Student Debt

I've been thinking about finances again, mostly because I strangely enjoy sorting them out. Maybe I was an accountant in a past life, or it's just because I enjoy maths.

There's an advert for a popular bank (the one I used to work for actually) that irritates me so much. Some young people are jumping on a sofa and reel off about how "it's so great that they give you an overdraft, I was in my overdraft by the third week, hurr hurr hurr I'm so silly." Literally every student bank account gives you an overdraft, it's nothing to write home about. Don't infantilise a whole group of people.

But anyway, a friend of mine was fretting about his student finance application recently. He was trying to work out how much he needed to live on and therefore how much maintenance loan he needed to apply for. So I said "why not just apply for the full amount? You probably won't end up paying it back anyway." It's the same reason that I chose to start third year again from the beginning rather than just coming back for January exams. I wouldn't have been able to attend lectures or redo coursework, just for the sake of saving an extra £3000 on my student loan. Seeing as this degree will cost me over £40,000 in loans anyway, what difference would that make?

The fact is that a student loan is going to be the cheapest long-term debt I'll ever have. Since it'll just take some from my earnings, I'll probably forget it's even there.

I really would recommend students just starting to work a part time job. I wish I had earlier on, but it baffles me how people can go into their overdraft so quickly. Sure, I'm pretty small and not materialistic, but some people were living on houmus and buying new clothes for goodness sake Because I make enough money working to cover my living costs right now, the maintenance loan I'll get this year will go straight into savings.

Money isn't supposed to make you happy and all that, but it's got to help...? Maybe I really am turning into an adult, if the prospect of financial security gets my blood pumping.

Apologies for the rambling post, but it's exam season and I'm procrastinating!

Limpet x