If it works the same way it does here in canada then you have 6 months to pay it off before interest starts to pile up, which is ridiculously short
Wow, that's crazy.
In the UK you don't pay anything back on student loans until you're earning £21,000 per annum.
If your income goes under that, you stop paying back.
You pay back at a rate of 9% whatever you earn over £21k. (so, if I earn £22k, in a year I pay back 9% of £1k, which is £90. If I earn £31k, then it's 9% of 10k, so £900). You can of course pay back more than that rate whenever you choose.
Interest while studying is inflation, +3%.
After studying, if earning under £21k, then interest only matches inflation.
If earning over £21k, then it's back to inflation +3%.
The entire loan, or remainder, is waived 30 years after you're first eligible to repay.
So, I should finish uni in 2018. If I got a job over £21k immediately, then by 2048 whatever I haven't paid off is wiped. Which would make me 53 at the time.
It's even better if you're Scottish or Welsh though.
The Scots have their tuition fees paid by the government, with no loan for them. They only pay back for maintenance loans.
The Welsh partially subsidise tuition fees, so they pay back a smaller loan.
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