Debt before uni

jv27

Hi. I'm 24 and after many years i have decided what it is i want to do in life. i would however need to go to university. Unfortunatly, i am in around 6000 pounds of debt. I am not against paying this off, but i would strugle during uni. Do you have any advice?

BlueSkyDay

Hi and welcome to the board

I'm in a similar position as I'm applying for a post grad degree, 2007 entry. I'm planning to get all my cc debt paid off by then (it's nearly all on 0% interest).

Why don't you have a look at southernscouser's post for newbies at the top of the board, and then post your statement of affairs. There will be lots of people around soon to give you good advice.

Blue

barnaby-bear

jv27 wrote:

Hi. I'm 24 and after many years i have decided what it is i want to do in life. i would however need to go to university. Unfortunatly, i am in around 6000 pounds of debt. I am not against paying this off, but i would strugle during uni. Do you have any advice?

Uni is ok but a lot of it is for the young, a lot of the periphery stuff is a waste of time and expense. Why do you want to go to uni, is the course useful and will it have employment prospects? If you do go a media studies degree from Luton won't get you into journalism or the BBC but an English degree from Oxford may do. There are loads of OU, part-time courses geared to mature students needs as well as industrial sandwich courses which improve employment. It can be frustrating being around a load of 18 year olds who just want to drink. I guess you'd have to work to meet payments and rack up more debt but some courses have bursaries e.g. nursing. Could you live with parents? Is there a decent local university.

elantan

ive just had to give up my dream of going to uni due to having to work to pay my debts off (they are significantly higher than yours however) i would recommend that you find out everything that you will be entitled to and then work out a strict budget you dont want to find yourself going to uni then having to drop out due to lack of money etc...remember though you can get a student loan this may help a bit ..but also remember you need to pay it back .....good luck whatever you decide to do

lynzpower

I would be very careful in going to uni with debt, it simply wont be manageable.

I do agree with barnaby-bear here. I got a degree as it was the thing to do from a top 5 uni. As an arts course, its worth jack-all in the jobs market & 10 years later im still paying it off- and thats without fees, just loans/ods/credit cards.

Be very careful.

barnaby-bear

lynzpower wrote:

I would be very careful in going to uni with debt, it simply wont be manageable.

I do agree with barnaby-bear here. I got a degree as it was the thing to do from a top 5 uni. As an arts course, its worth jack-all in the jobs market & 10 years later im still paying it off- and thats without fees, just loans/ods/credit cards.

Be very careful.

It's easy to feel uni changing your life, you focus your energy on something and your own development but if there's no real job bonus and just the debt, you can't help but think wouldn't 3 years really focused on career progression and job be better, you'll earn more training to be an electrician (not plumber) and it'll cost less than an IT course, being a doctor on the otherhand... I live in a high tech area, we're overrun with people with computing degrees, IT HNDs etc, salaries are about 35% less than 8 years ago, it's easy to undercut with first indian high-calibre grads and then eastern european (who's ex-soviet unis kick ar*e) - I see people with first from Cambridge in science/engineering struggling to get over £25k and they have it easier than most, which with £25k of debt to pay off requires a lot of career progression and time to pay off. If you get another £25k at uni, how long before can save for a big enough deposit to get a house/have kids. A degree can be fantastic but it's got to pay for itself and probably the majority don't.

lynzpower

I agree barnaby- it really depends on the course though

If its something like dentistry then get in there its got a career at the end of it and you cant get the career without the training.

if its politics as mine was- save yourself the money, and if you want to learn for funs sake look at the OU, where you can continue to develop your career whilke studying

Imelda

I agree totally with the other posters, I got a got a 2.1 from one of the best universities in the country but I struggled to get a job (arts degree, no experience). Now I have a decent job but it's not in the field I would like to be in. So I am retraining at night school, it is going to take me 4 years but I know it will be worth it. Also, at the end of it I will still have my day job should I have difficulty finding a new one. On my course there are similar people, similar stories, if I did the course full time I would be surrounded by fresh out of uni 21 year olds :eek: I would find that daunting.
I wanted to wait until I was completely debt free until starting the course (it is quite expensive) but even so it has only put my DFD back by 4 months but my new life a year ahead (my OH can be so wise when he wants to be). Also I find it easier to stay at home when I have books to read and tutorials to prepare for.
Sorry to be nosey but what career are you aiming for? Could you work in that field and study at the same time?
There are other options to full time study, I wish someone had given me the choice when I was 18.

Money~Bunny_3

True - but graduates earn on average £400,000 more than non grads in their lifetime and if you're out of work, you'll find another job quicker if you're a graduate. Ten years after graduating men earn 36% more, women 46% more than non graduates.

I agree that student debt is reaching really unpleasant levels but it is worth it if your circumstances permit (a whole other can of worms), you have a clear idea of where your degree is taking you, and you choose your course and uni wisely.

Broken_hearted

Lynz how true my degree isn't worth the paper it's written on. Well i could do social work but I'd need to do a years refresher and you are always trapped in red tape.

The Open Uni would be a great place to start if you are looking at going to uni. You can do it part time while you work and get it paid for plus a grant. I'm doing science now, its costing £68 a month but its good and there is lots of support.

barnaby-bear

Money~Bunny wrote:

True - but graduates earn on average £400,000 more than non grads in their lifetime and if you're out of work, you'll find another job quicker if you're a graduate. Ten years after graduating men earn 36% more, women 46% more than non graduates.

I agree that student debt is reaching really unpleasant levels but it is worth it if your circumstances permit (a whole other can of worms), you have a clear idea of where your degree is taking you, and you choose your course and uni wisely.

I really hate to tell you but the statistics associated with the 400k figure is based on a survey of a cohort of early 1960s graduates from red-brick/oxbridge universities and so is retrospective and based on a situation where 3% went to university, did it for free. Now the gains are far more modest as 'everyone' has a degree and most graduates are not in graduate jobs. Some courses are actually calculated to have a negative financial impact over your lifetime. Plus there is a self-selecting effect the type of people who went to uni were likely to be the type most able - it isn't necessarily the degree that earned more. It can still be worth it but it's far more marginal and the 400k figure doesn't apply to the current situation and is misleading, universities are increasingly used as a way to reduce unemployment and 400k figures mean people seem happy to get in debt and pay for themselves to be out of the dole figures. I'm a university tutor.