Tuition fees- Value for money?

ceewash

As a parent of a student who has just started a degree course I have been amazed at how much free time he has. He has a two week timetable and if you put the two weeks together they would not make one. What are we paying for? £3000 a year it is costing for him to sit around getting bored. That is £9000 over three years. These are clever people who need more than this. It seems like a scam to me. The whole course could be completed much quicker. Are there any students/parents out there who agree?

zfrl

His free time is supposed to be taken up by research & study. However most students use it for rest & relaxation & wonder why they end up with a 2:2 or a third which in today's market place are of little or no value.

nikib_3

yep, I have just finnished as a mature, I can honestly say he should be spending alot of his 'free' time studying, and using the library, however I suspect if he has just started it hasnt dawned on him yet what he should be doing, but when a load of assignments roll up together he will know

ceewash

Yes maybe he should but he says he is uptodate with all work. Maybe for £3000 a year you would expect more direction from tutors. It seems some work part time and fit this in around a job. One does a round trip from Scotland for a two hour lecture and then is not seen until the next week. I know the work will increase but I am just thinking back to my student days when I had nearly a full timetable with just Wednesday afternoon off for sport. I know I am going back into the mists of time!

Amalea

I'm in my final year at uni, and I'm only in one day a week-but that does not mean I have loads of free time. I'm having to work hard and it certainly isn't easy work! There is a chance he's on a bad course (I dropped out of one university as the course I was on was a joke) but I agree with what others have said, he probably hasn't realised he can't leave it all to last minute and get a good degree!

ceewash

Thanks for your advice. he says he has done all the work he has been given. Maybe he hasn't. My point was really about the fees. Where is the tuition?

nikib_3

all the first year students that I know are in at least 14 hours a week, it may be that the uni are gradually breaking them in, unlike mine who tested your resillience by throwing everything at you in the first term, sometime tables change week to week, so it would be worth looking at his, if he isnt in much now that could change after christmas

ceewash

From what I know he does 14 hours over 2 weeks. Maybe it will change. Lets hope so.

nikib_3

that isnt alot at all, I hope it does change, I can't see him getting much from 7 hours a week contact time, I wish him luck with it

dmg24

You are not just paying for the lecturers. You are paying for the library facilities, and all the other heavily subsidised facilities that your son can take advantage of.

Being at university is about taking responsibility for your own studies. He should be directing his own study schedule, and making the most of the opportunities available to him.

If he really does have all this free time, could he not get a part time job? The graduate job market is very competitive and he will need work experience to get a good position.

Do you mean £9000 over the three years? You have put £18000.

sali_mali

Hello, I often wonder about this too. I'm currently in my third year of a science degree and in my first two years I was in directed study (lectures/labs/tutorials) for 26 hours a week. My flatmate who does an arts subject was in for 6 hours!

I definitely know I'm getting value for money because of the labs, the lecturers and the library, but I do wonder what people doing the arts subjects feel. (She's not even doing a mickey mouse subject, it's Philosophy and politics!)

I am now only in for 5-6 hours a week but because it's my third year I'm expected to spend 15 hours a week on my dissertation and I have plenty of other deadlines to keep me chained to my desk/lab bench!

My point in this long and rambling post is that it really does depend on his degree. If he's only in for 7 hours a week he's probably expected to be doing about 2-3 hours reading for each lecture if he's aiming for a first. You're paying for the lecturers (who will be directing the students to what they should be reading) and for access to the libraries. Not quite such good value as a science degree!