Poll: Are you in Debt ?

Recommended Videos

Leadfinger

New member
Apr 21, 2010
293
0
0
DoPo said:
SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Dont the student loaning companies just say "Fuck it" after 7 years of trying to get their money and give up?
Something like that. If you haven't started paying in 7 years (I have to look up exactly how many, but 7 sounds correct) they quit, if you have started paying it off but haven't finished in 25 years (I'm just going to trust JoJo) they still quit.

It's not too bad and the loans aren't too big themselves.
(In the U.S.) No, they don't quit. They get a judgement against in court and can then garnish your wages. Also, unlike other debts, going bankrupt doesn't erase the debt. The debt never goes away.
 

thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
4,794
0
0
Currently my only debt is my Overdraft. To the tune of close to £1000 as of now. Ouch. I'l get paid on Monday (hopefully), but this won't pay it all off, and then I'll have to buy things and pay bills and such next month.
 

Dogstile

New member
Jan 17, 2009
5,093
0
0
I will be £7500 in debt after I finish my degree. That's not bad at all compared to other peoples debts, so i'm not that worried.
 

BringBackBuck

New member
Apr 1, 2009
491
0
0
I ticked the "never pay it off" box, since my mortgage has a 25 year term, and 25 years is closer to never than 3 years.
 

Llil

New member
Jul 24, 2008
653
0
0
I haven't taken a loan, but I'm not rich at all.

So far I've been able to live mostly on student benefits. There's no tuition fees in here and I live in a really cheap student apartment, so it's possible. I'll just have to see how long I can keep it up.
 

Sun Flash

Fus Roh Dizzle
Apr 15, 2009
1,242
0
0
Where's the "No I've never needed to take out a loan, not because I'm rich, I just learned how to budget myself and live within my means" option?

Although, I'm in Scotland, so my fees get paid for me, and I live within commuting distance to university, so I stay with my parents until I get a job that pays enough to move out. I exist on part time work that gets me about £200 a month, I do my own washing and pay my parents rent (Obviously nothing like renting a flat, but it's still money).

I am eligible for a student loan but honestly, I'm trying my hardest not to start out adult life in debt.
 

CommanderL

New member
May 12, 2011
835
0
0
Yes but its only minor like 460 dollars i pay 20 a fortnight automatically gets withdrawn as soon as it goes in so i dont have to worry about
 

jamart

New member
Feb 16, 2011
84
0
0
The thing is, the UK student Loan is NOT proper debt, okay?

Yes, you will be paying more than, for example I am, but the interest on the loan is so negligable as to make no difference, you have to be earning what, more than 16K a year before you start paying it back, and that 16K is protected anyway, every penny of that is student loan free.

What's more, if you stop working/earning over 16K... you stop paying it back until you earn over the cap again, also, only you are liable for that money, so if you get married, it isn't your household income that you're tested on, but your own.

Say your wife/you decides to leave their job to have a child - her student loan payments cease when she's not working, you don't have to make that money up.

The main issue for me is that as I plan to be self-employed (barrister) I won't have the ease of using the PAYE function, and as such will have a major headache at the end of the tax year.

TL;DR
Chill, it really, really isn't that bad, and doesn't operate in the same way a normal loan does.

***

Final note, a lot of the controversy over the increase in UK tuition fees is down to Nick Clegg.

Everyone expected the Tories to put up the fees, everyone really, expected Labour to do the same should, by some miracle they stayed in power.

What we (the liberal democrat voters) didn't think, was that Clegg would throw away his flagship policy, - one he had, whilst campaigning signed a pledge along with every other Lib Dem MP in the country, saying in the next Parliament they would fight tuitions fees and a rise in them - for a chance to get a couple of Lib Dem ministers and to be deputy PM. Even worse was the way Vince Cable tried to back pedal.

Anyway, my thoughts there
 

Nickolai77

New member
Apr 3, 2009
2,843
0
0
After graduating i'll be in debt of around £16,000. Add another £5000 to that if i choose to do an MsC in Management to make myself more employable. It's something i'll be able to eventually pay off assuming i'll get a good job, but it's fairly hefty chunk of debt. The loans offered to Masters students have high rates of interests, and most of the post-grad funding, bursaries and grants etc go towards the science and technology students.


I think if a state can afford it then higher education should be either free or heavily subsidised by the state as is the case in Germany. Still, you still need an economy where you can get good jobs without a degree so people all don't feel the need to get a degree and flood the jobs market with graduates. If the country had a sizeable industrial base then that usually means that there are plenty of jobs for non-graduates, but if your living in a country too heavily reliant on one sector that requires graduates you are going to get problems.


