Paying for children at university

missbiggles1

adindas wrote: »

Well, I fully believe the people in Taxpayers alliance, the people affected by flood in the UK will disagree with your statement.

What about the people who have wasted about £30,000 of taxpayer’s money doing mickey mouse degree such as Sport Management (e.g. David Beckham degree). Finishing degree they are working stacking items on the shelves because there are not any job in this areas whihc need a degree but work experience.

If they started their career much earlier by not doing higher education they might be have become a supervisor and even the manager in the big supermarkets. No taxpayers money are wasted.

There are a lot types of education not only higher education at university. It could be education from the job places, apprentices, short training, etc.

Equally, they (or somebody else in their place) may be unemployed for 3 years, costing the tax payer at least as much in benefits. Job numbers are pretty finite and one person not in HE will be one person claiming benefits, even if it isn't the same person.

Obviously there are different types of training available in different places but I was talking about genuine education (not saying all HE comes into that category) which benefits not only the student and any future children but society as a whole.

Do we really want this country to become any more philistine and utilitarian than it's already become - I know I certainly don't.

mumps

adindas wrote: »

Well, I fully believe the people in Taxpayers alliance, the people affected by flood in the UK will disagree with your statement.

What about the people who have wasted about £30,000 of taxpayer’s money doing mickey mouse degree such as Sport Management (e.g. David Beckham degree). Finishing degree they are working stacking items on the shelves because there are not any job in this areas whihc need a degree but work experience.

If they started their career much earlier by not doing higher education they might be have become a supervisor and even the manager in the big supermarkets. No taxpayers money are wasted.

There are a lot types of education not only higher education at university. It could be education from the job places, apprentices, short training, etc.

I do think the mickey mouse degree has been overused. I know someone who did a "surfing" degree. People assumed he was spending his time surfing. What a laugh. He was studying design, maths, marketing, psychology and lots more. Got a job in Hawaii I think, head hunted and doing nicely. Mickey Mouse? I think the laugh wasn't on him.

There are certain things that are just trotted out without thinking and I think the two that always hit me are "Mickey Mouse" degrees and "getting rid of management would make everything more efficient." Another recent one is junior doctors work 9 - 5 Monday to Friday. Do people ever stop and think?

spend_or_save

[QUOTEmumps;69860460]I do think the mickey mouse degree has been overused. I know someone who did a "surfing" degree. People assumed he was spending his time surfing. What a laugh. He was studying design, maths, marketing, psychology and lots more. Got a job in Hawaii I think, head hunted and doing nicely. Mickey Mouse? I think the laugh wasn't on him.

QUOTE]

I get your point Mumps, and fair play to anyone who does one of these so called "mickey mouse" courses and gets a good career out of it, its not so much mickey mouse courses that are the problem IMO, its the fact people do not actually think what they want to do after uni.

People studying art, history, georgraphy etc (which are not Mickey mouse degree's IMO) degree's because they liked the subjects at school, they come out not wanting to be historians, or geography teachers then moan they cant get a job with their degree, its not the fact there are not any jobs, or that their degree is rubbish, its the fact their degree does not reflect the type of career they want.

Uni should be about gearing you for a career, it amazes me the amount of people who commit to studying for 4-5 years of their life, taking on debts etc without having any clue what they are doing it for and what there reward will be at the end of the course

missbiggles1

spend_or_save wrote: »

[QUOTEmumps;69860460]I do think the mickey mouse degree has been overused. I know someone who did a "surfing" degree. People assumed he was spending his time surfing. What a laugh. He was studying design, maths, marketing, psychology and lots more. Got a job in Hawaii I think, head hunted and doing nicely. Mickey Mouse? I think the laugh wasn't on him.

QUOTE]

I get your point Mumps, and fair play to anyone who does one of these so called "mickey mouse" courses and gets a good career out of it, its not so much mickey mouse courses that are the problem IMO, its the fact people do not actually think what they want to do after uni.

People studying art, history, georgraphy etc (which are not Mickey mouse degree's IMO) degree's because they liked the subjects at school, they come out not wanting to be historians, or geography teachers then moan they cant get a job with their degree, its not the fact there are not any jobs, or that their degree is rubbish, its the fact their degree does not reflect the type of career they want.

Uni should be about gearing you for a career, it amazes me the amount of people who commit to studying for 4-5 years of their life, taking on debts etc without having any clue what they are doing it for and what there reward will be at the end of the course

If you achieve a good degree from a reputable university in a traditional academic arts/humanities subject then there are enormous numbers of areas you can go into where your academic subject is totally irrelevant. Far better than doing a narrow "vocational" degree in something like Business Studies, particularly from your local ex poly.

Potential degree students who aren't aiming at doing a specifically vocational degree (which most subjects aren't) need to concentrate on keeping as many options open as possible and to use their time at university wisely (both academically and in the wider world) and then research potential careers from the second year onwards.

