To people that have finished university, and are paying off their loan...
- Thread starter Naffa
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Man of Honour
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It wasn't counting my GCSEs, I got three distinctions for my BTEC and had a few poor AS Levels to go alongside it.I think it was more to do with the fact my qualification was in music, and I was applying for degrees in various social sciences.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. Still seems a bit odd that no-one other than UWE is apparently willing to take a punt on you, I didn't think that the social sciences as a general rule were that hard to get into. Good luck if you decide to go.
Soldato
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By the time I graduate, I will have had 4 years of £3000 fees alone!
The repayment threshold is £15,000 exactly and has been for a few years (as in it does not go up with inflation and it won't do, as the government needs people to repay their loans).
People do need to realise that it is a loan though and not see it as free money. I have a friend who blew all his loan on a fancy car...........so he will be paying back a car he had at age 19 when he is 50!
If I had it my way I would have the loan repayement threshold lowered to £10,000. It would make people think twice about going to uni jsut for the sake of getting drunk or avoiding a job for 3 years. Also it would mean people on low wage should repay their loan too. E.g. Do a degree then go and work as a shelf stacker, imo you should still pay it back.
The repayment threshold is £15,000 exactly and has been for a few years (as in it does not go up with inflation and it won't do, as the government needs people to repay their loans).
People do need to realise that it is a loan though and not see it as free money. I have a friend who blew all his loan on a fancy car...........so he will be paying back a car he had at age 19 when he is 50!
If I had it my way I would have the loan repayement threshold lowered to £10,000. It would make people think twice about going to uni jsut for the sake of getting drunk or avoiding a job for 3 years. Also it would mean people on low wage should repay their loan too. E.g. Do a degree then go and work as a shelf stacker, imo you should still pay it back.
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You have a masters yet have never broken the threshold to pay it back? The threshold is £15kpa
They take £195 a month from me. I don't earn a significant amount, I think either they've made an error or that online calculator is duff.
To be paying back £2400 per year means you're earning about £40K... it might not be a "significant amount" but just to put that in perspective, only about 1/10 people in the UK earn that.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
450 UCAS points would get you into Oxford or Cambridge, are you quite sure its that many!?
Sorry but £190 a month is not a significant proportion of a £40k pa salary. £190 a month might seem like a lot to you now (And to me) but neither of us are on £40k.
Basically, my college qualifications are in music, but I want to study politics at degree level, and as such, I've only been accepted at a pretty poor uni (one of the universities that 'cleverly' renamed themselves from a polytechnic).
I guess another question would be, if I were to get a first from a uni such as that (I wouldn't even bother going if I didn't aim to get a first), would my chances of studying a Masters at a decent uni be any good?
Also... Politics, how much does a degree in social science actually weigh?
UWE isn't a bad teaching university, not much research done there. A first class undergraduate degree will certainly get you on to a Masters course (assuming you'll have to pay full whack for that as there is very little funding for Masters). The relative standing of your undergraduate institution has more weight for PhD applications in my opinion.
On the broader point of whether university is worth it, getting a decent classification from a decent university (irrelevant of the subject) is worth it in my opinion. Outside of that, it's more questionable.
They take £195 a month from me. I don't earn a significant amount, I think either they've made an error or that online calculator is duff.
What do you earn (Give us a rough idea if you like)? Unless its £40k a year something is very wrong there! A typical grad will be on what, 20k a year? Thats only about 40 quid student loan payment a month.
Associate
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They take about £100 a month off me but I have never 'seen' that money so you don't really notice it. I will have paid it off in a year or 2 so that will be a nice little bonus.
[QUOTE='[TW]Fox;16049812'
Sorry but £190 a month is not a significant proportion of a £40k pa salary. £190 a month might seem like a lot to you now (And to me) but neither of us are on £40k.[/QUOTE]
No, But I do pay back 30-40 a week. the average is £34 a week at the moment.
