Tuition fees- Value for money?

jrrowleyws

Depends what degree he is doing as to how much contact time he will get. Your not going to get a tutor supervising a student reading texts!

Value for money depends on the degree he is doing. Im studying chemistry and so easily get my £3K's worth BUT -remember that the university is not getting any more money than they used to. The government is just giving them less and you are paying the rest.

The_One_Who

Peope always seem to say that tutors should be giving more help and direction. Universities are not for churning out graduates, they are for research and for trying to develop future academics. The tutors and lecturers will not hold your hand but if you need help you can ask and they will make time to see you. Most of them will have 'office hours' (which are woefully underused) where they will sit in their office and be free to answer any questions you have. If those hours don't fit with your timetable you can e-mail and see if there is another time they could do or go see someone else in the deaprtment whose hours do fit yours.

£3000 over three years is nothing compared to what Americans pay (more than £20,000 per year over four years, and that's not including accomodation).

Sigur_2

For each hour of lectures he receives he's meant to do 2 hours reading and research. How realistic is that? Probably not very.

But to answer your question university is still very good value for money, in fact, I think it always will be. If it becomes more expensive, the degree becomes worth more. If it becomes cheaper, you'll need a degree because everyone else will have one.

bekki007

I think that even though tuition fees really annoy me, (and I get really brassed off by the fact a LABOUR government brought in this policy which is further to the right than any Tory dare go) that they are good value for money, if you do a lecture heavy course. I just missed the top-up fees, which means I pay £1500 a year. I'm an Engineering student which means I have 27hrs of lectures a week, I pay the same as my friend who is a Geographer and has 6 hrs a week.

ceewash

Does your friend spend the rest of the week in the library? I am beginning to realise that I should have made my son find out this information before he started. Parents take note.

ceewash

jrrowleyws wrote: »

Depends what degree he is doing as to how much contact time he will get. Your not going to get a tutor supervising a student reading texts!

Value for money depends on the degree he is doing. Im studying chemistry and so easily get my £3K's worth BUT -remember that the university is not getting any more money than they used to. The government is just giving them less and you are paying the rest.

if university is just about reading books then why go? He could have done a correspondence course from home.

Sigur_2

ceewash wrote: »

if university is just about reading books then why go? He could have done a correspondence course from home.

Their fees would be equally high. Its the access you're paying for, from the plethora of online journals to the specialised libraries and being able to meet academics who specialise in certain areas.

flake_2

I agree. It might not be a scam but it's not right. I'm supposed to work 16 hours a week including home study. If i open-uni it they call 16 hours part-time, and they charge less than 4 grand fees for the whole degree. I would get just as much contact hours, maybe more, as none of my lecturers are very accessible. Lectures are just taught at you no time to ask questions or debate. If i don't understand something i have to arrange a meeting by email and everyone's all very busy, especially doing research, which is what my tutor freely admitted in his first lecture to us--i am here for the research i don't get all excited about teaching students?! Nice.

Sigur_2

flake wrote: »

I agree. It might not be a scam but it's not right. I'm supposed to work 16 hours a week including home study. If i open-uni it they call 16 hours part-time, and they charge less than 4 grand fees for the whole degree. I would get just as much contact hours, maybe more, as none of my lecturers are very accessible. Lectures are just taught at you no time to ask questions or debate. If i don't understand something i have to arrange a meeting by email and everyone's all very busy, especially doing research, which is what my tutor freely admitted in his first lecture to us--i am here for the research i don't get all excited about teaching students?! Nice.

Questions and debate are meant for tutorials and seminars or you can stop off during office hours..

At least your tutor was being honest, the main reason they are there is to carry out research. Teaching is something they have to do so they have the privilege of accessing all the universities resources.

CCCele

It was also wrong of the government to call these tuition fees, as they are nothing of the sort. This money goes to the universities to spend how they like, not to the departments (which is why all courses charge the same fee). Much of it gets spent on administration, not on teaching. It should have been called a university fee, not a tuition fee.