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Advantages:
Easy money, financial support when you can't really support yourself
Disadvantages:
Interest really mounts up, repayments swallow up payments for things that you should be considering after uni i . e . nice house, decent holidays
I would like to pass on some worldly advice to all those budding students out there. I graduated in 2003 and unfortunately at that point I was well and truly up to my eyeballs in debt. I worked throughout my three years at university and still felt I needed to get a student loan every year, and every year I took the maximum. I maxed out my overdraft facilities and took out a credit card too. Credit was thrown at me, despite the fact I was working minimum wage in the service industry and had no way of paying anything back.
At the time I was very young and carefree, or is that foolish, I had no experience of budgeting for life in the real world. I genuinely thought that I needed that money to get by on. Also, the nice flowery way that your repayments are described to you, you think that it's not even going to make an impact on you to pay it back. You are told not to worry and that you will pay back what you borrowed when you are earning enough money to make the repayments which in a way is true if you don't mind the massive interest that builds up while you are climbing the career ladder. What I needed at this time in my life was good financial advice. Rather than soaking up the credit thrown at me I wish I had really sat down and looked at the facts and figures. At the moment, the student loans company charge me £35 per month interest and take £10 per month from my wages. Although the interest rate is relatively low, I borrowed that much that the interest payments are huge. I can top this up with my earnings but what with the other responsibilities of adult life that I didn't really consider when I was 18, I can't contribute that much to my repayments. It has taken me all this time to make a dent in my overdraft and credit card debt too! I am 27 years old now I only have a small amount of savings because of the payments that I have been making to clear my debts over the years. I can't afford a house at the moment and when surprise expenses come in i.e. a car repair, I really struggle.
I have found the service at the Student Loans Company to be very good. I have had to phone them a few times over the years to help with enquiries and everything has been resolved quickly and without too much fuss but I am sickened though by the new adverts on television advising students to call the student loans company if they need extra money. What we should be offering is help with budgeting and finding ways to make your money go further. Not just convincing people that a way out of money problems is to borrow money.
My advice to future students is to sit down and really consider the facts and figures. Don't take on debt lightly because of the idea that you don't have to pay it back for ages! It comes around sooner than you realise and by that time, life has caught up with you and you have a million more things that you would rather be paying for. Spend some time going through your figures, try to get help with budgeting and making your money work for you. Your university or bank should be able to help with this, if not look online and find the answers for yourself, or ask your parents if possible!! Try to say no to credit whenever you can and if you can't then try to keep it to a total minimum. Rather than taking the full amount on your loan or overdraft every year, take a smaller amount. Ask your credit card company to keep your limit at a manageable level. Anything that you can save will help you in the future.
Good luck with your studies and your financial future!
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You've made some good points - in the first year at uni I didn't know expensive everthing would be so I took out the full tuition and maintenance loan amount, by the time the second year came around I had enough money left over from my maintenance loan to pay for the second years tuition so I took out no loan at all. Unfortunately by the third year (this academic year hust started) I did not have enough to pay for tuition so have had to take out the tuition fee loan but with the manitenance grant and my less-than-minimum-wage job I will just manage to stay afloat.
That said even though I spend my days scrimping and saving I will still end up roughly £11000 in debt before interest is added.
FirstToTry 02.07.2008 17:12
great review - i'm gonna start uni this october and am not looking forward to repaying my debts afterwards that is why i wont get a credit card
quan 27.07.2007 23:07
well av got my credit cards to pay off before i start uni, i`m very nervous about how i`m gonna cope with my finances at uni. Great reveiw by the way! xx
Advantages: The cheapest form of credit you can get (except for your parents), repayments only start once you earn £10k+ Disadvantages: Ultimately it is still a loan, and it does need repaying, also the forms are a pain - but it's the best you can get, and a degree is worth it
Advantages: The cheapest form of credit you can get (except for your parents), repayments only start once you earn £10k+ Disadvantages: Ultimately it is still a loan, and it does need repaying, also the forms are a pain - but it's the best you can get, and a degree is worth it
Advantages: A student loan works in the same way as a loan with the advantage of lower interest rates- fluctuating with inflation rates. By and large a loan is easily obtainable as all students qualify for one. Disadvantages: The main and most annoying disadvantage is the amount of paperwork required to apply for a loan and the time it takes for the innefficient LEAS to go through them.
very helpful by (88%):
helpful by (6%):
somewhat helpful by (6%):
