Student Fees

warmhands.coldheart

So Queen's University Belfast is cutting 236 jobs and 290 student places due to a funding reduction.

Apparently UU are in the process of assessing their cuts and are also expecting job and student losses.

Currently I believe the Fees are £3000/year.Is it time to raise them.... maybe £5000 per year? and keep the places? Should we be happy to "Invest" in our own education. There's always going to be the "poorer families will suffer" argument but then is that not the point of the student loans? and besides when you get your Degree and subsequent "higher than average paid job" you can pay it back over time..... And likewise if there's the argument that the job you may get won't be that highly paid, is it not arguable that it is pointless doing that degree??
I know of of people with "random" degrees working in Call Centres, likewise I know of people with no secondary qualifications earning £40,000+ per year.... Is a degree really all it's cracked up to be? Do employers put too much onus on it for certain jobs? I know I could arguably do my job without having done my Degree had I started "at the bottom" and worked my way up through training and experience but then companies don't seem too willing to invest in staff that much these days....

Thoughts???

saverbuyer

Why do they never offer staff to take a pay cut?


I think it's a bit unfair to add even more debt onto the young. They are already going to be paying the pensions of the current generation of retirees. The same people who had free university fees and full grants.

oldhand

I take it the vice chancellor on £250,000 per year will not be amongst those losing their jobs.......

Rockman

This is another example of the poor decision making by our local politicians who cannot make a decision to save their lives. In Scotland there are no tuition fees with the Government there funding higher education. In England and Wales the fees are £9000 and this pays for a good standard of higher education there. Typically here in Northern Ireland our ‘decision makers’ could not make a decision either way so settled for a half way house fee of £3000 which benefits no one. Our students end up with huge loans yet our higher education system is crumbling due to lack of funds.

The irony is, as far as I know, that as we cut student places here our students are going to England and we end up paying part of their tuition fee. Would it not be wiser to put that money into our own higher education budget and allow our own students to study here?

guiriman

It comes down to choices, when I finished school I chose to go to Queen's for financial reasons (able to live at home rent-free) but knew plenty of people who took out loans so that they could live away from their parents even though they had a direct bus route to university. After university I'd another three years of working and studying to get my professional qualifications and at that point my degree became redundant, if I'd to do it all again I'd start work at 16 and start the professional exams at a lower level. Even if they took me six years I'd have an income throughout and still end up at the same place, albeit two years earlier.

warmhands.coldheart

Rockman wrote: »

.... In Scotland there are no tuition fees with the Government there funding higher education.

AFAIK If you come from the Rest of the UK, universities in Scotland will charge you variable fees up to a maximum of £9,000 just like England and Wales. Undergraduate Scholarships and Bursaries are available for eligible students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales to help offset these higher fees.. So Higher Fees imposed on students from the rest of the UK are subsidising Scottish students..
Northern Ireland is not large enough to use this model (not enough students coming from outside Northern Ireland to charge to study here)

Imposing higher fees like all the other tough decisions are not vote winners so our politicians will NEVER make them...

Why not consult with staff on pay cuts / freezes ..... Is it not better to take a pay cut than loose your job?? You can always then move on to a different job in your own time if you do so wish....

Alternatively we could raise all income taxes for everyone and use that to pay for education...... you could argue very few people would loose out on that basis.....
If you have young kids you'll know you are paying higher tax to give them free education and even if you don't have kids in education, your extra cash is paying for the wider good of the nation.. ie better educated population = better paid jobs = more tax income = better living standards and services.

Just a pipe dream ????

saverbuyer

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

AFAIK If you come from the Rest of the UK, universities in Scotland will charge you variable fees up to a maximum of £9,000 just like England and Wales. Undergraduate Scholarships and Bursaries are available for eligible students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales to help offset these higher fees.. So Higher Fees imposed on students from the rest of the UK are subsidising Scottish students..
Northern Ireland is not large enough to use this model (not enough students coming from outside Northern Ireland to charge to study here)

Imposing higher fees like all the other tough decisions are not vote winners so our politicians will NEVER make them...

Why not consult with staff on pay cuts / freezes ..... Is it not better to take a pay cut than loose your job?? You can always then move on to a different job in your own time if you do so wish....

Alternatively we could raise all income taxes for everyone and use that to pay for education...... you could argue very few people would loose out on that basis.....
If you have young kids you'll know you are paying higher tax to give them free education and even if you don't have kids in education, your extra cash is paying for the wider good of the nation.. ie better educated population = better paid jobs = more tax income = better living standards and services.

Just a pipe dream ????

Its pseudo public sector, chances are final salary pension based on previous couple of years service, loads will be ready to jump ship and those that aren't quite there will probably be reluctant to accept pay constraints.


Ultimately the customer (student) loses.


81 people employed in Queens on over 100k.

qwert_yuiop

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

AFAIK If you come from the Rest of the UK, universities in Scotland will charge you variable fees up to a maximum of £9,000 just like England and Wales. Undergraduate Scholarships and Bursaries are available for eligible students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales to help offset these higher fees.. So Higher Fees imposed on students from the rest of the UK are subsidising Scottish students..

Yes indeed - shameful. English money pays for something denied to the English. Not a bit of wonder they voted No to independence.

warmhands.coldheart

saverbuyer wrote: »

.....81 people employed in Queens on over 100k.

ridiculous really.....

saverbuyer

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

ridiculous really.....

Add in pension contributions and it certainly is.

stephenni1971

When I was younger many just saw going to university as a way of putting off actually getting a job. Many took degrees which had no relevance to employment at all and ended up doing completely different things.

In my day job now I'm starting to deal with clients who have been educated under the Student Loan scheme and the repayment calculations mean that it doesnt have a huge effect on their income. I'm quite comfortable with a scheme where those wanting a Degree level education have to make a contribution towards the costs. Even for what they do pay it is only that - a contribution. God knows what the ACTUAL cost of a degree would be but substantially more I'm sure.