i wasn't meaning to make any comment whatsoever on the system itself, whether it is right or wrong. i was merely noting the difference. my impression is that it is very easy to take an on an awful lot of student debt in america which then hangs like a weight over you.
It looks to me like the average indebtedness in the UK is somewhere around £38,000 (indebtedness by country
here; 84% of Britons and presumably 84% of UK citizens in college are in England). That's actually more twice the
$24,301 that the average American borrows, and the American is likely getting at least another year's education out of it. If you have a link that says otherwise, I'd love to see it, but I spent forever looking and didn't find much.
It also looks to me like the outstanding public student loan balance in the UK
has increased 50% in the last two years, while from the Fed site it took the US from Q2 2005 to Q1 2012 for the same magnitude of change to happen in the US.
in the uk both the fees and the amount you can take as living allowance is capped to a relatively reasonable level (yes, you can take on other loans to pay but i don't know anyone who did). then the repayments are automatic (so you don't see the money which i think helps) and proportionate.
In the US
public loan borrowing is limited to $27,000, or $37,000 for a student who is independent their last two years.
Income based repayment is offered by the federal government in addition to even nicer programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness. I don't know anyone who took out private loans to go to school, either, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen in either country. Since the last few inferences based on anecdotes have been wrong, I'd be wary of making another one without data. And lastly, why is not seeing the number a good thing? Wouldn't it be better to know than to live in ignorance?
a lot of people view it more as an additional tax almost, rather than a debt, particularly as it doesn't affect your credit rating and ability to get a mortgage.
Don't you think it should? Doesn't it affect your ability to make payments on time and the total amount of debt you have outstanding? Doesn't excluding it from credit reporting systems also unfairly penalize all UK consumers with less student loan than their demographic peers, by assuming that everyone has the same proportion of debt as their demographics predict?
i guess my point was... student debt doesn't seem as high or as stressful in the uk.
Funny, it seems both higher and more stressful to me.