Student Debt

[Gypsum Salt]

it doesn't seem much at all, but you can't make the rules when you're in debt. and these days you can't get an education without it.

I had no education, and look where it got me.........









Gypsum

[Curvey_Brunette]

Personally I believe that ALL education should be free and paid for by the government.

I believe that everyone has a right to education and that right is a fundamental basic right.

I know that not everyone is capable of getting high honours degrees, after all, if everyone had a PhD then PhD's would become completely valueless. But that doesn't change the fact that the educational system in the UK is a complete sham!

Something like 86% of males and 76% of females questioned thought that Chlamydia is a plant or something Welsh and not the commonest sexually transmitted disease.

The numbers of school girls getting pregnant these days is higher than ever, so this reflects how dire sex education in schools is.

Exam papers will no longer lose points for bad spelling, 'text language' is perfectly acceptable despite the fact such a 'language' was developed based on the difficulty of sending a message via a mobile telephone because of the 'typing' restrictions and the character restrictions of mobile telephones.

If you can't read properly, if you can't spell, if you know nothing about punctuation and grammar then how can you even begin to express yourself using the written word?

Most kids these days have handwriting that looks like a spider has been dipped in an ink well and has crawled across the page, it takes time to decipher what they are trying to say which in turn has the knock on effect of not getting the message across to whoever reads it.

The whole educational system from nursery up to University needs a complete and total overhaul

[mogadishu]

Personally I believe that ALL education should be free and paid for by the government.


The whole educational system from nursery up to University needs a complete and total overhaul

Agreed.

[Jelly-Belly]

I'm currently studying part-time with the Open University. And it feels great to know that I won't be in any major debt when I finish. I get help with my fees because I'm working part-time.

Unfortunately I have no solutions to the student debt problem. I'm hoping this will right itself by the time my children are that age. I'm already saving but I'm sure it won't be enough.

I don't think making university education completely free is an answer. I knew a lot of people my age who went to university and wasted three years of their life and coming out with degrees that were worse than useless. They spent more time in the student bars than in lectures.

I do feel strongly that there is a lot of pressure on school leavers to pick a career path. You MUST do your A-levels, you MUST go to university, you MUST go into a job at the age of 22 and hope you don't regret it. I dropped out of school, went into employment and after 10 years doing the same job I chose to go back to education. I'm old enough now to know what I want and work for it.

And as for the education system being a sham...I blame whoever brought in comprehensive schools. I always felt lucky to live in N.I.

[Gladys]

The best education is the university of life.

[H1]

I'm a university student doing psychology and criminology. I was worrying this time last year about the financial implications of going to university; but it really helped me when my sixth form college ran an information session on finance as it told us we didn't have to pay it back until we were earning. I think I have been quite lucky in that my parents could afford to contribute (untill next year, due to changing family circumstances). This has allowed me to put half of my student loan so far into a high interest account. Therefore earning more interest for me, you could try that? I have no credit cards etc as I agree with whoever said it is like giving them the rope to hang themselves with. You could always speak to your tutor about hardship funds etc, plus all the bursaries available.

Good luck!

[mogadishu]

I walked past Hugh Laurie in Oxford Street once. He just gets better with age.

[Danko]

Personally I believe that ALL education should be free and paid for by the government.


The whole educational system from nursery up to University needs a complete and total overhaul

Agreed.

I am in debt up to my eyeballs after my studying.

BUT it was MY choice to study.

I don't see why the taxes of low-earners should pay for people to better themselves in the hope of making more money.

[Curvey_Brunette]

I am in debt up to my eyeballs after my studying.

But WHY are you in debt?

Because you had to spend too much money on books for your course? Because you had to buy loads of paper and pens for notes?

Or was it because you had the odd night out twice a week, went shopping for clothes, bought the latest mobile or Ipod?

BUT it was MY choice to study.

How can it be a choice when these days you need a degree just to get a job sweeping the floor at burger king?

I don't see why the taxes of low-earners should pay for people to better themselves in the hope of making more money.

If you look at the tax system, the low earners pay hardly any tax at all.

[SarahGirl]

I am in debt up to my eyeballs after my studying.

