College/ university ... What's the best way of funding it?

[emyandpotato]

I am massively in debt from uni, but would I trade that for my parents having forked out £30k of their savings? No way. The loan repayment system is fair and means that it's not a loan in the sense that it cripples you with interest or demands money when you can't afford it. I don't agree with the government funding university either, as the Lib Dems proposed. It's a crazy amount of money the state would lose on students alone, and it was getting to the point where people were going to university for the sake of it rather than to follow a dream or get a better job. The only issue with the loans system that I have is that if your parents earn more money, then you get slightly less in your loan but end up more in debt than if your parents earn less money, because of the way they split the loans/grants. My OH had lower earning parents than me and got a substantially bigger loan than I did, but half of it was a grant, which isn't repayable, so his debt is less. I don't think that's fair, and I think each person should receive the same amount if students are to be classed as adults.

 

[hopeandpray]

I'm very lucky as university only costs around 2,000 a year in Ireland. If your parents are low income (which mine are) you get this paid for you. However as my family live nowhere near a uni I had to move out of home and so that is a big expensive. My mum pays this for me and without it I would never be able to go to college. My course is time-intensive and I would not be able to work enough hours to pay rent.

I don't believe that people don't understand the value of money or education until they are paying their own way. They way I look at it is right now it wouldn't be easy to make much money. Because my mother is allowing to me to focus on my education I will be able to earn a lot of money in the future. Then when she is older I will be able to support her as she has done for me now.

 

[TwilightAgain]

I'm very lucky as university only costs around 2,000 a year in Ireland. If your parents are low income (which mine are) you get this paid for you. However as my family live nowhere near a uni I had to move out of home and so that is a big expensive. My mum pays this for me and without it I would never be able to go to college. My course is time-intensive and I would not be able to work enough hours to pay rent.

I don't believe that people don't understand the value of money or education until they are paying their own way. They way I look at it is right now it wouldn't be easy to make much money. Because my mother is allowing to me to focus on my education I will be able to earn a lot of money in the future. Then when she is older I will be able to support her as she has done for me now.

Completely agree with this!

 

[nugget80]

I would say student loans are the way to go... I am lucky i don't have debt from my degree as i was a single mum i didn't pay any fees, however now doing my pgce i Will owe about 15000 for the year but oh has said i won't notice the repayments when i start working. Girls Will have a large amount of money when they reach 18 but i have told them not to use it on uni fees...

 

[xemmax]

I would say student loans are the way to go... I am lucky i don't have debt from my degree as i was a single mum i didn't pay any fees, however now doing my pgce i Will owe about 15000 for the year but oh has said i won't notice the repayments when i start working. Girls Will have a large amount of money when they reach 18 but i have told them not to use it on uni fees...

OT but how are you finding the PGCE? I start in September and dreading the workload!

 

[nugget80]

The hardest thing is the workload and to begin with it seems daunting! Term after Christmas is by far the toughest in terms of work volume but its doable. You just need to be tough with yourself... Good luck! Where are you doing yours?

 

[xemmax]

The hardest thing is the workload and to begin with it seems daunting! Term after Christmas is by far the toughest in terms of work volume but its doable. You just need to be tough with yourself... Good luck! Where are you doing yours?

Ahh thanks for the heads up, I'm pretty nervous! Is it flying by? Not long to go for you now! University of Nottingham - are you primary/secondary? I'm secondary English

 

[nugget80]

Yes... Its gone very quick! Im primary and can't believe there's just a term now...! My oh is an English teacher and although its about 8 yrs since he did pgce he said he had nowhere near the paper work i do mainly as its just 1 subject whereas in primary you have to cover everything!

 

[Guppy051708]

Eh, if the US is recommending saving $2,000 per kid every month (which doesn't seem very realistic IMO), you should know that the vast majority of Americans dont have a private fund at all. Only the more lucrative families or the elite would ever be able to save that much! Im an American. My mom had 5 kids. There was no savings to be had to go to college. I got government max funding but that only goes so far. I went to Penn State. I am now in $80,000 debt for that, despite the fact that the goverment gave me the max amount (dont be confused it does not mean that covers even a small percetnage of the bill). Now, for the next 25 years DH and i will be paying a total of $900 every month to pay off our debt...i feel like a slave...and honestly, i wish i wasnt pressured into college. They say it's so importnant and you cant make a living off of it...well thats not true at all i learned AFTER attending college that i wanted to be a doula and childbirth educator. The trainings only costed a few hundred dollars. The money is lucrative in my area for that. I am a SAHM. Had i took some time off between graduating high school and going to college, i very well could have figured this out before being a slave for the rest of my life....

