[Zeronet]

Originally posted by Styxx



Nah, he went the easier way - he joined the army.

(okay, let's stop the bad jokes... )

Im getting my A levels and then joining the AAC as an Officer, dont diss the army

Also students in the uk find it very difficult to pay off debt or even live during their uni years, unless grants or something comes out i doubt i'd be able to live with 1k debt.

[wEvil]

the point is students having to PYA their own tuition fees is utterly LUDICROUS.

we pay 17.5% Sales tax on everything we buy, between 20 and 40% income tax plus 80% petrol tax.

Our govornment is just squeezing everything way too hard.  Thats why tuition fees piss me off something chronic - because with the amount of tax my parents and myself have already paid, i should have free reign of the system.

But I dont, because they are incompetent and waste my money because they think they can spend it better than i can.

Utter, total, steaming, hairy bollocks.

In the UK you can get UP TO a £3,750 loan, and skip paying £1075 tuition fees.

I had £3,478 and had to pay the whole £1075 myself because my parents, even though they earn £30k+ each, can't afford to fund me.

The banks' been my best friend, to be honest (thank god for interest free overdrafts, and I've even maxxed that out)

I'm not irresponsible with money at all, its just as soon as you pay £1k tuition and then have to find cash for rent and food it doesnt leave you with very much at all.

The student loan is not an adequate system.  It does not work.  The amount of money you get is insufficient, the fact you have to pay it back is unacceptable considering the amount of tax the average briton pays and the system of applying for one is totuous to say the least.

There is nothing that can be said in defense of this system or this govornment - they're no better than criminals.

[Styxx]

Well, here in Brazil we have private universities (you have to pay for it) and public ones (better than the private ones, you don't have to pay, but it's hard to get in). If you get into a private one, you can still get government help to pay up to 70% of the costs, with very low interest rates and several years to pay, starting at one year after you've completed your course.

I got into a public one myself, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul...

[aldo_14]

( I agree 100% with wEvil)

Originally posted by Zeronet
Its free in scotland aint it?

Nope.  We have to pay them back once we earn >10k a year (point of reference - the average wage in the UK is 16k).

seeing as graduates are most likely to get the best jobs, and thus pay most income tax, this is plainly discriminatory and unfair (intended to get the votes of people too dumb to go to Uni, who resent student smore intelligent than they are).

At present (2nd year), I owe 2x £2000 for fees, plus £1800 + £2500 in loans, at an absurdly high rate of interest.  (that's almost £7k kiddies )

I have exactly £220 in the bank.  I've spent at least £300 on books since I started, and at least £500-800 (minimum) on train fares.  Plus food and other expenses (notably computer software and stuff - I'm doing comp Science).

I do have a few grand in a high interest account from my loan, but I've recently discovered that the interest on the 2 are just about even (my intention being to have interest leftover from paying back the loan).

Bear in mind, this is the highest interest rate of any ISA account in the UK.

I haven't bought any new clothes for over a year, nor went out, and I have to bring my own lunch to Uni to try and save money.  Had I been living in the student halls, I'd have mostly likely went broke.

Now you tell me it's not unfair?

[Styxx]

Ouch!

And I thought we had a crappy education system...

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Styxx
Ouch!

And I thought we had a crappy education system...

We do have a good education system...it's just the way it's funded that's crap.   Unfortunately, my course is so time-consuming I don't have the time to get a job (literally - I'm in 8 till 5 with no breaks atall most days, sometimes longer), so I need to rely almost totally on the government.

Who are, of course, money grabbing bastards.  

interesting point - we have £1+ billion in unused taxes, etc, sitting in the treasury.  Presumably, to buy off voters if anyone is ever capable of challenging Labour at the polls.

[Styxx]

Politicians are politicians, everywhere...

[diamondgeezer]

I've found a workable solution: spend your nights in the pub/FREDding, and sleep through your lectures! Bonus!

[CP5670]

The taxation is not too bad in the US but the better universities are very expensive. (MIT for example is $25000/year )

[Zeronet]

The Army(AAC, im not joining inf) will pay my tuition fees.

[wEvil]

Heh.

I've earned almost £1,500 on contract work, had a £500 hardship loan and im up to the eyeballs in overdraft (£1,250) at the moment.

On average, therefore, you need an UTTER MINIMUM of £7000 loan per year.

we get barely £4k.

£3,000 short of what you need unless you want to live like a hermit and eat beans on toast all year.

[Styxx]

You don't have any kind of public universities there?

[wEvil]

If you're super-intelligent or have a rich daddy you're fine, you can get scholarships and stuff.

If you're just a normal, tax-paying british citizen, they screw you over.

Its as simple as that.

Which is why i dont intend on being a British citizen for much longer.  I dont really want to be associated with such a rediculous sysytem.

[Setekh]

Man, that sounds so backwards. What is happening to the world these days, I don't know...

[wEvil]

I dont have a clue why everyone thinks the UK is so great - its just about as totally crap as you can get, honestly.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Styxx
You don't have any kind of public universities there?

We did have free Unis, with grants, but when a suppossedly socialist labour government came in, on of the first thing they did was introduce fees and scrap grants.

Presumably to win votes by screwing over students to cut taxes.

[wEvil]

Originally posted by aldo_14

Presumably to win votes by screwing over students to cut taxes.

Which they then put up by another 20%, speaking hollistically.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by wEvil


Which they then put up by another 20%, speaking hollistically.

LEts be fair.

all that money does go to a useful, and valuable cause.








(aye, that'll be ****ing likely)

like a new office for MPs to spend 1 day a week, in with plants rented for several thousand pounds a year..... rented - what the hell!?!. Or a presidential (cough) jet for Tony Blair costing several million (veto-ed by the Royal family, who were s'possed to share it - at least someone there has a vague bit of common sense).  Plus flights to African countries so El Presidente Tony can have a holiday.  not to mention the Millenium Dome, the worlds tackiest tourist attraction.  Or the money given to bail out Railtrack before it collapsed.... need I go on?

The problem with Britain, is that it's run by politicians......

[Styxx]

That's sounding an awful lot loke Brazil, you know?

(There was a scandal some time ago when a news agency found out that the government spent several millions to build a place to grow frogs... Frogs, for God's sake!)

[Zeronet]

I think they are brining back grants for those from poorer families but with intelligence. Still the Uk is a consitutional democracy, labour can do whatever they want because the tories will never get in because they'd make it even worse and are totally useless as an opposition.