P1keys pitch up at Marlborough College

[grahamw48]

He had already made up his mind to study in Sweden because of the enormous debts that he'd have run up if he'd gone to uni here. Fine for those who went before him.

I wish they'd leave the damned education system alone and stop screwing up kids' lives !

Half the kids at my first grammar school in Pontefract were from council estates, and they did perfectly well.

The 11+ catered for ALL the bright ones of course....regardless of income. My family certainly wasn't well-off by any standards.

There was also a 'second chance' exam at secondary modern school...the 13+ for the 'late-developers'.

[lastlid]

He had already made up his mind to study in Sweden because of the enormous debts that he'd have run up if he'd gone to uni here. Fine for those who went before him.

I wish they'd leave the damned education system alone and stop screwing up kids' lives !

When I was in Aberdeen a few years back I had a few hundred graduates through my hands over a five year period, mostly from England. I also worked with a good few. They all had loans. As such they aren't quite as bad as they seem as they pay back only above a certain level of income and at a very low rate of interest. It isn't quite so bad as it might seem. If they are unemployed then they do not have to repay and the loan is deferred until they can. It sounds frightening but not quite so bad as it seems.


"The repayment of student loans is managed through the tax system (PAYE) and only begins after you’ve left university and are earning more than £15,000. You pay back 9% of all you earn above the £15,000 threshold. Someone earning £18,000 a year will have to pay 9% of £3,000 (£18,000 minus £15,000) - around £5.19 a week."

http://www.which.co.uk/money/bank-ac...s-and-finance/

I met many who paid theirs back within a few years.