MSE Parents Club Part 15

SusanC_2

redstararnie76 wrote: »

Re the student protest, I disagree obviously with the violence, but I do feel sorry for the students too. In the USA they may charge a fortune for their degrees, but parents are aware of that and can save from birth, here we've gone from a free education to a hugely expensive one in what's relatively only a few years.

They also have an extensive scholarship system. And more of a culture of alumini funding.

My_Fathers_Daughter

There is merit in studying subjects in which you don't wish to practice. University does teach you about a subject but it also teaches you a lot about independent research skills, discipline and provides many key skills for the future. It would be wrong to say I don't 'use' my law degree because I don't practice as a solicitor or barrister - I apply the skills and knowledge and techniques that I learnt during my law degree to my life and my job every day (I wasn't born this wise :cool:)

FWIW education wasn't 'free' to most of us even when I was at University. Granted there were no tuition fees but to get any kind of grant your parents needed to be out of work (or near enough). Average debt when I left University was approx £16k for an undergraduate and closer to £26k for a post graduate if I remember correctly. Now considering I left Uni 12 years ago I would have expected a significant increase in that - so has it been disproportionate? Yes, probably, but is it necessarily unreasonable? I am not sure.




Edit - I paid for my postgrad and spent the first 7 years of my working life paying it off - not a bad thing at all.



In baby related news - Benjamin can now 'blow' through his nose on request!! :T:T Not sure if that is actually good or not but DSS struggles with it at 10 :rotfl:

tarajayne

Now ladies, don't all rush at once but any ideas what I could book this for...http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/bristol/HireAHubby/172572 :eek: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ladybirdintheuk

SugarSpun wrote: »

Ladybird, lovely, can you remove my name from your post please? :A

Oops, sorry . Have edited now.

I've been very ruthless this morning - I've gone through all my old jewelry and makeup and binned loads of horrible/ancient/never going to wear again things. I've kept the important stuff (Stuff from my granny, which isn't really my style, but it was my grannys and a few "memory" bits, which I might use for dressing up or something one day), and things I actually like.

And I've booked myself a haircut for this afternoon . So best get on for another hour, then after lunch I'm going shopping before my hair cut. :T This having a day off from being a mum (until 5 anyway) is quite useful every so often!

Sami_Bee

Morning campers!

My sister went straight to Uni from college and she's still a Physio and has no plans to ever change that from her class of Physios tho she reckons about a third got jobs in physio within 12mths of finishing and about half of them have now gone off to do something else because they got fed up of the crap that comes with working in the nhs. Luckily her fees were paid for by the nhs and she's done quite well. It did annoy her a bit that My OH (who 'only' has AS-levels) was earning more than her when she was in her first job but she's now managed to over take him :cool:

I'm loving Edgar this week he's really mastered some new words, he now says no and yes while shaking/nodding his head and can say dog, before he just said d-o

ooh its snow here now!

SugarSpun

Neither of my parents was out of work MFD and I had a full grant. I finished my undergraduate degree with an overdraft of £800 and no other debts; it was postgrad that cost ten times that and I was careful with money and working too. It's all paid off now but paying for my value groceries on a 30% APR credit card because I had no other option has taught me something very important.

My_Fathers_Daughter

SugarSpun wrote: »

Neither of my parents was out of work MFD and I had a full grant. I finished my undergraduate degree with an overdraft of £800 and no other debts; it was postgrad that cost ten times that and I was careful with money and working too. It's all paid off now but paying for my value groceries on a 30% APR credit card because I had no other option has taught me something very important.

A full grant? How on earth did you swing that one? My dad was earning £17k a year and my mum was earning about £4k as a CM and I got less than £800 per year grant.

Edit - got to go, my son has got his changing mat out and is laying on it with a nappy (that he fetched for himself) shouting MUM!! POO!!

redstararnie76

My_Fathers_Daughter wrote: »

There is merit in studying subjects in which you don't wish to practice. University does teach you about a subject but it also teaches you a lot about independent research skills, discipline and provides many key skills for the future. It would be wrong to say I don't 'use' my law degree because I don't practice as a solicitor or barrister - I apply the skills and knowledge and techniques that I learnt during my law degree to my life and my job every day (I wasn't born this wise :cool:)

FWIW education wasn't 'free' to most of us even when I was at University. Granted there were no tuition fees but to get any kind of grant your parents needed to be out of work (or near enough). Average debt when I left University was approx £16k for an undergraduate and closer to £26k for a post graduate if I remember correctly. Now considering I left Uni 12 years ago I would have expected a significant increase in that - so has it been disproportionate? Yes, probably, but is it necessarily unreasonable? I am not sure.
QUOTE]

That is a really good point, MFD, I will concede that .
I left uni in 1998, and while I agree that it wasn't free, I do believe it was a more 'controlled' debt. My parents ended up paying for my accomodation and the student loans I received worked out at about £15 per week during term-time IIRC, so that was what I lived on. I worked part-time to pay for my bills and any beer money. I left with 5 years worth of student loans to pay back (I've got a couple of years left as it's only relatively recently that I earned enough to start paying it off), whereas now I believe the debts will be hanging over future students for quite a lot longer.

SugarSpun

We applied the same way as everyone else and my £1712 appeared a few months later. My parents weren't massive earners, but they weren't low earners either.

tarajayne

Sunny and bright here, thanks goodness.

None of mine have been to Uni, no need to with their jobs, DH did but he needed to. I really really think we need more apprenticeships, that's how DD2 got her job. Most kids wouldn't bother for £45 a week but she crammed as much in as she could, got her NVQ in 6mths rather than 12 and was on £17k a year later.