University costs

Gabriel-Ernest

studentphil wrote:

Someone who gets a house left to them.

It takes years to save for a deposit by which time house prices will have doubled again no doubt, so what chance is there?

The same chance as all the preceding generations have faced. The housing market goes in cycles; I bought a flat in the early Nineties for £32k and it's now worth £150k. No doubt prices will plummet again at some point. My parents bought a house in the Fifties for £2k which was probably more than they could afford at the time, and they got a lot of flak for not renting; now it's worth over £350k.

Aren't you an only child? Will you inherit your parents' house in due course?

jbbonce

Ted_Bloke wrote:

OK, 8p a sheet is about like in the old days, is an answer to my question. AFAIK the Uni has to pay copyright as well as printing costs, in some cases at least.

But for the 2nd part is blank paper that unaffordable and your essays that long? It reminds me of the medieval parchment costs, when every bit of paper and parchment would be written over four times. Sorry if I am a bit out of touch. OK I see you have to pay uni price for printing. Don't some students have own computers and printers, club together? I've seen all computer stuff real cheap in uni marts but wise me up if I'm out of touch mnyah mnyah.

Copyright on photocopying is a fair point, but that does not explain why it costs 8p per sheet for printing.

When you have to write 6 essays and a term at approx 20-30 pages each times two it does become quite a cost, actually. £24 per semester, which may not be a lot to someone like yourself, but it is to me.

I do apologise, I thought this was moneysaving.com, not moneysavingunlessyou'reastudentinwhichcaseputupwitheverythingunquestioningly.com

studentphil

Gabriel-Ernest wrote:

The same chance as all the preceding generations have faced. The housing market goes in cycles; I bought a flat in the early Nineties for £32k and it's now worth £150k. No doubt prices will plummet again at some point. My parents bought a house in the Fifties for £2k which was probably more than they could afford at the time, and they got a lot of flak for not renting; now it's worth over £350k.

Aren't you an only child? Will you inherit your parents' house in due course?

Yes I will be the sole inheriter of my parents house.

My parents bought a house they could afford to put 1/3 of the house price down in cash from their savings. You would need about £50 000 isn the bank to be able to do that now. House prices have grown so much faster than wages over the past 10 years probably much much more than in the past.

Hence you now need to borrow 5x instead of 3.5 x your salary like you did onlt a few years ago.

bestpud

jbbonce wrote:

I do apologise, I thought this was moneysaving.com, not moneysavingunlessyou'reastudentinwhichcaseputupwitheverythingunquestioningly.com

Well said although studentbashing.com is also appropriate for this thread!

I'm a bit annoyed with the posters suggesting students don't care anymore and do not work hard because they are provided with an outline of the lecture.

Speaking for myself and my fellow students - we ARE passionate about our subject, DO have long and good discussions about topics and DO NOT need, expect, or get, anything handed to us on a plate!

Times have changed but I'm not sure why that means our degree is easier to obtain?

True, we can research online and for mature/parents/off-campus students like myself, that is very useful, but I still put a lot of time and effort into my studies and am offended at the suggestion it's all a walk in the park these days.

Rant over! lol

Back on subject - printing costs can be huge for some courses and it is purely and simply a cost cutting exercise by the university. I think, given they are saving this money, the university could allocate each student a printing allowance at the start of each semester? It obviously wouldn't allow students to print everything but could at least take the sting out of printing the essential stuff.

Btw, at our uni, research papers are placed on WebCT and students are instructed to bring a printed copy to the relevent seminar group, so a certain amount of printing is essential!

bestpud

melancholly

bestpud wrote:

I'm a bit annoyed with the posters suggesting students don't care anymore and do not work hard because they are provided with an outline of the lecture.

most of us remembering the 'good old days' are still postgrads, and only graduated in the last 5 or so years............. i guess we see the other side of it much more than we did as undergrads, and are just trying to put that across (and if we are quite abrupt with it, it's because this is only the latest in many threads which all seem to have the same underlying theme of finding every possible reason to complain about universities!).

studentphil

melancholly wrote:

most of us remembering the 'good old days' are still postgrads, and only graduated in the last 5 or so years............. i guess we see the other side of it much more than we did as undergrads, and are just trying to put that across (and if we are quite abrupt with it, it's because this is only the latest in many threads which all seem to have the same underlying theme of finding every possible reason to complain about universities!).

I am not so sure about that when I know post grads and lecturers are sometimes trying to learn the material like mad before they teach it. So it would seem that post grads don't learn and know everything from their first degree so the divide between being a PG or UG is not that large. PG/lecturer has to learn it to teach it and the UG to learn it for writing an exam

melancholly

studentphil wrote:

So it would seem that post grads don't learn and know everything from their first degree so the divide between being a PG or UG is not that large.

:rotfl: :rotfl: oh dear!

studentphil

melancholly wrote:

:rotfl: :rotfl: oh dear!

What is funny about that?

It is clear fact that Teachers and students are all learning the samething just to different ends.

jbbonce

bestpud wrote:

Times have changed but I'm not sure why that means our degree is easier to obtain?




bestpud

Degrees are easier these days because we are lucky enough to get loans instead of grants, and because it is a well known fact that the more debt you have, the better you do.

Oldernotwiser

jbbonce wrote:

Degrees are easier these days because we are lucky enough to get loans instead of grants, and because it is a well known fact that the more debt you have, the better you do.

Most people nowadays are unaware that not everybody used to get a full grant under the old system. They were very strictly based on your parents' income; in my own case my parents were a postman and a civil service clerk and they were assessed as having to make a substantial contribution. If they were unable or unwilling to make this contribution then there was nothing you could do about it, you couldn't go to university. I had friends in this position who had to work for three years to achieve independent student status as their parents' were well off but refused to contribute.

At that time only 10% of the population went to university. The reason that many people (including myself) think that degrees are easier nowadays is because 40% of young people undertake higher level study and many of them are not that bright! A system that caters for 40% has to be less stringent than a system that caters for the top 10% only. On a personal level I have studied at undergraduate level in the early seventies, late seventies and the mid nineties which, I feel, gives me a perspective of higher education that not many people have.