my student loan debt

a survey just came out about it, and it says that - fees have increased by 21% since 1998, average student debt is now $13,743 and only one in ten students are debt free, down from 21% in 1998.

So i did some maths. I owe $33,300 +, and pay off about $1,600 a year at the current tax deduction rate. I am charged about $1800 interest each year.

If i keep going at this rate, i'll pay a total of $147,000 interest, and won't have it paid off in the next 35 years (the highest estimate they give).

WTF am i supposed to do? i'll just ignore it like i have been me thinks, cos numbers like that scare the shit out of me.

Pay off more than the measly minimum rate?

*sighs*

yeah, i would if i could afford it, trust me. But at the moment, i'm stuck for cash big time.

*sighs as well*

Whats the interest rate now? Cos if its still 8% like it was when I was a student, then pfffft.
Making money off students then. Fuckers.

Do what everybody else does. Do some training here, get some experience, go overseas and earn more than you would here and pay some of it, then come back.

Although I think student loans suck (at last count mine was something like $40,000), we still have it better than the Americans. My old flatmate had a US$75,000 dollar loan which was a 3 year degree and a 2 year post-grad masters and she says that was pretty reasonable. 90-120 grand isn't uncommon.

No interest while you're a student (reasonable I think) but then market interest rate once you leave which I think is fair enough since you should be earning a decent amount, enough to pay back the loan you got out at a decent rate.

I don't think the government 'make' much money on them since they have to raise the debt themselves and probably only pay a couple of % less on it themselves - which is probably made up for by the extra risk the government carries that you'll fuck off overseas and not pay your debt back, or that you'll go bankrupt etc.

Try and find a bank that'll lend you $33,000 unsecured on anything but your 'future earnings' at the moment eh! I'll bet it'll be a lot more than 8%.

But anyway, I suppose right now you'll have to save like crazy and get a better job. :-/

I've paid a few thousand off my loan now. I really should check up on how much is left ...I managed to go through four years of University and accumulate a $10k loan, which would put me a bit under the average.

My loan is quite huge right now and its only gonna get bigger. Couldn't give a shit either, once I faked my own death I'll be sorted

I think that is pretty shitty to have a debt like that for students. (*I feel for you guys*).

There's no wonder why the average NZ'er owning a home has dropped, all you students don't have the money until your careers have blossomed.

Good luck paying it off buddie

rubberchicken, see my post in the lounge re student loans a while back. Your numbers aren't right.

If you're only required to pay back $1600, then $800 comes off the principal, $800 goes to interest, and the other $1000 interest vanishes into thin air. *whoosh* never to be seen again.

It's not as bad as you're making out. if your statements from IRD aren't reflecting that, then go in and see them cos they're cocking something up.

Are u sure oli? Hmm, me thinks i should get a statement from the IRD. But i think it's very odd that $1000 would just vapourise, that wouldn't be in the Government's interests at all.

labour policy since 1 april 2001 (if not earlier) - intended at placating student associations lobbying on the basis that some people would never be able to pay off their loan.

Ouch, debts are so evil. Very proud to say that my current debts are $0.00.

Nice work Exodus...

My biggest debt is our home mortgage, should have it paid off by the time I am 35 though!!!!

Can't wait to be debt free.

Pretty good besides that

Did you spend four years at Uni exodus?

I'm quite happy with the fact that my only debt is my student loan, and thats fairly small in comparison with most people

I'm going to work my ass off to get rid of mine, last thing i want to do is pay the govt $170k in interest.

Make students pay, make'em hurt I say!! Tax them! Bill them! Or at least rubberchicken anyway.

Not to brag, but my s/l is nearly over.

I didn't want to go the enforced tax code method.

Instead, I just paid it by a/p each month.

More than they required, saved some interest on the deal as well.

Just try and pay as much as you can initially, but ...

when the dosh rolls in - as hopefully it will -

burn that sucker s/l to the ground!

Go the automatic payment !!!

Yeah. If you don't earn enough to pay off the student loan at a decent rate, you clearly fucked up at university or borrowed too much. That goes without saying really.

it's a cliche, but ....

i'm still irritated that those that changed the system seemed, in many ways, to be those that profited from it ....

who knows, but perhaps a biggie member may become a mp someday who goes on to apply some restorative justice to the issue ...

I think it was becuase the old system was becoming unsustainable at current tax rates.

Way more people come to university now, and the costs of educating each student ar emuch greater (IT costs etc etc).

I till think contributing towards ones education is fair, especially when mosty uni graduates have much higher expected future incomes than others. I'm undecided as to what level of fees is 'fair' and how the scheme could be better designed to help those more disadvantaged.

If you want to go to university to better yourself thats upto you, but i don`t see why the general public should fund you. If you did well at university you should be able to get a well paid job to pay off your debt. Its you investing in your future.

I don't agree that you go to university only to better yourself. Thats an old bit of bumper sticker slogans from the rogernomics ea. The pity is most people see the student loan debate as a dichotomy of public utility vs private benefit. The reality is human behaviour is more complex than crude orthodox economics allows. I think that the student loan scheme is/was a crude manifestation of rogernomic theory. Sure, students should contribute. BUT they should also be able to pay it off by "golden handcuff" as well as by simple cash paybacks.

fish_boy, good argument. That's why I was so keen on ACT's policy at the last election - they proposed that your TAX went straight to pay off your student loan. So if you worked after uni, basically you paid no tax until all your student loan was gone.

This has good incentive potential,a nd I'm surprised it didn't get more positive comment.

and sheit, what's the average tax per person? About $6000 a year? I'm paying over double that in tax now, and still getting charged $25 a week in interest on the student loan...

Voice: re interest rate, yeah I couldnt find a bank that would charge me less interest, but then again, the govenrment is not a bank. A bank is a commercial organisation, the goverment is not supposed to be.
As for students taking off overseas, I think the interest rates contributed to that decision by many.
Erm, does that sentance make sense? I'm tired...: (

The government should set higher minimums. I keep saying to myself that I should pay more but I never get around to filling out the forms. $30,000 in debt and it ain't getting any smaller.