Do you think there will be less people applying to certain universities...

G-MAN2004 · 5 Aug 2011 at 16:52

...due to the greatly increased costs?

I would have thought so with some of them going from just over £3k to around £8k a year, but I'm not so sure.

-westy- · 5 Aug 2011 at 16:53

A lot of students may have loans for the fees, so for the short term, its pretty much an "invisible cost" to them - so nothing will change IMO.

Sunbed · 5 Aug 2011 at 16:54

Yes I think it will stop some students going to Uni.

[TW]Fox · 5 Aug 2011 at 16:57

No, only people without the capacity to sit down, work through the numbers and work out how the fees actually affect them would decide not go to based on fees alone.

Arguably Uni would be better off without people who lack this capacity anyway.

For the average person who never goes on to be a high earner, they'll pay less per month than graduates do now and eventually have the entire loan written off. For those who do end up going on to earn large amounts of money after University, they will indeed pay more than people do now - but its arguably still worth going to Uni for these people - if they didnt get the benefit of massively increased earnings they wouldnt be paying off an increased amount.

View it as a graduate tax and it's far easier to appreciate that it isnt really a big deal.

alex_tank · 5 Aug 2011 at 16:58

Got an email from Open University saying their yearly fees will be £5k !?!!

For students in England studying with us for the first time from 1 September 2012 there will be a standard fee of £5,000 based on 120 credits of study. This is equivalent to a year’s full-time study at traditional universities.

Ahleckz · 5 Aug 2011 at 17:03

[TW]Fox;19752494 said:
No, only people without the capacity to sit down, work through the numbers and work out how the fees actually affect them would decide not go to based on fees alone.

Arguably Uni would be better off without people who lack this capacity anyway.

For the average person who never goes on to be a high earner, they'll pay less per month than graduates do now and eventually have the entire loan written off. For those who do end up going on to earn large amounts of money after University, they will indeed pay more than people do now - but its arguably still worth going to Uni for these people - if they didnt get the benefit of massively increased earnings they wouldnt be paying off an increased amount.

View it as a graduate tax and it's far easier to appreciate that it isnt really a big deal.

This.

Radio 2 did a thing on this today, and Martin Lewis (who I'm not a fan of) was getting so frustrated trying to explain it to people who didn't understand.

MrMoonX · 5 Aug 2011 at 17:10

alex_tank said:
Got an email from Open University saying their yearly fees will be £5k !?!!

thats shocking they charged about £600 for a 60 point course so £5k for 120 points is a rob

uniQ · 5 Aug 2011 at 17:18

I thought it would. But a friend who teaches on an access to HE course said they have had a record number of people enrolling for next year which I thought interesting. Obviously this is only at one college and not necessarily an indication of a wider trend. But I thought it was interesting.

Mr Jack · 5 Aug 2011 at 17:30

Despite the awfulness of ConDem's policy, it remains better to go to university than not. Especially as there are, basically, no jobs for people to go into instead. I imagine it may produce more of a tendency for people to do degrees that are considered more likely to boost your career.

I imagine some people will be put off - especially those from poorer backgrounds - but there will be less places than there were this year or last anyway so I don't think any university will struggle to fill its places.

ennogs · 5 Aug 2011 at 18:52

If I was young I would seriously consider if going to university is worth it. I was watching the news a couple of months ago and it said now the student loans are no longer interest free by the time you have paid the loans back you will have paid around £90,000. I think they must have based this on the uni charging the full £9,000.

I think certain industry sectors are going to struggle. For example to be a social worker you have to have a social work degree. Is it really worth getting yourself in all that debt to get a job that starts off with a wage of £19,000 - £23,000.

Also a lot of university students struggle to get a job in this current climate and end up doing minimum wage jobs like working in a supermarket.

Gerald Celente calls then degrees in worthlessness.

UK-AL05 · 5 Aug 2011 at 18:55

I don't know if much has changed, but since the loan is so low, gets written off if you don't pay it back and you only pay it back after a certain salary threshold is passed. Its a no brainer, it incurs hardly any risk. Its not as if your going to go bankrupt because of the loan. Mortgages also exclude it as a liability. The student loan company must be screwed.

