Tuition fees- Value for money?

Sigur_2

flake wrote: »

So am i but we are in the minority.

That's interesting about the accomodation and sport thing didn't know that, thanx. So why are universities saying they need all this money then?? Are they inefficiently run. I don't think i get £12,000 worth of tuition.

I do not agree that unis should be able to charge what they like though like education is just another product with consumers. Education is important and efforts should be made to give it to everyone who wants it.

Universities don't provide accomodation out of the kindness of their hearts, its a profitable operation. Universities are run incredibly inefficiently because they operate on a budget maximisation policy. They get a certain amount from the government, which they have to spend. If they have any amounts left over, this means the following years budget maybe reduced.

Education is important, but shouldn't the market be deciding just how important and at what cost? If it is so important, surely this will translate to the market. I don't believe higher education is a right, especially when degrees are becoming so common these days. The growth in the hobby degree sector is frightening, I know plenty of people doing degrees that in no way increase their employability. Those who have the ability shouldn't be having their efforts cheapened by someone doing "Celtic Studies" or such.

speranza

I started uni in September and already I'm feeling quite disillusioned with the whole experience, to the point where I've decided to withdraw from my course. I'm at a very reputable top-10 university which is also quite small and makes a point of advertising its student support services.

Since I was aware I might get homesick (uni is in England, I'm from N.Ireland so couldn't just pop home at the weekends) and have had depression before, I chose this uni over a London one, even though the London one is better. I found the first few weeks horrible, didn't make friends easily and found a lot of snobbery which I was not expecting.

Eventually I asked if I could see a counsellor and was told they were very busy, which I suppose I could understand. Then I emailed the Chaplaincy as they were apparently running homesickness groups but they never replied. At that point my confidence was so low I just didn't bother trying to contact anyone else.

I went home for my reading week and ended up staying home for almost three weeks. I'm in a relatively small department which has quite a few seminars (the ones I've been to at the start took a register) although actual teaching time is quite low at around 10 hours/week and no one ever contacted me to see where I was. My own personal tutor has never contacted me.

Now I barely leave my room, have stopped going to lectures and lost 7lbs because I feel ill all the time and can't eat. It's a complete mess and I feel like a total failure. But I *did* try to ask for help and it just wasn't there so I can't be entirely to blame. Am now hoping to go to a uni closer to home next year so I haven't been totally put off by higher education but I do agree the things students are now paying for are really not being delivered.

welf_man

Hi - sorry things are so rough for you. If you PM me and tell me which University you're at I'll get you the name of someone who will help.

At the very least you need to make sure you withdraw "properly" so that your future funding isn't affected.

Mel.

pixiedust_2

I think this really does come down to the uni you are at and the course you are studying. My course isn't particularly heavy in "teaching hours" (tops of about 12 hours a week- but this varies from week to week), but we have full use of all the workshop facilities, as well as the design studios, CAD rooms, library (both the main one, and a smaller faculty library), and a team of 4 tutors supporting roughly 60 students accross the 3 year groups, and technical support for the workshop, who are all *at* uni, Monday-Friday, 9-5(ish). I know, we're lucky. But I also know I couldn't run my own workshop/studio on the money that I'm paying in tuition, and that very few reputable companies would even look at my CV or work without seeing a qualification there. We're also lucky, in that, whenever I or anyone on my course have had dealings with Student Services, they have replied really quickly, and been helpful. It probably helps that we're a relatively small university, especially compared to some of the other places I looked at for my course!

You're right about looking at this as an investment Sigur. I took the decision to leave a stable, but low paid job, to re-enter the education system. It was that or be happy with stable and low paid for a long time! I'm aware that I can't gaurantee leaving university and getting a nice high paid job doing whatever I want within my subject... But the chances are a lot higher. Getting a job on leaving university is a gamble, the same as would be taken with any kind of investment. There are more and more people graduating from university every year, which makes employment very much the employers market, not ours - but surely thats just another reason to try even harder and push to be amongst the best of your group?

And as far as distance learning goes - I tried this before starting uni. If you want to be *taught*, this definately isn't the way to go. Don't get me wrong, the tutors are good, and the materials are fantastic, but please remember your tutor will have other responsibilities. For the last course I did, our only "contact" time was either at the lectures (2-3 hours every 5 weeks), or during a 2 hour period on a Sunday evening. We couldn't phone her at any other time, and if we emailed, we couldn't expect a reply outside of those times. She had other commitments, to other courses and other classes. If you're happy to guide your own learning then go for it, but if you need contact, then don't even think about it!

