On 24/01/2012 10:23, Man at B&Q wrote:
On Jan 24, 7:59 am,
q (Cassandra) wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:59:47 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"

wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:30:25 -0800 (PST), harry wrote:

45% of EU students studying in this country disappear without repaying=

UK loans.

And how many UK students don't repay it all either? Bearing in mind
that you don't start paying it back until you start earning over a
threshold (=A315k or =A321k) and you only have the liabilty to pay for a=

number of years after you leave higher education as well.

Interest rates are linked to inflation.

Not yet, that's for loans starting this september. At the moment they
are linked to the base rate.

Minimum repayments are based on wages
You are charged interest for and period you don't pay.
The 21k limit is less that average wages and will be exceeded quite
quicky due to wage inflation.

It is impossible to pay off the loan unless you earn a huge amount.
(which is not the same as paying less than the loan)

It's taken out of your pay like tax.
It's calculated like tax (x% over a certain threshold).
It's a de-facto tax, not a loan, but the government couldn't possibly
be seen to be increasing taxes.

I can't get SWMBO to understand that she should not see our student
son as having a huge debt hanging over him when he graduates.

It seems some families are stupid enough to use their savings whilst
the child is at university rather than take the "loan" that's on
offer.

MBQ

I don't like the idea of student loans at all. We are always told that
graduates on average earn x% extra - if they are earning more, they are
paying more tax anyway! The only reason for needing to directly charge
such fees is the massive expansion of HE. Do we really need 50% of
students (as was the aim) to continue into HE? Are 50% suited to HE?

Reduce the number of entrants to a sensible level and fund it from the
state - the state will benefit far more from a smaller number of "more
intelligent" graduates in the subjects that we need, than large numbers
of variable ability in dead end subjects.

SteveW