but anyways, that is just more a rant bc im still mad a penn state for saying there would be affordable monthly payments, so it's irrelevant, but i just wanted to share that bc its a common misconception that the majority of American families are saving money. Between paying for health insurance, college (which is very expensive here), and how expensive it can be to live day to day, even without all the "extras", it's just not realistic and not what typically ahppens.

now DH on the other hand, his parents saved up about $10,000 for him for college. ...He went to Penn STate too. Do you know that only covered the first year? That means there were still three years left to pay for. College, at least in the US, is just not the deal it once was. ...it is getting sooo expensive and the economy blows and most graduates cant get a job-not from laziness, just because everyone and their brother now has a degree and jobs arn't available bc of the economy.

 

[Piper84]

I am massively in debt from uni, but would I trade that for my parents having forked out £30k of their savings? No way. The loan repayment system is fair and means that it's not a loan in the sense that it cripples you with interest or demands money when you can't afford it. I don't agree with the government funding university either, as the Lib Dems proposed. It's a crazy amount of money the state would lose on students alone, and it was getting to the point where people were going to university for the sake of it rather than to follow a dream or get a better job. The only issue with the loans system that I have is that if your parents earn more money, then you get slightly less in your loan but end up more in debt than if your parents earn less money, because of the way they split the loans/grants. My OH had lower earning parents than me and got a substantially bigger loan than I did, but half of it was a grant, which isn't repayable, so his debt is less. I don't think that's fair, and I think each person should receive the same amount if students are to be classed as adults.

The government does and always has funded universities. They are almost without exception public institutions. The only difference between the parties is how much they spend on higher education.

The reason people started going to university "for the sake of it" is because successive governments have thought it would be a great idea for 50% of the population to have a uni degree and the job market has become dependent on it. In the process, they have got rid of polytechnics and created Mickey Mouse unis like the University of Lincoln and London Metropolitan, which used to offer quality technical education as a speciality and now also do "easy" degree courses you can get on to with pretty bad results.

It means there is now a two-tier uni system where a 2:i has become worth almost nothing, because basically anyone is able to get hold of one. One of the most damaging things is unis actively looking for Chinese and Indian students to come and pay extortionate fees for business degrees so they can make ends meet. In doing so they neglect and even close other departments like mathematics, modern languages, etc and basically become international business schools. I can see nothing right with the way the government is dealing with higher education at the moment.

 

[Foogirl]

Martin Lewis, the money saving expert has plenty to say on this, but his overwhelming message is, do not borrow money from the bank or save money over years to pay for education. The student loans system is the best low interest way to pay for education, many will never pay back what they borrowed.

And stop viewing it as debt. I forget his reasoning but I do remember it made sense at the time!

 

[Tiff]

And stop viewing it as debt. I forget his reasoning but I do remember it made sense at the time!

Thought that was interesting, did a Google search. Came up with this article. Is that what you were talking about? It makes some decent points.

 

[Pearls18]

Martin Lewis, the money saving expert has plenty to say on this, but his overwhelming message is, do not borrow money from the bank or save money over years to pay for education. The student loans system is the best low interest way to pay for education, many will never pay back what they borrowed.

And stop viewing it as debt. I forget his reasoning but I do remember it made sense at the time!

It's a shame the student loans system only extends to undergraduates in most circumstances, once you get to postgrad it's largely bank loans or saving up, I wish there was a little more support for postgrads, but saying that if that were the case we would then see a larger influx of postgrads searching for work! There would be even more overqualified people.

 

[Guppy051708]

Wow! UK citizens are truly lucky! Student loan debt is vastly different here. It's so different I can't view it as anything other than debt. I'll probably die and my govt loans still won't w paid off. But UK seems to have such a great program as far as getting aid as well as repayments

 

[Foogirl]

And stop viewing it as debt. I forget his reasoning but I do remember it made sense at the time!

Thought that was interesting, did a Google search. Came up with this article. Is that what you were talking about? It makes some decent points.

Yep, that's the one. It makes so much sense. But then, Martin Lewis is my hero. If he told me to invest in poo, I'd do it!

 

[Guppy051708]

 

[staralfur]

Wow! UK citizens are truly lucky! Student loan debt is vastly different here. It's so different I can't view it as anything other than debt. I'll probably die and my govt loans still won't w paid off. But UK seems to have such a great program as far as getting aid as well as repayments

Agreed. Student loans are debt here no matter which way you spin it.