JUST STOP THE INTEREST!! You take out a loan, you pay it back. You should not be able to take out a loan where the interest explodes based on what you earn while the lender changes the T&Cs every few years?!
Charly_030 on
Things seemed to work ok back when there were student grants.
I personally believe unversity education should be free for most degrees. Im not sure most university education warrants a degree though. Most people could start work after college and be in a better position that someone heavily in debt with a useless degree. Most jobs prefer experience to a degree anyway.
Jaded_Strain_3753 on
Unfortunately the state needs to tax graduates to redistribute money to wealthy pensioners. Now be good little PAYE piggies and get back to work.
ResponsiblePatient72 on
Or just cap the amount of interest on them? Don’t think i’ve ever met anyone who wouldn’t happily pay off the loan based on the agreement they signed up to.
_Revolting_Peasant on
The idea that we should charge our young for the basic social responsibility of teaching them is insane.
bars_and_plates on
This would be an absolute disaster of an idea.
The next generation of students would then (logically and rightly) take loans up to the hilt on the expectation that it’s not real anyway and there’s a good chance of it being written off.
I honestly think we need to go the other way e.g. not provide student loans for courses that do not have a reasonably solid expectation of return. The idea that it is unfair on poorer students is erroneous – it is in fact the opposite, it is immoral to loan people huge amounts of money that you know they will struggle to pay back, and it is irresponsible and inefficient to encourage people to spend years earning nothing when they could be building up their savings in work.
requisition31 on
Disagree strongly.
Just stop changing the conditions of the contract, and stop adding on interest. That would satisfy 90% of people.
Wooden_Gazelle763 on
The social contract is broken. The older generations had free tuition while workers paid for it. Now the older generations’ holidays are paid for by workers with massive student loans. Totally unfair.
mixxituk on
Might as well left it as free/supported education lol cheers Nick Clegg
CFox21 on
I don’t think writing off the loans is even what people are asking for. The real problem is the interest and rule changes after the loan has been taken out.
BalianofReddit on
Id be fine with them resetting it to the principle amount plus cpi over the period and going forward.
They really shouldn’t be punishing people for getting an education with worse terms than that.
Even just making it so people pay back just the principle amount would be fine.
And raise the repayment boundary in accordance with wage growth.
HospitalAmazing1445 on
Rachel Reeves: Student loans are fair and proportionate.
Tuition Fees when Rachel Reeves went to University: £0
xxxxxxxxxooxxxxxxxxx on
I wrote mine off by moving abroad and ignoring SLC.
I dropped out anyway, and they had said the £27k threshold would rise.
Livelih00d on
The majority of its going to be written off at this rate. Student loans are such a joke in this country.
pjs-1987 on
It should always have been paid out of general taxation, just like everything else.
Magical_Mariposa on
The amount of student loan I had when I left uni was about £9k, now it’s around £36k at least. I’ve stopped looking at this point. That’s never getting paid off, increasing constantly. It’s ridiculous. Paying £9k off would have been fine but the amount in interest added, no way
YoshiMK on
How about get rid of the interest. Recalculate everyone’s back to as if it was 0% the entire time
sdbest on
That student debt exists at all is a massive political failure. The best investment a nation can make is in the education of its citizens. One of the worst policies a government can pursue is entrapping its citizens in a lifetime of debt.
ElvishMystical on
The notion of charging young people for their education is utter lunacy.
This is like someone stealing your smartphone and selling it back to you.
It’s just as bonkers as selling you a printer for your computer and charging you for all the ink you use.
Dry-Clock-8934 on
Make STEM degrees free. Remove the interest from the others. Simples innit
Weekly_Mammoth6926 on
I’m just glad there’s a bit of momentum behind calling this shit out. I feel like we should cap repayments at the initial amount borrowed. That way we could refund those who have paid more, but people still pay for their own education.
Jezza977 on
Paid off my postgraduate loan today worth £000s – the interest rate charged on it (6.2%) was diabolical.
The idea that somebody in the equivalent role to me has £600 a month more disposable income than me just because their parents paid for their university education it’s crazy.
The whole system needs reform. Was in a very fortunate position where I could readily pay off the debt. Millions of people will not be in a the same position.
Combined with my undergraduate loan I was effectively taxed 57% on every additional £1 I earned.
It’s a stealth tax that is designed to limit social mobility- nobody can convince me otherwise.