I don't see why the taxes of low-earners should pay for people to better themselves in the hope of making more money.

If you look at the tax system, the low earners pay hardly any tax at all.

Yhat is simply not true - low earners pay little income tax but the the bottom 10% of earners pay a higher proportion of their incomes in total tax than the top 10%

[Curvey_Brunette]

Yhat is simply not true - low earners pay little income tax but the the bottom 10% of earners pay a higher proportion of their incomes in total tax than the top 10%

There are so many tax breaks and benefits such as family credit available to people on less than £15,000 a year.

Someone on £10,000 a year might pay £300 of that in tax, (excluding N.I. contributions), whereas someone on £100k a year would pay around £30,000 to £35,000 in tax.

I'll agree that single person low earners may pay more tax on the whole, but that still doesn't negate the minimum tax paid is 10% at the bottom and 40% at the top.

[Danko]

I am in debt up to my eyeballs after my studying.

But WHY are you in debt?

Because you had to spend too much money on books for your course? Because you had to buy loads of paper and pens for notes?

Or was it because you had the odd night out twice a week, went shopping for clothes, bought the latest mobile or Ipod?

BUT it was MY choice to study.

How can it be a choice when these days you need a degree just to get a job sweeping the floor at burger king?

I don't see why the taxes of low-earners should pay for people to better themselves in the hope of making more money.

If you look at the tax system, the low earners pay hardly any tax at all.

Why I am in debt is neither here or there. Having to take out a loan to cover £8k course fees last year doesn't help.

Student Union bars are full of people whinging about the debt they are getting into while they are pissed all the while and it irritates me.

A low earner may or may not pay very much tax. Why should ANY of that person's tax be used to subsidise someone trying to climb over them in the social stratification system? Or, worse, subsidise someone who spends 3 years on the piss and goes to University for the social life?

[sexybk8xx]

Yhat is simply not true - low earners pay little income tax but the the bottom 10% of earners pay a higher proportion of their incomes in total tax than the top 10%

There are so many tax breaks and benefits such as family credit available to people on less than £15,000 a year.

Someone on £10,000 a year might pay £300 of that in tax, (excluding N.I. contributions), whereas someone on £100k a year would pay around £30,000 to £35,000 in tax.

I'll agree that single person low earners may pay more tax on the whole, but that still doesn't negate the minimum tax paid is 10% at the bottom and 40% at the top.

sorry but i make £11000 a year and i pay over £200 in tax a month not including National insurance. so you pay planty in tax.

as for the student debt thing i was at uni and had to leave during the second year as i was unable to support myself and wasnt getting any help from outside parties other than the usual student loan etc but really the loan doesnt help that much cause i found that i after i paid my rent i was left with less than a grand to live off for the full year which after food books etc isnt very much.

i took the time out and now after a year off im ready to go back in september and im slighty better prepared for it this time. but dont drop out in your final year. go for a hardship loan as thats what they are there for. and dont worry about your student loan cause you dont have to pay it back till your making £17,000 and thats after all tax and national insurance is taken out your student loan comes out last and as it comes out of your pay automatically you wont even notice it that much

plus there is talk of putting the amount you earn up because the fees are going up so there will be more to pay back

[Curvey_Brunette]

sorry but i make £11000 a year and i pay over £200 in tax a month not including National insurance. so you pay planty in tax.

On £11k a year you should be paying £672.80 a year in tax and £419.65 a year in N.I contributions.

Your personal allowance is £5,035 leaving £5,965 which is taxable.

Out of that you should pay £215.00 in tax on the first £2,150 @ 10% and out of the remaining £3,815 you should pay £457.80 in tax@ 22%.

I'd have a word with my employer if I were you as you're paying far too much tax on your income.

You should be paying £56.06 a month in tax and £34.97 a month in N.I. contributions. Or you should be getting an annual rebate of around £1,307.64.

Something isn't right about the amount of tax you're paying and it would seem on the face of it, you're being ripped off to the tune of over £1,300 a year.

[sexybk8xx]

well its not just my placeof work, everyone i know pays about that on their tax. so maybe our tax is just different in NI