(Oops - sorry for mammoth post!! I'll get off my soap box now )

flake_2

pixiedust wrote: »

And as far as distance learning goes - I tried this before starting uni. If you want to be *taught*, this definately isn't the way to go. Don't get me wrong, the tutors are good, and the materials are fantastic, but please remember your tutor will have other responsibilities. For the last course I did, our only "contact" time was either at the lectures (2-3 hours every 5 weeks), or during a 2 hour period on a Sunday evening. We couldn't phone her at any other time, and if we emailed, we couldn't expect a reply outside of those times. She had other commitments, to other courses and other classes. If you're happy to guide your own learning then go for it, but if you need contact, then don't even think about it!

(Oops - sorry for mammoth post!! I'll get off my soap box now )

Thanks for the heads up pixiedust, wow that's pretty bad 2 hours on a sunday!! i think it does depend on ur tutor. I don't mind independent learning if i'm not paying for it!

pixiedust_2

Yeah, tutors can be good or bad wherever you go - she was a great teacher, just very over-commited unfortunately.

Personally, I reckon we should all be on apprenticeships, but seeing as that isn't going to happen....

bestpud

speranza wrote: »

I started uni in September and already I'm feeling quite disillusioned with the whole experience, to the point where I've decided to withdraw from my course. I'm at a very reputable top-10 university which is also quite small and makes a point of advertising its student support services.

Since I was aware I might get homesick (uni is in England, I'm from N.Ireland so couldn't just pop home at the weekends) and have had depression before, I chose this uni over a London one, even though the London one is better. I found the first few weeks horrible, didn't make friends easily and found a lot of snobbery which I was not expecting.

Eventually I asked if I could see a counsellor and was told they were very busy, which I suppose I could understand. Then I emailed the Chaplaincy as they were apparently running homesickness groups but they never replied. At that point my confidence was so low I just didn't bother trying to contact anyone else.

I went home for my reading week and ended up staying home for almost three weeks. I'm in a relatively small department which has quite a few seminars (the ones I've been to at the start took a register) although actual teaching time is quite low at around 10 hours/week and no one ever contacted me to see where I was. My own personal tutor has never contacted me.

Now I barely leave my room, have stopped going to lectures and lost 7lbs because I feel ill all the time and can't eat. It's a complete mess and I feel like a total failure. But I *did* try to ask for help and it just wasn't there so I can't be entirely to blame. Am now hoping to go to a uni closer to home next year so I haven't been totally put off by higher education but I do agree the things students are now paying for are really not being delivered.

Sorry OP - this is off topic.

Speranza - Sorry to hear you are having a tough time and I hope you've had some help from welf-man already.

If not, then do go back to the counsellor and tell them how you are feeling. Even if they are busy, they should have a waiting list and should see you pretty quick if you let them know how much you are struggling.

Also, your personal tutor won't contact you and neither will other lecturers, even if they do have an attendance policy. At uni, it is up to the student to do all the contacting although I realise that can be hard when you are feeling so low.

Do go back to the counselling service though as they will help you, even if you have to go on the waiting list for a week or two. And email your personal tutor to ask for the first available appointment. Go along and tell them how you are feeling and that you are missing lectures etc.

As welf_man says, even if you are leaving, you need to get decent advice and do it properly.

It's very difficult but you do need to get out and see these people as no one will come to you - it just doesn't work that way.

I hope you sort something soon.

Good luck,

Bestpud

surfsister

so which unis are the ones which are light on taught hours? I would be interested to know as dd applying now. ceewash which uni is your child at? Perhaps pm me if you don't want to say speranza or anyone else

thanks dd going for York anyone heard about this one? ta

The_One_Who

I'd say it depends on the subject more than the university on what the taught hours are. Arts and social science subjects tend to get less hours because they are expected to read a lot more whereas physical and mathematical sciences, engineering etc. are given more time because of the need for labs and such like.

PasturesNew

ceewash wrote: »

... £3000 a year it is costing ... That is £18000 over three years.

Inflation!! In my day 3x3000 was only £9000