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Comment by langarus | Hacker News Reader

College is expensive only in USA.

It's not cheap in the UK.

It’s pretty cheap. Not as cheap as it once was but £9k a year for 3 years with no difficulty in getting the loan and only having to pay it back based on income level after you graduate is a pretty good deal - particularly compared with the US.

The interest rate is RPI+4% which is such an obvious joke that they had to take 5% off the rate recently because it hit 12%, but it's still 7% interest!

Those grads are never going to pay their loans off, so that's a 9% tax on their salary every month forever.

The only ones who can get out are those with family who can lend/gift the money to pay the loans off.

> that's a 9% tax on their salary every month forever

Well, 9% of your salary above £28k, and wiped 30 years after your first payment.

In any case, it means no-one is too poor to study at tertiary level (recognising that there will always be circumstances that mean someone cant') while still making everything can be funded.

It's not perfect, but no system is.

9k per year is in line with in state tuition at a lot of schools in the US too.

Is it? All of the state schools near me (east coast) are like $25k/yr in state.

Edit: that’s what they were 10 years ago when I was a student. I’d guess it’s more expensive now.

Widely varies. I picked a random university in Scotland - the fees were just under 2000 Pounds per year if you're Scottish. The no-name University in my city in the US charges $10K.

Scottish universities are cheaper than the rest of the UK. Tuition fees for the lowest ranking uni in England (London Metropolitan University) is £9,250 per year (~$11,000).

It’s free in Scotland (if you’re from Scotland).

Somebody always pays.

In this case, it's the Scottish people—both those who have and those who haven't had their own schooling subsidized.

This is why it would be good if the employers who benefit most from these education systems contributed more towards society. Every time a FAAMG company hires a Scottish graduate to work in London or California, the Scottish taxpayer has effectively given big tech a little subsidy.

If more Scottish grads help develop the Scottish economy then it could pay for itself, at least partially.

I'm always confused when people make this type of comment. As an American, I usually see it in discussions of health care, but also on other types of government services. Perhaps you can help.

Do you think the people reading it don't know this? Are you trying to make some sort of implied argument?

And most tech companies offering services like this happen to be in the USA.

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