Tip: if you’re looking at paying off your student loan, request a settlement figure from the SLC.
ElonDoneABellamy on
This needs to be properly pitched and logically thought out. I’m still paying off my student loan so obviously I’m in support, but a common argument I see put forward is that ‘vulnerable teenagers didn’t know what they were getting into!!’
There’s no universe where this can coexist with votes for 16 year olds.
I’m personally of the view that teenagers are too stupid to be signing up to these loans but I also think they shouldn’t be able to vote on that basis
mikemac1997 on
By the time I graduated, my student loan balance was £76,250. I’m not even a decade out of uni and the last time I checked, it was in excess of £108,000
All of this so that I can contribute to the economy by bringing productivity.
tobascowarrior on
Would certainly support partial forgiveness or a freeze on loan interest for STEM subjects / healthcare workers / etc. where a degree is a requirement for the job.
Hashtagbarkeep on
I’m for it. Would have been nice to have this done before I paid mine off, but I’m no crab in a bucket
ReflexArch on
Hell no. Just sort out the stupid interest.
Have a reverse triple lock so it’s never more than 2.5% interest a year. Job done.
No offence but adding to the UKs huge debt (our debt as tax payers) to clear some peoples individual debt is bonkers.
djkhaled108 on
Wouldn’t make a difference if they halved my loan, it would still keep going up with interest and id never pay it off
sv21js on
I was so ignorant of this when I took out my loans. It didn’t sound like a crazy amount to pay off with a graduate salary (9k), I thought I’d easily take care of it in a few years time. I was young and dumb and will be paying the price for decades to come.
Conscious-Ball8373 on
Of course they do, because they think it won’t cost them anything.
In reality, the government borrows based on its balance sheet and all those loans are listed as assets on the balance sheet. So if you write off those debts, the government will have higher borrowing costs and taxes will have to go up to fund it.
Then see how many people support it.
lizzywbu on
The social contract is completely broken.
Young people, especially the under 35s, are getting absolutely shafted right now. Meanwhile the over 60s get everything paid for them.
postbox134 on
I already paid mine back (moved abroad) – how would forgiveness be fair?
alexmlb3598 on
Just to give some context:
I graduated in Sept 2021, with £54k of student debt (integrated masters, but minimum maintenance loan). Since then, the interest added £23k to that, giving an effective total of £77k. To pay off *just* the interest under the current method, I would’ve needed an average salary of ~£87k.
Who on earth is graduating from uni and going straight into a six-figure salary?!
o_oli on
Had no idea it was that bad reading some of the comments here. I’m fortunate to have a plan 1 loan, which seems 200x better.
34 commenti
JUST STOP THE INTEREST!! You take out a loan, you pay it back. You should not be able to take out a loan where the interest explodes based on what you earn while the lender changes the T&Cs every few years?!
Things seemed to work ok back when there were student grants.
I personally believe unversity education should be free for most degrees. Im not sure most university education warrants a degree though. Most people could start work after college and be in a better position that someone heavily in debt with a useless degree. Most jobs prefer experience to a degree anyway.
Unfortunately the state needs to tax graduates to redistribute money to wealthy pensioners. Now be good little PAYE piggies and get back to work.
Or just cap the amount of interest on them? Don’t think i’ve ever met anyone who wouldn’t happily pay off the loan based on the agreement they signed up to.
The idea that we should charge our young for the basic social responsibility of teaching them is insane.
This would be an absolute disaster of an idea.
The next generation of students would then (logically and rightly) take loans up to the hilt on the expectation that it’s not real anyway and there’s a good chance of it being written off.
I honestly think we need to go the other way e.g. not provide student loans for courses that do not have a reasonably solid expectation of return. The idea that it is unfair on poorer students is erroneous – it is in fact the opposite, it is immoral to loan people huge amounts of money that you know they will struggle to pay back, and it is irresponsible and inefficient to encourage people to spend years earning nothing when they could be building up their savings in work.
Disagree strongly.
Just stop changing the conditions of the contract, and stop adding on interest. That would satisfy 90% of people.
The social contract is broken. The older generations had free tuition while workers paid for it. Now the older generations’ holidays are paid for by workers with massive student loans. Totally unfair.
Might as well left it as free/supported education lol cheers Nick Clegg
I don’t think writing off the loans is even what people are asking for. The real problem is the interest and rule changes after the loan has been taken out.
