I have finally paid of my pre-2012 student loan and should seen a small refund.

Before 2012 students in the UK should get:

• loan for tuition fees
• loan for housing
• grant for housing

The difference before 2012 & up to 2016 was the cost of tuition fees and before 2012 the amount of income you needed before you started paying it back (£15k pre 2012, £21k post 2012). Since 2016 the grants are no more.

I always thought American education costing way more, I mean NYU tuition is $48k (per yr) compared to UK £9k (per year), but American students average debt is around $35k whereas UK student debt is £44k. I suppose this is due to plenty of grants & scholorships in the US (with students living at home) whereas there aren’t many as all in the UK.

Now that the NHS is no longer supporting nurse training and students no longer received a bursary (much the same as a grant), I will be in the same situation as any other UK student come September.

I will walk out of Uni with around £52.950 of debt!!!!!

Fortunately I will only pay back each month 9 % of my income over £21k rather than a % of what I actually owe like in America.  Most UK students will never pay back their loans, either as they don’t earn enough or won’t pay in back with in 30 years.

So while I don’t like the idea that we come out with more debt, I do like the idea of how we pay it back, oh and that it comes out of our pay directly and doesn’t impact on our credit histories/scores etc so won’t have an impact on mortgage applications etc.