My new and improved SOA!

schueys_girl

I am a lecturer - please do not give up on your qualifications without really thinking it through. I have a few of my kids every so often coming to me because they have too much work/its too hard etc, but not being funny, realisitcally a LOT of it is laziness!

Unfortunately, uni is harder than college, a lot harder, but you should be given ALL the support in the world to help you. You do have to listen and take on board that help though.

To ensure you are answering the assignment - look over it and highlight it and make notes when your lecturer goes over it.

Then when you start a piece of work, for example an essay - write down on the word document ALL the things you need to do to pass. Work on those first, make sure you hit each criteria and then make it into an essay.

Always work towards THE NEED TO KNOW, and then fill it out with the NICE TO KNOW.

You cannot expect to just start a new qualification at uni degree level and run with it easily, uni is supposed to be hard, and academic.

Stick it out, focus on your work and the three years of hard slog will pay off in years to come. Anything you learn to do at uni - the communication and academic skills will pay off in later life.

Now is the time when you invest in your future - so you have a good life when your older.

When I was at uni I worked 3 jobs to ensure I wasn't in debt, and several years on, I have two degrees and a teaching qual. Pays off in the end and believe me there were times when i wanted out - when a lot of my other mates were earning money in shops, or in factories packing things etc....but now i am better off with a decent wage, i can buy things that i want within reason without needing to save or get credit, i have a nice car, the house is warm, good food on the table, can afford to go to bike and car racing and get my family nice pressies and treats.

I am also able to still save for our wedding AND put money into my pension pot (not state one)

I am also safe in the knowledge that I have my quals and will not need to return to full time education - something that some of my friends are now finding they want to do, but cannot because they have rent to pay, bills etc which they could not do on a student loan.

Please stick with it - or find a subject you will enjoy it is worth it. If your tutors are not helping you enough then find someone who will....you are entitled to help when you are struggling

good luck and stick with the education!

littlepinkstars44

thanks for that shueys_girl. Like i said i was thinking of leaving after 3rd year with my degree. Instead of staying for honors year, as i don't think i will alowed into honors year with my marks so far, plus i wont get SAAS funding. As you only get 4 years of SAAS funding.

slig

I haven't been on DFW properly for a while (since I became debt free a few months back), but I recognised your name and wondered how you were getting on. I was actually quite disappointed to see that you've increased your debt rather than making any progress at all. I actually think, despite you being a frequent poster on here, you haven't actually had your light bulb moment yet.

Re savings, this isn't something that you only think about when you're grown up. Pay off your debts first, definitely, but once that's done you do need to think about things like savings and pensions. I'm 26 so a few years older than you I would guess? If you ever want to buy a house you will need CONSIDERABLE funds saved up. It might seem way off at the moment, but once you are in your mid to late twenties and your friends are starting to buy, it won't seem so far away. I won't be buying a house for at least five years (probably ten unless I find myself a husband to go halves with!) but I recently inherited some money that I have been able to put aside as the start of my house fund. If I hadn't really focused on getting debt free over the past year I would have logically had to use that money on debts, which would not have been a nice feeling.

Savings are also important to be able to make the most of your life and do things you really want to do. Since I've been debt free, I've been putting away all my spare money to save up so that I can afford to go and work in Australia for a year. Savings aren't just for old people with houses and mortgages and children .

And personally, I want to spend my retirement going on holidays, spoiling my grandchildren, joining clubs and classes, etc; thus I have a pension.

However, until you pay off your debts you don't need to worry about savings and pensions. But I think you need to have your LBM first. Good luck, and good luck with uni too.

Wee_Pilsbury

Hopefully this won't be taken for a personal attack because it isn't meant that way. I've read the OP's posts throughout today and I really can't believe what I'm reading sometimes. :eek: At no time does Littlepinkstars seem that interested in taking the good advice given by a good many DFW posters.

Maybe it's just me but when I got to the post about saving for pensions and Littlepinkstars said that she presumed you just got that from the Post Office - well - my first comment (out loud to the cat) was "Is this a wind-up?" I've gone back through the entire thread again and really, a lot of the posts to me seem designed to get a reaction and had it not been for the very high post count I would have thought this was trolling:eek:.

As I said at the beginning, this is not a personal attack on the OP - I just find it hard to believe that anyone in their 3rd year at university could possibly believe that you just popped along to the Post Office on your 65th birthday and they hand over a nice wee pension:rolleyes:.

