Are degrees in the UK value for money?

GreatApe

Higher education is largely a waste of time and resources. Ask yourselves how many people would freely pay £9k a year if the money was given to all 18 year olds into their bank accounts rather than directly to the university?

I feel my university education and time was a waste of resources. I did one of those useless courses that has little to no value at a middle of the road university. Physics at Imperial college. Seriously what a total waste of time. How will knowing how to prove Schrödinger equation help me in life? What job actually requires that knowledge? Education upto A-Levels was of use in my various jobs but nothing beyond that.

University numbers should be reduced 95%. if a person wants to do a subject for the enjoyment and love of the subject then the internet will provide. If a student needs to do a course that is vital to a given profession then Let the profession pay for it. This includes even doctors who could perhaps be 18 year olds with science A-Levels that learn on the jib and study 2 days a week getting paid crap NHS wages until they are qualified 10 years later.

GreatApe

Give all 18 year olds a £30k welcome to adulthood cheque only redeemable for university education or for a house deposit or for a lump sum into a pension. Then let's see how many people think £30k for 3 years of uni is worthwhile (more like £50k and 3 years lost income!)

My bet is the number opting to go to university would fall 80%.

SingleSue

chucknorris wrote: »

Generally, I'll agree that it isn't, but there are exceptions, and I'll tell you why! Because not everyone starts on an equal footing, and it isn't a case of where you started, it is where you finish! Some people start lower, but finish higher. I have to keep telling my students, their degree isn't the end of something, it is more of the start of something else. So sometimes a 'lesser university' offers a start for someone who can go quite far.

Don't fool yourself that people who study at so called less universities, are always less gifted, they maybe were just late starters in life.

Describes my youngest son perfectly. He has only really come into his own in the last 2 ish years and has gone from a child who was not expected to even do GCSEs to the top student in his year group.

He is off to university this September and although he impressed a Russell group uni (they responded in 2 hours and 40 minutes), he opted to go for Lincoln due to the course content, the surrounding area, their investment in the campus, ease/cost of travel between home and uni and their rise up the tables - in that precise order.

He is perfectly happy with his choice, he knows it may not be seen as a top university but rankings were not the main factor for him, it was more important that he could cope and felt comfortable with his surroundings (complex autism and a myriad of other disabilities) whilst also delivering the course with the modules he wanted.

Cakeguts

SingleSue wrote: »

Describes my youngest son perfectly. He has only really come into his own in the last 2 ish years and has gone from a child who was not expected to even do GCSEs to the top student in his year group.

He is off to university this September and although he impressed a Russell group uni (they responded in 2 hours and 40 minutes), he opted to go for Lincoln due to the course content, the surrounding area, their investment in the campus, ease/cost of travel between home and uni and their rise up the tables - in that precise order.

He is perfectly happy with his choice, he knows it may not be seen as a top university but rankings were not the main factor for him, it was more important that he could cope and felt comfortable with his surroundings (complex autism and a myriad of other disabilities) whilst also delivering the course with the modules he wanted.

Good for him.

Have a think about this though. Would you still be as happy if you thought that he was taking a hobby type degree and his fees were paying for people to do degrees that would help them get a well paid job when the information for his degree could have been got from your local library and the internet for free and would never lead to a job even with the piece of paper?

The problem isn't the people who are top in the school the problems start for people who are in the bottom third of the class and couldn't manage anything more difficult than a "creative" degree at a really low ranked university. They are paying a lot of money for something that they could do for free.

Cakeguts

GreatApe wrote: »

Give all 18 year olds a £30k welcome to adulthood cheque only redeemable for university education or for a house deposit or for a lump sum into a pension. Then let's see how many people think £30k for 3 years of uni is worthwhile (more like £50k and 3 years lost income!)

My bet is the number opting to go to university would fall 80%.

I actually think that this is the best idea I have heard for a long time. They could all pay it back as soon as they earned enough whether they used it for a deposit on a house or to pay university fees. It is better than everyone going to university and help to buy.

SingleSue

I have two other children, one doing a music degree, the other doing a film and tv production degree (at a low ranked university).

One is going into teaching, the other wants to be a rock star but with the back up of technical knowledge if it doesn't work out....

I'm happy as they are happy.

zagubov

Another expense is every university having to write its own syllabus, exams and mark schemes, for every one of its courses, while schools all teach to a centralised exam system. There are over a 100 different university "exam boards", and I'd be surprised if any other country does it differently.

I don't know how you could have a university system on the cheap without compromising its quality in some way.

Cakeguts

SingleSue wrote: »

I have two other children, one doing a music degree, the other doing a film and tv production degree (at a low ranked university).

One is going into teaching, the other wants to be a rock star but with the back up of technical knowledge if it doesn't work out....

I'm happy as they are happy.

What sort of careers advice did they get at school?

SingleSue

Middle son? None at all, they had written him off due to his disabilities. His degree is more than just music though, it also has a big technical element to it which should/could help him to gain employment in another part of the sector if it is needed and he isn't able to earn a living from his music.

Eldest son? He knew what he wanted to do and how to do it. He knew to be a teacher he needed a degree, he knew the area he wanted to cover as a teacher. We did 'discuss' his choice as I preferred a more academic degree and to be fair, he did complete a year of a more academic degree (he changed course after the first year of his film and tv degree to sociology and psychology as he thought it would give him more options in teaching but then changed back).

What was lacking was advice in the whole university application process, with eldest son we had no clue what we were doing. A university was just a university, ideas of ranking or anything else just didn't come into it...he needed a degree for his career choice, so just looked for the places doing what he wanted with the grades he was predicted. As it turned out, he actually achieved far higher than predicted and could have gone to his initial first choice which he had rejected due to them wanting grades higher than he thought he could achieve but by then, he was invested both financially and emotionally in his final choice.

As I have said, they are happy, they don't regret their choices and they have my full support.

Jackieboy

GreatApe wrote: »

Higher education is largely a waste of time and resources. Ask yourselves how many people would freely pay £9k a year if the money was given to all 18 year olds into their bank accounts rather than directly to the university?

I feel my university education and time was a waste of resources. I did one of those useless courses that has little to no value at a middle of the road university. Physics at Imperial college. Seriously what a total waste of time. How will knowing how to prove Schrödinger equation help me in life? What job actually requires that knowledge? Education upto A-Levels was of use in my various jobs but nothing beyond that.

University numbers should be reduced 95%. if a person wants to do a subject for the enjoyment and love of the subject then the internet will provide. If a student needs to do a course that is vital to a given profession then Let the profession pay for it. This includes even doctors who could perhaps be 18 year olds with science A-Levels that learn on the jib and study 2 days a week getting paid crap NHS wages until they are qualified 10 years later.

Since when has Imperial been a "middle of the road college" or Physics a "useless course"?