I count myself lucky that i got into university before they raised the tuition fees so i was able to study what truly interests me. That may not be the case had i been starting university in 2012. With the increase in tuition fees in the UK i imagine what's going to happen is that a lot of students who want to do art or humanities degrees would instead opt for business related degrees or study on the continent were tuition fees are cheaper (and they can probably pick up a new a new language). I expect therefore that university arts and humanities departments will shrink whilst business and management schools will increase in size. This will turn universities more into business training schools than institutes of learning.

I think an issue to consider is that a university education is a core middle class aspiration, and the "Middle Class" in the UK has been growing hugely since de-industralisation. If everyone is middle class then everyone will want a higher education, which destroys the value of having a higher education unless some sort of "higher-higher education" is invented.
 

Spygon

New member
May 16, 2009
1,105
0
0
Where is the option of i am not in debt because i am good with money.As i am deffintly not rich and have a low paying job.I just dont buy stuff i dont need.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
6,092
0
0
Where's the option for "Yes, but I think I will pay it off some time"? Seriously. I am in debt and I still got 3 and a half years left to study so I wont pay it off within 3 years, but I will pay it off at some point. I also see myself taking up a loan to get a house in the future, so I think my debt will stay with me until I'm in my 50's or possibly longer depending on how much support I get.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,316
0
0
Razada said:
4 years ago we did not have a bunch of fuckwits in power. Ok, we did, but not fuckwits who think that education should only be for the rich. Everything changed when the student fees went nuclear.

How do you think I feel

My three year course will put me 27 grand in debt due to tuition fees alone (That is 42,834.25 USD for you Americans) and I intend to get a masters, upping that to 45 grand (71,390.42 USD). Add a PGCE to that and you are looking at 54 grand (85,668.50 USD). That is just tuition fees.

Now, according to UCAS and the finance people I have been talking to, living costs stand at roughly 7 grand a year. I live on the cheap though, lets call it five. BA = 15 grand (23,796.81 USD), MA = 10 grand (15,864.54 USD) PGCE = 5 grand (7,932.27 USD)

So!

The big numbers!

Getting the qualifications I want will cost me...

Upwards of 84,000 pounds.
Or 133,262.12 USD

And that is BEFORE I move on to my PhD. Although to be fair I could skip out on the PGCE, move strait to PhD and you get paid a small amount for the teaching you are doing... But still, PhD's take a while so that number, somewhere between 84,000 pounds and 100,000 pounds (133,262.12 USD - 158,645.38 USD).

Best bit?

My parents went to University for free. Actually, they both got PAID to go to Uni.

Gotta love modern education policies!
WTFITS

Here in Canada, my parents squirreled away money since I was born, and the government matched it. I went to the most prestigious University in the city (University of Alberta) for a year and a half before flunking out, and have now been accepted into the most prestigious technical school in the city (NAIT), where I will get a diploma in two years.

Assuming I don't flunk out again, I will have screwed around for two years before actually getting a diploma, and will have spent ~$14000, and will not have had to have taken out a loan. Had I have gone to NAIT first, I'd have gotten a diploma and a job having spent $5000, max.

I'm very glad I'm not in Britain. :/
 

Flames66

New member
Aug 22, 2009
2,311
0
0
SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Wheres the "No, I never took a loan because I am so poor no bank will give me money in the first place" option?
I was wondering where the option for "No, because I and my family can manage money."
 

Panorama

Carry on Jeeves
Dec 7, 2010
509
0
0
Yeah, woow we love student loan, it is the only debt i have.
(now a little more for minimum post length)
 

Pinstar

New member
Jul 22, 2009
642
0
0
Uhhh you are missing an option "Yes I am, It will take me longer than 3 years to pay off but I will eventually."

That is why they call the 30 year home mortgage that name. It'll take you 30 years to pay it all off (Unless you pay down principal early).
 

liquidsolid

New member
Feb 18, 2011
357
0
0
Well I wouldn't say 'I'm rich' but I am very fortunate. My parents have been saving up for my college since the early 1980's (great interest rates back then) and still had to dip a bit into the savings pool for my college. I am also fortunate that I am an only child.
 

NightHawk21

New member
Dec 8, 2010
1,273
0
0
I'm covered for this year and next, but I will probably be in the hole about 3k in my final year of schooling. As for credit cards I'm trying my best to make sure the sleazy bastards never see a dime of my money (they owe me $4 dollars currently).