That is a significant amount when you live on your own and are thinking about buying a house. That is a fair chunk of disposable income, as I said if you use the degree it is well worth it, but many people (myself included) do not.
Sorry but £190 a month is not a significant proportion of a £40k pa salary. £190 a month might seem like a lot to you now (And to me) but neither of us are on £40k.[/QUOTE]
No, But I do pay back 30-40 a week. the average is £34 a week at the moment.
That is a significant amount when you live on your own and are thinking about buying a house. That is a fair chunk of disposable income, as I said if you use the degree it is well worth it, but many people (myself included) do not.
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You were the one who built up the debt, you obviously thought it worth it at the time?
A mid 30's job is ok anyway, while not loads you have not done too badly so i wouldn't beat yourself up over the degree costs....
Doesn't really affect me. I pay back about £125 per month, which is automatically deducted from my salary. I'll be paying it back for around ten years I imagine, but the amount I pay is far less than the difference in salary I would expect from a non-professional position.
I'm not beating myself up about it. Just saying if I had my time again I would do it differently and people saying you don't notice it, well you do (or I do) when you start earning, before the last two years I didn't notice it. Also with Uni debt being more like 7k a year these days I would certainly think twice before doing any old degree.
Oh totally, this is why i didn't bother pursuing it in the end. Glad i didn't, and tbh i felt rather misguided with everybody at the time hammering it into me that i MUST go to uni. I bet i am not the only one who was given bad advice. At least i only wasted a few grand (which i paid off ages ago) rather than a larger sum.
Yeah it certainly does seem to be drummed into you Uni or rubbish job. Or at least when I was at school.
Apprenticeships were frowned upon, due to rubbish pay and those with a degree earning more when they finished. Well that does not seem to be the case unless you get a good degree from a good uni. An average degree from an average uni, then an apprenticeship seems to of come of better. Not only do they have industry experience they have far more qualification in the job. Like IT people have MS or Cisco qualifications. As well as their HNDs in computing, which can be topped up to degree if they wish.
I'm also sure lots of large company will have sponsored degrees similar to this
http://prospectus.shu.ac.uk/CourseEntry.cfm?CourseId=1009
Or apprenticeships like this
http://careers.networkrail.co.uk/apprentices
it's just doing the research to find out about them and also knowing what you want to do as a career.
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This is how I felt at the time. People pushing students to go into uni. Most uni courses are not worth the paper they are wrote on now I think unless you really do the high end courses not like media studies e.t.c as someone else mentioned in this thread.
Earning around £31k, works out about £2.4k a month (the rest being overtime and yearly bonus), paying £104 in student loan payments on a standard payday. It's basically bugger all.
The taxman/NI nabbing another £600ish between them is far more annoying I assure you
Including student loan, NI and tax I walk away with about £1.72k a month.
My degree was at Sheffield Hallam. I aren't really using it so much at the moment but it opened a ****load of doors on the way here.
Get degree, get in ANY employment that pays the bills and is vaguely related to your degree, get better jobs, specialise in something and get paid a decent sum (im about here at the moment) get GOOD at chosen field and aim for around £70k+ a year (thats an IT based career route but generally works for most minus the final figure).
The taxman/NI nabbing another £600ish between them is far more annoying I assure you
Including student loan, NI and tax I walk away with about £1.72k a month.
My degree was at Sheffield Hallam. I aren't really using it so much at the moment but it opened a ****load of doors on the way here.
Get degree, get in ANY employment that pays the bills and is vaguely related to your degree, get better jobs, specialise in something and get paid a decent sum (im about here at the moment) get GOOD at chosen field and aim for around £70k+ a year (thats an IT based career route but generally works for most minus the final figure).
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Permabanned
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Earning around £31k, works out about £2.4k a month (the rest being overtime and yearly bonus), paying £104 in student loan payments on a standard payday. It's basically bugger all.
The taxman/NI nabbing another £600ish between them is far more annoying I assure you
Including student loan, NI and tax I walk away with about £1.72k a month
Doing what? with what qualifications?