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@moth
More or Less on Radio4 does some numbers on the new system:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wdkf9
Makes it clear that while the eventual funding burden on those about to go to university doesn't change that much (old system: graduates (and non-graduates) pay for students through general taxation, new system: graduates pay for themselves plus or minus a bit), but changing the system at this time means that current tax-payer graduates get let off paying a big chunk of what they would have contributed.
Almost certainly. When the loans are paid out at the start, the money comes from the same place as current university funding. They claim these measures are part of reducing the national debt, but waiting 10 to 20 years for the money to start flowing in as fast as it's being paid out in new loans isn't exactly compatible with the hurry they seem to be in, so i expect them to start selling on the debt pretty soon after they've created it.
Money is debt, so by making this debt explicit and trade-able the government magically creates a big lump of new money.
I think there is an increasingly big difference between a personal loan from a commercial bank that will get very nasty if you can't meet repayments proportional to the size of your debt, and a student loan, which is more like a personalised graduate tax.
Unfortunately, even if i'm right, many people won't see it this way and will be scared off by fear of debt. I think the social impact of this could be quite bad, and isn't clear yet.
It may not be in your contract, but all else being equal, market forces will raise salaries in your industry in line with inflation. When the economy isn't fucked, most people get a small pay rise every year just to account for inflation. If not, get a better union or pick a healthier industry.
It annoys me that lots of the people opposing these measures say 'we'd raise money with a graduate tax instead', as if that was a completely different policy instead of a very similar policy. I have a lot more respect for opposition based on this being a reduction in overall funding, and opposing the loss of the EMA.