Should You Even Pay Off A Student Loan?

The average student now owes £45,000 when they graduate from university, and interest rates on that debt have never been higher, with some students seeing over 7% added to their statements in the last 12 months. With such high rates, should graduates focus on getting the debt down as soon as possible?

Here is the link for the student loan repayment sheet:

Student loan calculator:

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00:00 - Value
01:05 - The Dearing report
02:08 - How long will it take?
02:45 - The interest rate
03:48 - Inflation vs the rate
05:09 - What percentage pay it back?
07:18 - Who should overpay?
09:47 - Graduate tax

ATTRIBUTIONS:

Video Title: Don't let money get in the way of university - a Welsh Government video
Author: Welsh Government / Llywodraeth Cymru
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

🎵 Music licensed from Lickd. The biggest mainstream and stock music platform for content creators

[DamienTalksMoney]

Here is a link to a good calculator.

[anthonynorman]

It's kind of crazy that we let people at the age of 16/17/18 make financial decisions that are now going to impact them for 40 YEARS!!! It's actually wild!

I personally view it as a tax, I don't think I am ever going to actively overpay.

Just wanted to add the graphics looked really good in this!

[Infections]

Uni wasn't remotely worth it. Nothing I learnt is applied in my job, the only thing it got me was my foot in the door for a job (no one has even asked to prove I have a degree). I'd always recommend apprenticeships now

[mjbesant]

I earn £80k and my wife earns £50k. Once I had paid off our cars and other debts, and saved a few grand, I paid off both our Student Loans, with a remainder of £23k between them. That feels extreme, but the extra £550 a month in our combined monthly pay cheques felt extremely worth it. We would have paid the £23k in 3.5 years anyway, but todays interest rate at 7% would have meant paying £550 for a whole further year, costing over £6.5k in interest alone.

[maxodidily]

UK student loans need rebranding, its basically a tax on income but branded as scary debt.

[thomasthorpe]

My marginal tax rate is now 9% larger than the rich guy sitting next to me whose parents paid their student loans.

[kelvindobson]

I decided to go for a change of career in 2007, as a mature student (40) . I went for it; I graduated with a first class honours; I worked in my chosen field for five years. I am now an HGV driver, earning over £64 k pa. University ? One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made 🤗

[neilcook]

Damian: An interesting subject would be the different ways parents can support their children onto the housing ladder, without compromising their own financial security in retirement. ATB

[elliotm]

As with all your vids, super useful and clearly presented. Thanks

[andy]

One of your best prezzos ever Damien! Superb logical construction, clear signposting, pretty unbiased presentation of choices and options.

[Jakeyosaurus]

This was a great video that I think a lot of people would find helpful, looking at a student loan as a higher education tax is, I think, a much better way of visualising the true cost of the loan.

[imbarmstrong]

Damo's back. Luckily my short stint in Uni is from a time before fees...

[SS-vziv]

I was raised on the Offspringand did just that... just got a job. We all take different paths but this is still really practical information Damien, well explained as usual!

[Natta]

Uni is only worth it if you take a STEM or specialised degree that leads directly into a high paid career. I now work in project management and anyone can do a pm course for a few hundred. I have a life time of debt. Maybe it did get me better opportunities but i didn't get a career. Had to jump from job to job for more money. So to anyone young watching this, please think hard about it, getting a degree does NOT guarantee a high paid job. It used to in the 90s or early 2000s but that changed in the last 15 years.

[IOSALive]

Damien Talks Money, This made me laugh so much! Thanks for sharing!

[batsteve]

Very useful video, not just for your usual great insight, but I used the loan calculator and worked out I’ll have mine paid off in around 5-6 years without overpaying and had no idea!

[AlwaysStaringSkyward]

Damien, the quality of your content is getting better and better. Nice work and thank you for helping lots of people make some sense of the complicated and senseless!

[aj]

Thanks Damien. This is a great video. Much appreciated 👍

[flipeo]

Production on this video is crazy - subscriber gained

[usn]

Congrats on city winning the league, hope you're safe this time round, love you loads pal