Student Loan Consolidation Rates

chrishambly — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:31:51 -0400

This seems to be a major topic of discussion in many educational circles, not so much in the UK I might add, but I notice this as being a significant industry in the USA.

Student loans here in the UK are generally obtainable if a student is eligible for a degree of some kind from a recognised higher education, (HE), educational provider, such as a University or College.

Mostly student loans, and of course all their associated interest rates and consolidation, are provided by the main banks in the country. A student once having secured a University place is then almost without exception entitled to a loan.

This was not always the case in UK, it used to be the case that a student would be entitled to an educational grant, paid by one’s local educational authority ( LEA, which is county based), whereby effectively higher education was free, the grant was means tested based on a student’s family income etc.

However, education is no longer free, and hasn't been for some time, and student loans are the norm for people in higher education, and up for grabs for any HE student.

Of course this has opened the market up to other companies providing loans for HE students including the large American student loan company Sallie Mae with quoted rates of 9.3% APR. Naturally this market is probably likely to become fierce as essentially the company/bank is basically looking at investing in a prospect for life!

Bank student bank loans are actually very flexible with a no payment necessary policy until the graduate earns a particular sum per year, and then the required amount is minimal, and on a sliding scale. In fact I personally have heard enrolment officers stating to students, that students could actually view the loan repayments as a very small tax for life, hardly a noticeable deduction from the monthly pay check.

If a student is racking up 30 grand worth of debt over three or 4 years you can clearly see why viewing this as an educational tax is probably about correct.

Maybe you have a big student loan, have you paid this off, are you still in debt, how do you cope with your debt, is it a problem in working life?

I’d love to hear about that.