Global recession, European interest rate cuts, nationalisation of banks....

[RoryMC]

I'm not the most financial/economics savy person out there but what will this whole situation mean for students and ex-students?

In the UK, students can take out loans totalling up to tens of thousands of pounds to cover their tuition fees and university lifestyles.

Now, as the British Government pumps out millions of pounds to get students into debt (and no doubt getting itself into more debt in the process), what affect will this have on young people in the future, especially when the time comes to pay it all back?

It would have been nice for Governments and banking institutions to realise what the concept of debt was in the first place before rashly handing out credit.

I think we will all be feeling the aftermath of this for many years to come.

[Adam]

Well, supposedly: educating the youth should pay back dividends in gaining taxes etc.

Its a gamble educating people but you could bring the whole argument down through high school, primary school and infants.

Why bother with education and schools etc - its a waste of money. Only reason they let students get into debt is cus they can pay it back for the most part - kids can't. But maybe we should start charging for school.

Unless the argument is for grants should be given out again and people should be educated for free no matter the age - then I'm down with that but taxes will need to be at about 85%.

[ScarySquirrel]

I was unaware students in the UK needed to take loans out for university... For some reason I had this idea that university was free if you lived in the country. As a matter of fact, I thought that was all across Europe.

Anyway, I don't know what's going to happen with all of it. I think we all just need to tough it out and things will work themselves out in a long while.

From my understanding the EU has very strong restrictions on how far countries can be in debt to actually be a part of the union. If I remember correctly their debt isn't supposed to exceed 3% of the GDP. I just wonder if the EU will change their rules a little bit, if some countries are worried about getting removed from the union, or what's going to happen with that. Or maybe I've got it all wrong...

It's a lot more interesting to me now that it's becoming a bigger issue in places other than America. It looks like we're all in this together to some extent, so we might want to all start playing a little bit nicer together.

[Adam]

If I remember correctly their debt isn't supposed to exceed 3% of the GDP...

I can't quote or source stuff atm cus I am lazy but from what I remember about learning this stuff - the UK has a more dodgy system in creating money and debt than the US does. Unsure about europe but the US modelled it financial system on the UKs but made money more effciently than the UK did.

It is way more than the 3% GDP tho. The US can blame the UK system for its troubles but a more free market across the pond means a bigger fall.

[paul jones]

firstly....

why can't some students at the college near me learn to look left and right and check for oncoming traffic before crossing the road safely instead of not looking at all with their heads down and knuckles scraping the tarmac at a snails' pace?

[Kid Presentable]

The U.K economy is built on loans isn't it? The hedge fund of Europe. I was under the impression debt is to your economy what things made in China are to the Chinese economy. I can't see them doing away with any type of debt, but unreasonably harsh credit terms would have to be a possibility wouldn't they? Or the opposite, and the terms relax to raise borrowing. The latter is more likely in my opinion, but I'm no expert.

I think student debt in particular is a guaranteed recoup, because it's paid back via taxes.