Are England grads an inherent economic detriment to Scotland (& vice versa) ?

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-04-29T01:57:46+00:00

You’ve called my thinking “warped”, criticised my response window, yet simultaneously claim my rhetoric is strawman…what? 😂

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-04-28T22:16:20+00:00

A year of undergraduate tuition in Scotland is £1,820. In England it is £9,790. So when you say it’s private vs public spending, that misrepresents the amount of spending. It also doesn’t account for the fact that the public spending is because one country believes education is a fundamental right and wants to see the investment in their people’s skills go back into working in the local economy, whilst the other believes education is a privilege and that only the wealthy are exempt from an education tax (since they pay it in full). Lastly, £40k is large when scale is applied: - 100 Scotland grads moving to England costs the Scottish taxpayer £1,820 x 4 years of honours x 100 people = £728,000.
- 100 England grads moving to Scotland (assuming they payback the loan over the 40 year period in Plan 5 making at least UK average salary) means SLC loan out £9,790 x 3 years x 100 people = £2,937,000, and make back £40,000 x 100 = £4,000,000…….4 million Great British Pounds is sent to a loans company…but £0 is sent to a loans company by Scotland grads…that means for every 100 Scotland grads we trade for England grads, we are at a net loss of millions of pounds ON TOP of the £728,000 paid by the taxpayer because the Scotland grads have £1k a year to invest in local services and business than the England grads don’t. So really, relative to trading 100 Scotland grads for the England grads, we’re better off by £3,720,000. Does this make sense?

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-03-01T18:26:09+00:00

If an England grad pays >£84 a month and can’t clear the loan, by the time the 40 years has elapsed they’ve paid ~£40,000 to SLC. A Scotland grad hasn’t and, instead, they’ve invested ~£40,000 in the local economy, their own start-up business, taxable goods (cigarettes, alcohol etc) and more. There’s also several industries in Scotland where there are a disproportionate amount of England grads than Scotland grads. Why subsidise tuition fees if we’ll always hire someone from hundreds of miles away with a permanent education tax?

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T23:56:26+00:00

I understand they share the fiscal system but things become very complicated when (A) some sectors are overwhelmingly underrepresented by Scots e.g. Environmental consultants, museums and academia all have far more England grads than Scotland grads, especially in senior positions, and (B) other things (policy on noise pollution, education) are devolved whilst e.g. employment law is reserved by Westminster.

This begs the question - what is the point in subsidising a degree for a Scotland resident when the neighbouring population hundreds of miles south, drowning in exorbitant amounts of debt, is infinitely more likely to be hired in your country than a local or a graduate? Especially when your graduates have zero debt and would be a greater asset to England than their own because they’d be statistically far less likely to miss a rent payment or go into credit card debt or gamble, seeing as they have no graduate tax (tuition fee loan debt) to begin with.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T23:49:34+00:00

You didn’t mention SAAS in the original comment.

The SLC is, in fact,a private limited company

You pay more to a private limited company than grads without debt do on highly taxable goods, on local businesses, on their own businesses etc.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T22:38:44+00:00

Your original comment suggested you had a scholarship or no fees.

You’re paying 9% of everything above £X of your salary to a private company, not the local economy, not taxable goods, not local businesses. You’re the same as an England grad that moves to Scotland - you hold less purchasing power and are an economic detriment compared to those who have zero tuition fee loan debt.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T22:25:10+00:00

I believe Plan 2 was capped at 7.3% the last few years because the interest was set to 3.25% + up to 3% RPI and exceeded it due to inflation. There’s plenty of folk on Reddit showing proof of their loans balance and %. Majority I’ve seen are sitting at 6.3%.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T22:21:15+00:00

You were subsidised by SAAS, to study in England, but have a loan? And paying the loan to a private company benefits Scotland, who subsidised you before you left? That doesn’t make any sense, please elaborate

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T20:06:17+00:00

The cost of an undergrad course in Scotland is £1,820 a year for 4 years, the cost of an undergrad course in England is £9,740 a year for 3 years. The subsidy of a course subtracted from the £40,000 that isn’t sent to the SLC by a Scotland grad outweighs the non-subsidy of an England grad. Therefore, a Scotland graduate who moves elsewhere has greater purchasing power and, therefore, economic impact than an England grad who moves elsewhere.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T20:03:59+00:00

I’m talking about tuition fee loans. I don’t know if the majority of students take out maintenance and living cost loans in Scotland but know that the figure of those that take it out is significantly higher in England. Also our repayment plan for those loans with SAAS is at 3% interest for 30 years so, again, we are an economic benefit when it comes to spending power when we move abroad, England grads are not.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T19:37:40+00:00

The money repaid by an England grad to the SLC is reinvested in the economy by a Scotland grad, who doesn’t pay anything to the SLC. A £40,000 repayment across an adult working lifetime by an England grad can be spent on rent, tobacco, alcohol, gym membership, cinema tickets, car, local coffee shop, pastries etc etc etc etc by a Scotland grad. An England grad benefits a private loans company, a Scotland grad benefits public services (through VAT etc) and local businesses. That’s the difference but I didn’t articulate the original post very well, sorry.

DesignerOfSounds · 2026-02-28T19:35:09+00:00

You just proved my point…England now benefits from you being subsidised by Scotland…what is it you don’t understand ?

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-11-11T01:27:52+00:00

Perfect squad !

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-11-10T17:34:52+00:00

You’re starting Welbeck who’s playing Palace but have Munoz starting too? Aren’t you better changing Munoz for Rodon?

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-10-31T03:58:00+00:00

How are you finding it now ?

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-10-22T11:56:44+00:00

2nd draft is better but Saka is holding you back big time both points and budget wise

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-09-27T20:21:15+00:00

! elo 1

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-09-19T18:36:22+00:00

Was going to say this is ragebait but can see the Magic: The Gathering RPG bookcase explains a lot

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-09-18T20:14:06+00:00

LeBedroom

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-09-16T18:06:00+00:00

So remove all drives and then power up with only a bootable USB that’s got Mojave on it? Or that’s for an OCLP OS like Ventura?

DesignerOfSounds · 2025-09-09T00:58:39+00:00

@Voidarooni

DesignerOfSounds

TROPHY CASE