Maybe I'm just getting old;).

littlepinkstars44

Wee Pilsbury: no i don't feel it is a personal attack at all. I just honestly did not know. I've just always been told that when you retire you get your pension. And ive seen them all cueing up in the post office on pension day to get it, so i just asumed. Yes ive seen adverts on tv for "pension schemes" and things like that, but i always just thought that was for those better off people, as they wouldn't get a pension from the post office, as they have enough money already.
As for me being in 3rd year at uni and not knowing this, like i've said i have went straight into 3rd year from college. And im not studying anything special that i would have come across this knowledge from...I'm studying travel and tourism.

Anyhoo. Like ive said, i'm here for advice, as i want this year to be MY year! So, i'm sorry if ive not came across like that, but i really do appreciate all the comments, and help and advie given to me on here.

naughtymittens

I would really reconsider leaving uni at the end of 3rd year. An honours degree looks so much better. Have you thought about getting a part time job which would be more in line with your course - a travel agent or a hotel maybe? You might enjoy that more.

Also, I really think you need to get a grip on this now while you are living at home and have the chance to save up. Believe me things only get harder after you leave uni. definetely batter down the debts as much as you can now. Good luck!

VanillaDelia

I dont have any idea how old the OP is, but I'd take a guess at 18/19 and look back at when I was that age, I cant say what I thought at that age about pensions, maybe I was too young to think about them as I had not long started working.

I guess this just shows how naive some young adults are, but this changes with age and after a lot of life skills, hurdles etc. OK, I am only almost 32 myself, but at 18/19 I had no worries, no debts and was still at home, I lived for the weekend when I could see my friends on nights out etc and I never really thought about things like that as it seemed such a long way off, it just didnt matter to me I guess.

I guess the wisdom comes later on.

Wee_Pilsbury

Littlepinkstars, as you said, you are getting really good advice on here (and you say you appreciate it) but from your responses to various posters what came across was something like "yeah, yeah, whatever, I don't care."

You are obviously young and have your whole future ahead of you (I now officially sound like my mother :eek:) and I would implore you to do a wee bit more than just appreciate the advice given by the posters and actually act on it for your own sake.

Your attitude to money appears to be very similar to my own when I was younger and here I am at the age of fortysomething finally getting it under control thanks to these boards and the helpful folk who live here. I wish, oh how I wish I had sorted it a couple of decades ago because it's been a slog I can tell you. I used to watch a programme called Your Money or Your Life and the money guru Alvin Hall described debt as stealing from your future self. He is absolutely right and this applies as much to me at my age as to you at your age.

I don't know - as much as you are posting here and trying to get it all sorted, I'm not sure you've had your real lightbulb moment; maybe it's flickering though.

As for pensions and not having much knowledge - fair enough. Do you know though, I am fortysomething and already, changes to pension rules mean I will not get my State Pension until I'm 66. Given the age you are now, you will not get it until age 68, if pensions even exist at that point. Between now and then you have a lot of living to do so please, don't live in debt and end up in penury in your old age - actually, at any age.

Ok, now I think I sound like my granny:eek:. I really am getting old!

savingmummy

Even though you`ve taken the step to seek advise here i`m not sure you are generally facing up to it.
Are you generally relaxed or you feeling down? i sense the latter.
I hope you take all the advice thats been given on board as you may find you will never get straight.
Good luck x

littlepinkstars44

Thanks everyone! No i don't think i have had a true LBM as of yet,i've been on and off these forums for a while now, starting to get on track, then something comes along and i don't think about any of debt for a few months, making them worse.
I'm hoping this year to get out of that, and to stay on track.

naughtymittens: I would love to get a job in the travel industry, but have just never had the guts to do anything about it. I am happy, and perhaps a bit too comfortable in Morrisons at the moment, i have my friends around me in work, and its pretty near my house. I always said i'll wait till i get my HND to start applying, but now i have that, i think now is the time to do so. Also, i don't think SAAS fund more than 4 years. And this is my 4th year of recieving my loan and having my fees paid for me, so i don't think i would even be able to go onto 4th year.

VanillaDelia: I am actually 22, going to be 23 in a couple of weeks. To be honest, most of the time i feel and act like im still 18. And what you say is exactly right, i only live for the weekends (well Monday and Thursday nights for me, as my best friend only has Tues's and Fri's off work)