Id be fine with them resetting it to the principle amount plus cpi over the period and going forward.
They really shouldn’t be punishing people for getting an education with worse terms than that.
Even just making it so people pay back just the principle amount would be fine.
And raise the repayment boundary in accordance with wage growth.
Rachel Reeves: Student loans are fair and proportionate.
Tuition Fees when Rachel Reeves went to University: £0
I wrote mine off by moving abroad and ignoring SLC.
I dropped out anyway, and they had said the £27k threshold would rise.
The majority of its going to be written off at this rate. Student loans are such a joke in this country.
It should always have been paid out of general taxation, just like everything else.
The amount of student loan I had when I left uni was about £9k, now it’s around £36k at least. I’ve stopped looking at this point. That’s never getting paid off, increasing constantly. It’s ridiculous. Paying £9k off would have been fine but the amount in interest added, no way
How about get rid of the interest. Recalculate everyone’s back to as if it was 0% the entire time
That student debt exists at all is a massive political failure. The best investment a nation can make is in the education of its citizens. One of the worst policies a government can pursue is entrapping its citizens in a lifetime of debt.
The notion of charging young people for their education is utter lunacy.
This is like someone stealing your smartphone and selling it back to you.
It’s just as bonkers as selling you a printer for your computer and charging you for all the ink you use.
Make STEM degrees free. Remove the interest from the others. Simples innit
I’m just glad there’s a bit of momentum behind calling this shit out. I feel like we should cap repayments at the initial amount borrowed. That way we could refund those who have paid more, but people still pay for their own education.
Paid off my postgraduate loan today worth £000s – the interest rate charged on it (6.2%) was diabolical.
The idea that somebody in the equivalent role to me has £600 a month more disposable income than me just because their parents paid for their university education it’s crazy.
The whole system needs reform. Was in a very fortunate position where I could readily pay off the debt. Millions of people will not be in a the same position.
Combined with my undergraduate loan I was effectively taxed 57% on every additional £1 I earned.
It’s a stealth tax that is designed to limit social mobility- nobody can convince me otherwise.
Tip: if you’re looking at paying off your student loan, request a settlement figure from the SLC.
This needs to be properly pitched and logically thought out. I’m still paying off my student loan so obviously I’m in support, but a common argument I see put forward is that ‘vulnerable teenagers didn’t know what they were getting into!!’
There’s no universe where this can coexist with votes for 16 year olds.
I’m personally of the view that teenagers are too stupid to be signing up to these loans but I also think they shouldn’t be able to vote on that basis
By the time I graduated, my student loan balance was £76,250. I’m not even a decade out of uni and the last time I checked, it was in excess of £108,000
All of this so that I can contribute to the economy by bringing productivity.
Would certainly support partial forgiveness or a freeze on loan interest for STEM subjects / healthcare workers / etc. where a degree is a requirement for the job.
I’m for it. Would have been nice to have this done before I paid mine off, but I’m no crab in a bucket
Hell no. Just sort out the stupid interest.
Have a reverse triple lock so it’s never more than 2.5% interest a year. Job done.
No offence but adding to the UKs huge debt (our debt as tax payers) to clear some peoples individual debt is bonkers.
Wouldn’t make a difference if they halved my loan, it would still keep going up with interest and id never pay it off
I was so ignorant of this when I took out my loans. It didn’t sound like a crazy amount to pay off with a graduate salary (9k), I thought I’d easily take care of it in a few years time. I was young and dumb and will be paying the price for decades to come.
Of course they do, because they think it won’t cost them anything.
In reality, the government borrows based on its balance sheet and all those loans are listed as assets on the balance sheet. So if you write off those debts, the government will have higher borrowing costs and taxes will have to go up to fund it.
Then see how many people support it.
The social contract is completely broken.
Young people, especially the under 35s, are getting absolutely shafted right now. Meanwhile the over 60s get everything paid for them.
I already paid mine back (moved abroad) – how would forgiveness be fair?
Just to give some context:
I graduated in Sept 2021, with £54k of student debt (integrated masters, but minimum maintenance loan). Since then, the interest added £23k to that, giving an effective total of £77k. To pay off *just* the interest under the current method, I would’ve needed an average salary of ~£87k.
Who on earth is graduating from uni and going straight into a six-figure salary?!
Had no idea it was that bad reading some of the comments here. I’m fortunate to have a plan 1 loan, which seems 200x better.