Must have been! How does £9000 a year tuition fees at a number of univeristies (when it was expected that onl Oxbridge would charge that much) work out to be less?

Incorrect. By the time you add on interest (not charged before) and the inability to pay the loan off early the average student will be much worse off over the duration of his career. An 'average' student could easily end up paying >£80k for his/her degree. And this is all money that the Government has to pay up front, so it won't even save the taxpayer any cash for years. The entire policy was based on the incredibly stupid idea that the majority of Universities would [ivoluntarily[/i charge less than they could do.

Still, that's what happens when you put an idiot in charge of education and another in charge of the economy.

the limit at which you pay back has been increased by 6k (from the limit set by labour) so that you do not pay anything back unless you earn over 21k, then it is only 9% of anything over that.

So if you earn 22k on the new system you pay back £90 per year, on the old system you pay back £540, the total amount is almost inconsequential as very few people will actually pay back that amount

You sound like my ex-wife: she'd come home from shopping, telling me how much she had saved, rather than how much she'd spent

But you'd still be paying off the full tuition fees, surely? And when Anytown Poly is charging £9k a year for a 3 year course, that's a lot to payback before any living costs are added, regardless of how much you have to earn before you start paying.

anyone who voted for their LOCAL politicians on NATIONAL policies is a dimwit.

I fear for HCC, special measures inside 36 months methinks.

Its not traditional debt in that form - you don't need to pay it back, the government just takes it out with your PAYE when you are eligible, if you never pay the full amount back, nothing happens

- and it doesnt effect your credit rating

Hardly an encouragement for the graduates of tomorrow to push themselves into decent jobs

for the sake of £40 a month?

I'd agree with that. I'm sure there are a number of decent hardworking Lib Dem councillors (there are some!) will be delighted that they've been booted out because of Clegg's lust for any sort of power.

When I went to university (under labour) I had to pay my fees upfront before I could start university, this system would have made it easier for me to go to uni

or £27000 in total?

Wrong again.

For a start, the average graduate starting salary is >£25k so the 'you don't pay anything back until...' argument falls at the first hurdle. For a second, because of the way interest is now added to the loan a graduate who stays at an average salary grade throughout his career will pay back a lot more than someone who earns a packet. That figure of >80k total was calculated [ibased[/i on an average student with an average career.

Your only chance to pay less under the new system is to either be rich enough to not need a loan, become rich enough to pay the loan off quickly, or be poor enough to get support. The [iaverage[/i student is getting screwed over.

When I went to university, under the Tories (but following a system that had been in place for years) my fees were paid for me by the local authority and I received a grant from them for my living costs. Didn't cost me a penny.