Degree level study is about so much more than "gearing up for a career" - it's a sad sign of the times that so many people think it's so.

mumps

spend_or_save wrote: »

[QUOTEmumps;69860460]I do think the mickey mouse degree has been overused. I know someone who did a "surfing" degree. People assumed he was spending his time surfing. What a laugh. He was studying design, maths, marketing, psychology and lots more. Got a job in Hawaii I think, head hunted and doing nicely. Mickey Mouse? I think the laugh wasn't on him.

QUOTE]

I get your point Mumps, and fair play to anyone who does one of these so called "mickey mouse" courses and gets a good career out of it, its not so much mickey mouse courses that are the problem IMO, its the fact people do not actually think what they want to do after uni.

People studying art, history, georgraphy etc (which are not Mickey mouse degree's IMO) degree's because they liked the subjects at school, they come out not wanting to be historians, or geography teachers then moan they cant get a job with their degree, its not the fact there are not any jobs, or that their degree is rubbish, its the fact their degree does not reflect the type of career they want.

Uni should be about gearing you for a career, it amazes me the amount of people who commit to studying for 4-5 years of their life, taking on debts etc without having any clue what they are doing it for and what there reward will be at the end of the course

I do agree that people need to think about what their aim is but sometimes those sort of general degrees are fine. Three of mine did degrees with very specific careers in mind, one did history because he loved history. He went into banking and is the high earner of the 4. It is so hard to predict these things. As a parent I would suggest things they might consider about course/career/university/costs/post grad etc but they have to make their own decisions.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with history but he didn't want to teach and wasn't sure what to do with it. Of the other 3, one did nursing and two did a traditional academic subject as they wanted to teach and went on to do PGCE.

mumps

missbiggles1 wrote: »

If you achieve a good degree from a reputable university in a traditional academic arts/humanities subject then there are enormous numbers of areas you can go into where your academic subject is totally irrelevant. Far better than doing a narrow "vocational" degree in something like Business Studies, particularly from your local ex poly.

Potential degree students who aren't aiming at doing a specifically vocational degree (which most subjects aren't) need to concentrate on keeping as many options open as possible and to use their time at university wisely (both academically and in the wider world) and then research potential careers from the second year onwards.

Degree level study is about so much more than "gearing up for a career" - it's a sad sign of the times that so many people think it's so.

I generally agree but for instance my youngest who wanted to be a nurse wasn't really bothered about uni in the way the other 3 were, but to be a nurse it had to be done.

tea_lover

spend_or_save wrote: »

People studying art, history, georgraphy etc (which are not Mickey mouse degree's IMO) degree's because they liked the subjects at school, they come out not wanting to be historians, or geography teachers then moan they cant get a job with their degree, its not the fact there are not any jobs, or that their degree is rubbish, its the fact their degree does not reflect the type of career they want.

Uni should be about gearing you for a career, it amazes me the amount of people who commit to studying for 4-5 years of their life, taking on debts etc without having any clue what they are doing it for and what there reward will be at the end of the course

I've got a good geography degree from a top 10 university and it's always helped me to find work. My profession isn't directly linked to my degree subject (there are some links, kind of!)

University purely as a means of getting a job is a real waste of an opportunity to learn.

princesstippytoes

pigpen wrote: »

rubbish.. the minority go to university, it isn't compulsory and it is possible to study part time while working full time or work part time and study full time.. if they want it they will work for it. This attitude of entitlement is abhorrent and they need to realise not everything is handed out on a silver platter. Yes the system sucks but so does being a grown up and having financial responsibility for yourself. and the sooner they learn the better. I bet 90% of parents would be disgusted if they saw what their precious little students do with their money.. weed, alcohol leading to smashing up cars, upturning bins, clogging up A&E... of course that isn't all, but a chunk do because they have been so molly-coddled they think is normal once they are away from mummy and daddy. One girl on my daughters course left because our A&E refused to deal with her when she went saying she missed her mummy!! She thought she would get a psyche referral!

My partner finished uni in 2003 and has never had a job related to his qualification.. and he is absolutely not the only one I know of.. in many cases it is a waste of time.. He is disadvantaged now because he cannot get funding to do study in an area where he might actually stand a chance of finding work because he has a crappy degree not worth the paper it is written on!

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My children aren't quite at uni stage yet but I will encourage them to work hard to get what they want. That doesn't mean I could sit back and watch them struggle.

mumps

Well if you are right pigpen doesn't have any worries, her kids will get grants, bursaries and all sorts thrown at them.

Thinking about it I am sure the students with the poorest parents seemed to have the most money at uni when my kids were there.

missbiggles1

mumps wrote: »

I generally agree but for instance my youngest who wanted to be a nurse wasn't really bothered about uni in the way the other 3 were, but to be a nurse it had to be done.

That's what I meant about strictly vocational degrees like Nursing, the ethos is totally different from traditional academic subjects.