Your thoughts on university

adindas

CreditCrunchie wrote: »

Read this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4923210
Those of us on the income dependent loans (Post 2000) have this coming to us in the next couple of years as the government sells of the rest of its student loans book. So yes you most certainly WILL pay it off, and may even end up with a bad credit record over it!

It should only be put on your credit file if you default. Like any other debt collectors, I think they are using scaremongering tactics Contest it .....

HPoirot

I do think that it is a little sad that Higher Education is no longer seen as an enrichment of the mind and a broadening of one's horizons instead of just a means to an end. And an alarming sign of the times that it should be compared to a Land Rover by young graduates no less. Did the uni fail by not engaging those young graduates in the subject being pursued? Or is it simply a case of the modern "not what is in the inside but what's on the outside that counts" bug?

FWIW my 2:2 from a Russell Group uni 16 years was not a hindrance to my being taken on to the BVC and a Masters after that. I doubt if the same grades from another uni would have cut the mustard though. My parents paid the full overseas student fees at that uni which were (and I think still are) the highest in the country. I am fortunate that they could and agreed to, but they never questioned my choice although I am sure they might have foregone other plans for their money. The point though is that for some, education - and an enrichment of the mind - is much more important than any swathe of material riches.

To the OP: I am slightly incredulous that you should send your children to fee-paying schools (and therefore given thought to their education) and not once had a thought about their future, which would naturally raise the uni question among other possibilities?

jackyann

Person_one wrote: »

I'd be interested to know where you found that statistic. I live in a city with three universities that offer nursing, two of them with a national reputation and relatively big cohorts each year. All of those student nurses and midwives put together is still less than 1500 from a student population of around 70,000!

Even if they're counting CPD courses taken by qualified nurses that still seems like a very high percentage.

Sorry, it's just one of those things I remember reading or hearing on the radio & it stuck! I wouldn't have been surprised, looking at my local university, but I'm afraid that more digging would be necessary to find out how true it is. Reflecting on it - I usually trot it out unchallenged, often to people moaning about the proliferation of "mickey mouse courses" - they don't like to be horrid to nurses! - it may have been at a time when a lot of nurses were converting their RGNs to degrees.

And as for whether anyone studies a subject for the love of it:
1: I suppose a few do, I only know one young person who has studied a purely academic subject, and now, inevitably she is going into teaching.
2: you can love a practical subject - how lucky for me that I loved nursing!

Buzzybee90

daisiegg wrote: »

But you are not 'spending' £27k. You are basically signing up to pay a small tax when you are earning over a certain amount, after you graduate. Many will never even pay it off. I know I won't. I currently work part time and only pay back a tiny amount a month. I am giving up work later this year to have a family and won't go back for a number of years; when I do, it will probably only ever be on a low part time contract and I will never pay my loan off. It has absolutely no impact on my life; it does not count in your credit score, doesn't have to be declared on mortgage applications, etc. I have friends who have not even started paying their loans back five years after graduating as they do more study or travel or 'work to live' in lower paying non career jobs that just enable them to earn enough to have a fun life and do lots of travelling. Some of them may eventually get higher paying jobs and pay back some or all of their loan but lots of them probably never will, like me. Certainly none of us would go back and not go to university because of the 'debt' we now have!

Isn't it 15,000? Which to be fair, is nothing. I know you don't pay much off each month but a debt is a debt. I would have considered not going under the new, outrageous, fees. But I know I wouldn't have got the placement I currently have. The point I was replying to was saying we should study for fun, not to get a job, which is ludicrous.

whodathunkit

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

Isn't it 15,000? Which to be fair, is nothing. I know you don't pay much off each month but a debt is a debt. I would have considered not going under the new, outrageous, fees. But I know I wouldn't have got the placement I currently have. The point I was replying to was saying we should study for fun, not to get a job, which is ludicrous.

£9,000 pa in fees and around £5,000 pa in maintenance these days. You don't pay anything off until you earn over £21,000 and the other poster is right, you need to consider it a tax, not a debt.

Studying something for personal enrichment and love of the subject is not the same as studing for fun - it used to be the reason you went to university, unlike in these philistine days.

