Are degrees in the UK value for money?

Voyager2002

SingleSue wrote: »

I know that and you know that but others appear to struggle with this concept.

I was merely pointing out that the same was happening over 25 years ago (nearly 30 years ago...eek, I feel old!) as now when graduates leave university, i.e. going into unrelated businesses to the subject of their degree.

Try 300 years ago...

The brilliant public servants who administered the Empire and later managed our resistance to Hitler and eventual victory, while laying the foundations for the NHS and creating a world-class scientific infrastructure, had degrees in Classics. Academic study to a high standard equips someone to learn a practical skill later: such people learn faster and perform more effectively in applying it than someone who simply learns practical matters right after leaving school.

The decline in classical education coincides fairly precisely with the decline and collapse of British industrial competitiveness.

economic

Windofchange wrote: »

From the numerous posts about being an unemployed banker, it sounds like I am! Is it jobseekers allowance day tomorrow?

I don't bother with benefits as its not worth my time. Even though job seekers allowance is actually my own money i had paid in NI that i can claim back!

I would worry more about the money that is being wasted on you since you work in the public sector right? What value am i getting with my taxes that i have paid in you posting nonsense on this forum? Shouldn't you be hard at work producing value for the taxpayer?

economic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Y24NJo1BY

westernpromise

economic wrote: »

I don't bother with benefits as its not worth my time. Even though job seekers allowance is actually my own money i had paid in NI that i can claim back!

You can only collect your Just Sitting Around money (or whatever it was then called) for about six months or a total of about £1,500. I happen to know this because about 8 years ago I got laid off from a job but I had redundancy insurance that paid £1,500 a month for up to two years.

(As an aside, the premium-to-benefit ratio of my private provision was stratospherically better than the state provision, which charges me the earth, and returns approximately nothing).

Among several conditions of receiving the £1,500 a month redundo insurance payouts was that you had to be signing on. So I duly went through this abject farce, for the £1,500 a month rather than the £60 a week or whatever it then was, and was informed early on that I would in no circumstances receive any money beyond six months. I had actually been paying more income tax and NI a week than I was going to get from the state in total. I would have been better off had I never worked at all, because having done so and having been stupid enough to put some money by, this was used against me to deny me any return on the huge sums I had paid in.

Basically I fund free stuff for other people, and so do you. The rules are constructed explicitly to deny you the chance to claim back your own money.

Windofchange

economic wrote: »

I don't bother with benefits as its not worth my time. Even though job seekers allowance is actually my own money i had paid in NI that i can claim back!

I would worry more about the money that is being wasted on you since you work in the public sector right? What value am i getting with my taxes that i have paid in you posting nonsense on this forum? Shouldn't you be hard at work producing value for the taxpayer?

And what I do in my spare time is the concern of the taxpayer how? Another winning argument there from you champ.

You are the one who is on here literally 24 / 7, but I suppose being unemployed you have the luxury of time, and not needing to leave your bedroom all day. I find this with my patients - it is always the most unproductive in society who seem to have the most to say about how others should conduct themselves.

I'd love to know your reality. I bet it is a far cry from the life you lead on here.

gfplux

Cakeguts wrote: »

Just now I was reading something interesting. There is a university in the West Country that that would be top of my hit list to close and turn into something else. It only runs courses in useless degrees. However what I read was that the university and students inject £60m into the local economy and a lot of people are making money because this useless university is there running useless courses. It is one of the universities that people go to if they can't get into anything better so if it was closed students would be better off but the area that it is in would lose £60m of taxpayers money.

That university is being run in order to inject taxpayers money into that part of the country. How many other places are getting taxpayers money by this method?

I suspect that all Universities inject enrichment into their local area. No one should forget that. The local area or City is effected by having a University nearby.
Take away the University and you diminish the local area.

Arklight

Windofchange wrote: »

And what I do in my spare time is the concern of the taxpayer how? Another winning argument there from you champ.

You are the one who is on here literally 24 / 7, but I suppose being unemployed you have the luxury of time, and not needing to leave your bedroom all day. I find this with my patients - it is always the most unproductive in society who seem to have the most to say about how others should conduct themselves.

I'd love to know your reality. I bet it is a far cry from the life you lead on here.

Every time I read some blowhard on here bragging about how much money they have, I assume that they are a fantasist living in their elderly parents' basement.


The only person here on the Right who genuinely seemed to be successful was Generali, who never once boasted about his income. Of course they banned him but the "look at me" twits get to post as they wish.

Windofchange

Arklight wrote: »

Every time I read some blowhard on here bragging about how much money they have, I assume that they are a fantasist living in their elderly parents' basement.


The only person here on the Right who genuinely seemed to be successful was Generali, who never once boasted about his income. Of course they banned him but the "look at me" twits get to post as they wish.

Couldn't agree more. All the genuinely successful people I have met in real life would never discuss their wealth. You aren't going to find them in a sub-forum on MSE discussing whether a degree is worthwhile or not as they are in a Ferrari driving up the coast from Monaco for dinner.

It's like the boy racer in his noisy Honda Civic. Nobody would ordinarily look twice at the car, and so they have to be as noisy as possible with a loud stereo and big exhaust pipe to draw attention to themselves. This is how I see Economic - story changes every few months to suit what he is trying to prove - retired, semi retired, software developer in training, six figure salary since the age of 24, million pound trust fund, property developer, shares whizkid. What a fantastic virtual life he leads...

GreatApe

So the right is just poor people pretending to be rich and voting the Tories in?

Close to half the population votes tory and they do so as they understand that there are no free lunches. The 80% of the workers of the private sector who are self employed or work for small businesses dont buy what your lot are selling. They do not believe your stories of evil profit when they themselves or the small companies they work for also seek to make a profit.

Generally Tories are more successful because they are more contentious than liberals and lefties

GreatApe

Windofchange wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. All the genuinely successful people I have met in real life would never discuss their wealth. You aren't going to find them in a sub-forum on MSE discussing whether a degree is worthwhile or not as they are in a Ferrari driving up the coast from Monaco for dinner.

There are varying degrees of wealth. While I believe we have some millionaires on these boards I dont think we have any £10+ millionaires on this board.

It's like the boy racer in his noisy Honda Civic. Nobody would ordinarily look twice at the car, and so they have to be as noisy as possible with a loud stereo and big exhaust pipe to draw attention to themselves. This is how I see Economic - story changes every few months to suit what he is trying to prove - retired, semi retired, software developer in training, six figure salary since the age of 24, million pound trust fund, property developer, shares whizkid. What a fantastic virtual life he leads...

I believe him he doesn't paint an extraordinary picture of himself.
Decent paying job for about a decade and some inheritance money saying he lives in a modest flat in a modest way. Did not like his job so quit and is living off savings while trying to figure out what he wants to do in life. They are not really claims of extraordinary wealth or circumstance.