I'd take the 30k every time, it's a no brainer.

Id take a 30k loan now under the same conditions that my student loan is (although mine is nowhere near 30k) to use as a deposit on a house, I would guess that everyone out there would prefer to have 30k of their mortgage under the same conditions as the student loan ones.

I get people don't want to be in debt to the student finance company but if you are ever out of work or earning under the threshold it's frozen, no questions asked, and wiped after a certain length of time. It's also taken out pre tax, and a small rate of interest. On top of all that it's an investment in yourself and gives you the opportunity to earn more (on average) than those without degrees.

I really don't miss or begrudge the money that gets taken out of my salary every month-it's less than my pension contributions for example.

Longtallronnie

I'm currently mid way through an IVA - got myself in a state when I was self employed and it was that or bankruptcy. This way we don't lose the house and will be debt free (bar the mortgage) by 2018/9. I'll be 37-38 by then which hopefully means I've got enough life left to enjoy it. At present, the mortgage will be paid by the time I'm 58. Hopefully I'll be able to get that down a bit after the IVA. 
I don't want another credit card but I imagine I'll need one in some form to rebuild my credit score.