Turambar · 5 Aug 2011 at 19:00

Doubtful. I guess it's possible though, but given the Bums on Seats mentality of most UK Universities I expect the Universities will bulk up their numbers by accepting students who wouldn't normally make the cut.

p4radox · 5 Aug 2011 at 19:01

It shouldn't make a difference, but I'm almost certain it will. Most people + the media are so obsessed with how the "higher prices" will put people off that it's bound to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Never mind the fact that no one needs to pay anything up front and many people will be better off under the new system...

explicit4u · 5 Aug 2011 at 19:06

p4radox said:
It shouldn't make a difference, but I'm almost certain it will. Most people + the media are so obsessed with how the "higher prices" will put people off that it's bound to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Never mind the fact that no one needs to pay anything up front and many people will be better off under the new system...

+1

Quite a few of my friends are worried about not being able to afford it because of 'what they hear on the news'. They don't actually realise that they pay nothing up front and iirc don't have to pay anything until you start earning £xx,xxx a year!

jamief · 5 Aug 2011 at 20:09

Mr Jack said:
Despite the awfulness of ConDem's policy, it remains better to go to university than not. Especially as there are, basically, no jobs for people to go into instead. I imagine it may produce more of a tendency for people to do degrees that are considered more likely to boost your career.

I imagine some people will be put off - especially those from poorer backgrounds - but there will be less places than there were this year or last anyway so I don't think any university will struggle to fill its places.

Please explain what is awful about the new policy.

DJMK4 · 5 Aug 2011 at 20:11

I think some students will stop going to uni, however it will still be over populated.

King Damager · 5 Aug 2011 at 20:24

I know plenty of people a couple of years younger who are considering not going....

Saying that, I'm not sure they'll be paying it all off, paying it after earning more, and it being written off after a certain amount of time... :s

kd

Mr Jack · 5 Aug 2011 at 20:30

jamief said:
Please explain what is awful about the new policy.

1. It pushes the awful consumer approach to students.
2. It costs students more.
3. It does nothing to address the chronic underfunding of universities.
4. Many students will still be paying for their degrees when their children go to uni.
5. Despite it's failure to make a single thing better it will actually cost more in the short term.

Basically, the only good thing is that they're finally offering funding to part time students.

flibbage0 · 5 Aug 2011 at 22:19

[TW]Fox;19752494 said:
No, only people without the capacity to sit down, work through the numbers and work out how the fees actually affect them would decide not go to based on fees alone.

Arguably Uni would be better off without people who lack this capacity anyway.

For the average person who never goes on to be a high earner, they'll pay less per month than graduates do now and eventually have the entire loan written off. For those who do end up going on to earn large amounts of money after University, they will indeed pay more than people do now - but its arguably still worth going to Uni for these people - if they didnt get the benefit of massively increased earnings they wouldnt be paying off an increased amount.

View it as a graduate tax and it's far easier to appreciate that it isnt really a big deal.

The payback rate is 9% of your income if you earn £21k or more.

Its written off after 25 years.

So you earn £25k a year, lets imagine that stays the same because you do just enough to survive.

That's £2250 each year.

25 x £2250 =£56,250

BUT

you borrow £4-6k a year and the maximum time you spend at uni is 5/6 years

So nearly everyone will pay back the entire loan.

Am I missing something?

Pinkribbonscars · 5 Aug 2011 at 23:22

flibbage0 said:
The payback rate is 9% of your income if you earn £21k or more.

Its written off after 25 years.

So you earn £25k a year, lets imagine that stays the same because you do just enough to survive.

That's £2250 each year.

25 x £2250 =£56,250

BUT

you borrow £4-6k a year and the maximum time you spend at uni is 5/6 years

So nearly everyone will pay back the entire loan.

Am I missing something?

Yes, the correct calculation is 0.09x(25000-21000)x25 = 9000.

Just listening to the Radio 2 bit. Jeremy Vine is such an idiot

.