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Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: STEMO on 21 September 2018, 12:28:46

Title: Talking of student loans
Post by: STEMO on 21 September 2018, 12:28:46
Did anyone catch the news about the National Audit Office telling the government that student debt should be shown as a negative on the balance sheet. At present, student loans are 'off book', and don't show up anywhere in government debt figures. When the NAO asked the government when these figures would start to appear, the answer was 'after 30 years, if they're not paid back'.
Oh no no no said the NAO, they must appear now, and be reduced as they are paid back.

Now the shocker......student debt is already higher than the annual budget for the NHS, (well over £100 billion) so imagine how big it's going to get if, as Jimmy says, only 30% pay it back.
Title: Re: Talking of student loans
Post by: STEMO on 21 September 2018, 12:30:18
This matter, btw, is why the discussion on charges and interest rates has been put on hold.
Title: Re: Talking of student loans
Post by: STEMO on 21 September 2018, 12:32:20
Another one for you: Student debt in the US is higher than credit card debt, and that's a whooooooole lot of dosh.
Title: Re: Talking of student loans
Post by: Viral_Jim on 21 September 2018, 12:48:47
Yup, its another pillar of this austerity nonsense. Stop public funding of Universities and get students to take the debt personally, then you take it off balance sheet to massage your figures, at a stroke of the chancellor's pen, you write out a whole chunk of deficit. Marvellous.  ::)

On the 30%, I can't find a recent reference to where I read  :-\. But the story below has it at around 2/3 of students never repaying, so apparently things have got slightly worse in the last 2yrs, probably as a result of more establishments creeping up to that magic £9k p.a. figure.

https://www.ft.com/content/55f4a6f6-3eab-11e6-9f2c-36b487ebd80a (https://www.ft.com/content/55f4a6f6-3eab-11e6-9f2c-36b487ebd80a)
Title: Re: Talking of student loans
Post by: deviator on 21 September 2018, 12:57:21
My friend works and has studied archeology at University. Since she finished her degree, she has been back to university for further related subjects. She has just started her Masters degree. She has never earned anywhere near the wage to pay it back, the chances of her ever getting into that bracket are very slim. As such, she's of the opinion, she might as well fo as many courses/qualifications as she can, as she'll never reach the pay back threshold.

This is one of those rare subjects were you need qualifications, yet you'll never get paid enough to warrant the cost of the degree in the first place.
Title: Re: Talking of student loans
Post by: STEMO on 21 September 2018, 13:09:23
My friend works and has studied archeology at University. Since she finished her degree, she has been back to university for further related subjects. She has just started her Masters degree. She has never earned anywhere near the wage to pay it back, the chances of her ever getting into that bracket are very slim. As such, she's of the opinion, she might as well fo as many courses/qualifications as she can, as she'll never reach the pay back threshold.

This is one of those rare subjects were you need qualifications, yet you'll never get paid enough to warrant the cost of the degree in the first place.
Once you've done your degree, there should be no more loans available for additional courses. If you want to spend your life learning, you should be expected to pay for it yourself.