Buzzybee90

whodathunkit wrote: »

£9,000 pa in fees and around £5,000 pa in maintenance these days. You don't pay anything off until you earn over £21,000 and the other poster is right, you need to consider it a tax, not a debt.

Studying something for personal enrichment and love of the subject is not the same as studing for fun - it used to be the reason you went to university, unlike in these philistine days.

You also used to be able to walk into any old job.

nickj_2

how many jobs actually require a degree, when only the cream went to uni then a degree was probably special , now every tom !!!!!! and sally have one then surely their worth is diluted
if you look at some of the people who have done well in business who never wnen to uni, but just worked their way up , gaining experience and learning their trade on the way , i think alan sugar started selling car aerials out of the back of a van , duncan banantyne started of by buying an ice cream van , seeing and exploiting oportunities , be willing to take risks ,being ruthless and hard work is the key to success , obviously there are some jobs that need a degree , but there are a lot now that having a degree is required but probably not neccesary

adindas

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

Isn't it 15,000? Which to be fair, is nothing. I know you don't pay much off each month but a debt is a debt. I would have considered not going under the new, outrageous, fees. But I know I wouldn't have got the placement I currently have. The point I was replying to was saying we should study for fun, not to get a job, which is ludicrous.

Unfortunately, this is normally the case in this country. Many of these teenagers have been told by their teachers, or even parents ...
"Do study whatever you like, as you will perform better if you study the subject you like ...."

The teachers are saying these out from their own Interest to make the kid happy and hear what they want to hear. So at the end the teachers will get a good feedback from the kids that will keep them stay on the job. This is what happen when the politicians (also from their own interest) put too much pressure on the teachers and put too much power to the children who even do not know how to take responsibility.

"Do study whatever you like, as you will perform better if you study the subject you like ...."

The kids like to hear that as this is normally the easiest way to experience university life together with a lot friends and get degree. You will find a lot of these kids having a lot fun during their study, partying do not need to work hard and yet still get the degree. Ask those who studied medicine, dentistry, Engineering. Do they have a lot of fun ??

Well the majority of students who study for hobby and choose the easiest one and not for the job prospect; Finishing study and get degree they will find out that they will get the job they could even do that when they were still a teenager but now they are getting older with more than 20k debt in their book.

Study the subject you like is good when it is balanced with the job prospect, whether you want to use your degree to earn money or not.

Person_one

jackyann wrote: »

Sorry, it's just one of those things I remember reading or hearing on the radio & it stuck! I wouldn't have been surprised, looking at my local university, but I'm afraid that more digging would be necessary to find out how true it is. Reflecting on it - I usually trot it out unchallenged, often to people moaning about the proliferation of "mickey mouse courses" - they don't like to be horrid to nurses! - it may have been at a time when a lot of nurses were converting their RGNs to degrees.

And as for whether anyone studies a subject for the love of it:
1: I suppose a few do, I only know one young person who has studied a purely academic subject, and now, inevitably she is going into teaching.
2: you can love a practical subject - how lucky for me that I loved nursing!

If you think people don't like it be horrid to nurses you might want to have a glance at DT from time to time, we're only slightly more well liked than 'benefit scroungers' and corrupt politicians! :rotfl:

adindas

nickj wrote: »

how many jobs actually require a degree, when only the cream went to uni then a degree was probably special , now every tom !!!!!! and sally have one then surely their worth is diluted
if you look at some of the people who have done well in business who never wnen to uni, but just worked their way up , gaining experience and learning their trade on the way , i think alan sugar started selling car aerials out of the back of a van , duncan banantyne started of by buying an ice cream van , seeing and exploiting oportunities , be willing to take risks ,being ruthless and hard work is the key to success , obviously there are some jobs that need a degree , but there are a lot now that having a degree is required but probably not neccesary

Well, not many people are gifted / talented (and combined with luck to some extend ?) like Sir Alan sugar, Duncan Banantynea around in this country or even around the world.

If it was so easy to make the people to become like Sir Alan sugar, Duncan Banantynea then you would not have a lot of problem with benefit seekers in this country. I fully believe that the majority of people will agree that almost 100% of the people would want to become the next Sir Alan sugar or Duncan Banantynea if they could ....

Doing the right degree at the university that have been proven to have a very good job prospect will work like a back up plan if your plan to go into the university of life has failed....