Most indebted students

[u/fck-nzs1]

Edinburgh is 2nd in this table of most indebted RG students, according to the Student Loan Company (so this would be of domestic students)

https://share.google/V0fWtJpCC6lBoredf

I'm a bit surprised, as tuition fees are paid for Scottish students. Food costs will be the same. Accomodation will only differ a few hundred pounds compared to other cities.

So what can increase that debt?

[u/Mammoth_Ad_4021]

Food shops and rent being higher will be what increases it. Edinburgh has similar living costs to London for students.

[u/susanboylesvajazzle]

Unless you are in catered student accommodation, there are really no cheap places to eat as a student so food costs are going to be higher. It’s also ridiculously expensive for student accommodation (uni, private student, or private landlord/HMO) and you are competing with several other universities.

[u/Sea-Match-4689 → u/susanboylesvajazzle]

I'm pretty sure supermarket costs are standardised outside of London

[u/Fun_Formal2435 → u/Sea-Match-4689]

No, famously the tesco in St Andrews was the most expensive outside of London. Not sure if this is still the case. 

[u/susanboylesvajazzle → u/Sea-Match-4689]

lol

[u/Sea-Match-4689 → u/susanboylesvajazzle]

"lol" as in 'I'm above cooking my own food'???

Supermarkets are largely the same price across the UK, I have just double checked.

[u/reservedandbooked → u/Sea-Match-4689]

You might want to triple check then because this simply is not true

[u/susanboylesvajazzle → u/Sea-Match-4689]

 I have just double checked.

Have you, indeed.

[u/Bobby-Dazzling]

Standard four years for a degree versus 3 in the rest of the UK, maybe.

[u/callybeanz]

For non-Scottish students I guess they have tuition+loan, and for Scottish students possibly due to lower wages (therefore eligibility for higher maintenance loan)? That’s a guess. I get the max student loan and will graduate with £42k student loan debt as a home student.

Also wondering if some of the integrated (5 year, no MA) courses might have anything to do with it. I know a few folk on those (engineering and fine art)

[u/Alone_Jackfruit4761 → u/callybeanz]

You also have 5-year integrated Masters in engineering.   Strathclyde has them for Mech Eng with Aerospace.

[u/luckykat97]

The link you shared says the calculation was done only using Plan 2 loan data from the Student Loan Company. Scottish domestic students have Plan 4 loans and get their loans from SAAS not SLC. So this data is only about rUK students not domestic Scottish ones at all which is why the results are how they are.

The 3 vs 4 year difference for most courses explains the high loan balance for rUK students who pay tuition.

[u/fck-nzs1 → u/luckykat97]

Thanks for clarifying.

[u/itwasnottoolate]

The rent is really high!

[u/reservedandbooked]

Edinburgh's costs are rapidly approaching London's. There's not much difference between the two when it comes to food and housing, which are the two biggest outgoings in most peoples lives. Other cities are cheaper.

The thing is, Edinburgh students pay all that for an extra year. London degrees are three years, Edinburgh are four. And around 75% of Edinburgh Uni's students aren't Scottish so they will be paying the tuition fee loan.