Bank of Mum and Dad - BBC2 8pm Tuesdays

daveboy

:cool: The biggest laugh of the night had to go to the glasses. :cool:

I said before this series started it'd give me some entertainment.

She has to be the best one so far. Blonde, female, the glasses, her attitude, stomping off etc.

If she had been male, she'd have been someone I'd love to punch.

pandas66

I must've missed the part where it said it was a student loan, what degree did she gain ?

daveboy

A first in how to behave like a dim bint

pitbull

daveboy wrote:

Most people who go to university will not end up over £30k in debt.

The programme demonstrated how much a waste going to university is - she had, from memory, £17k in student and 'normal loans'. What was her job again? What was she earning?

Makes me well happy I didn't waste my time at uni. It says it all if she went - I have more fingers on both hands than she had for an IQ.

But she went to Uni before top up fees were introduced. The fees will go up on average by £3k a year because all the universities are charging the max, over 3 years that is an extra £9k (assuming they do not rise). I am telling my daughter to budget for £10k per year with tuition fees and living costs.

Ember999

pitbull wrote:

But she went to Uni before top up fees were introduced. The fees will go up on average by £3k a year because all the universities are charging the max, over 3 years that is an extra £9k (assuming they do not rise). I am telling my daughter to budget for £10k per year with tuition fees and living costs.

How can anyone afford to go to university with fees and bills like this? I personally would not be prepared to get myself into the amount of debt students need to get in to in order to get a degree.

Any ex-students with degrees out there....was the salary you ended up with worth all the debt?? I'd be interested to know..

lipidicman

Ember999 wrote:

Any ex-students with degrees out there....was the salary you ended up with worth all the debt?? I'd be interested to know..

Mine's OK thanks!

I would like to balance the argument and point out that you can get a lot more out of university than a degree (although I am very happy with my degree I would point out). You get to make a clean break from home. Live independently, learning to cook, clean and budget for yourself. It is a great opportunity for making friends and getting on with all sorts of people. You will never have such a varied social life. On top of this you get a great education if you pick the right subject (I am a chemistry graduate) and a good education is about so much more than getting a job.

Sadly, many people can only afford uni if they stay at home, or return home afterwards. 'Going away' should be an integral part of the experience IMO!

surfcat

I graduated 3 years ago after a 4 year (masters) degree and student loan stands at approximately 15,000. In my opinion it's only fair that if 50% of people will be going to university, there should be these fees so that dustmen and nurses are not funding it. (Personally I would reduce the numbers to say 30% and get rid of fees).

Is it worth it? A resounding yes. Perhaps if all you judge life on is how much money you earn like Ember above then working in research or the public sector will not bring back too much return on your investment. (But then after earning 12000 for 3 years as a research student I've almost saved enough to pay back my loan.)

I'd agree with lipidicman that there's so much more to university than the degree. I look back at friends of mine back home who never went and (tho' still good friends) their lives haven't really moved on since we left school.

m00

think this is getting abit unabalanced. Shouldnt be about degree bashing.

Most other developed nations charge for a quality degree and this is the best way for anybody to better themselves.

We as a nation have lost sight of this simple fact and mickey mouse degrees in surfing, business studies, 'media' from mickey mouse ex-polys dont help the cause. The governments pushing of 50% getting a tertiary education certainly has watered down the effect a 'degree' can have in ones working life. But getting into debt to to further oneself shouldnt be belittled.

Also as someone has rightly pointed out a degree isnt merely about the academic side of things. You learn life skills such as looking for places to rent, budgeting, meeting a much more diverse and interesting pier group that you would have no chance of meeting otherwise, improving your understanding of other cultures, discipline to work for yourself. Things you really cannot put a monetary value on.

To tar everyone who has gotten into debt to get a degree with the same brush is not very fair. I know of people with huge debts to get their masters degrees at credible US Collges who walked into 6 figure jobs in New York. It is worth it financially and otherwise as long as you dont do a mickey mouse degree.

I myself am in debt well a student loan, but I wouldnt swap my red brick degree for not being in debt. My working life and opportunities have most definitely improved because of my choice. Before you ask my parents are imigrants and worked 50+ hour weeks to support me and my siblings and I worked through my degree. So its not everybody who whitters away money.

It is right that Education should be paid for, look at the sorry state of affairs we have now, Our top Universites Oxbridge, having to fix entry criteria to balance out for less academic students but 'underpriviledged' so jump to the top of the queue. Shouldnt be about class should be about ability. No money for the universities to fund themselves properly and the hands tied situation. Our standards will only fall and students from throughout the world would soon enough rather pay to go to better funded institutions elsewhere Im sure.

I'll have to keep an eye out on this programme, sounds like the typical state of affairs this government has created.

Just my pennys worth.

What lipidicman says is so true, I sometimes feel sorry for my school friends who still live in the same area with the same friends and the same friday nights, there is a world out there and university whilst not for everybody, certainly helped me see it a very different and fun light. Albeit an expensive one!!

Sput2001

We as a nation have lost sight of this simple fact and mickey mouse degrees in surfing, business studies, 'media' from mickey mouse ex-polys dont help the cause.

OI!!!

My degree was in business studies and it was a) very hard work and b) probably more useful than a whole bundle of "traditional" subjects I could mention.

daveboy

Laurence needs to watch those pink shirts!

This weeks programme was a non-event - thanks though to the BBC for pointing out the obvious at the end in relation to the magazine article.

I think the voice gave it away myself. £44,000. Entertainment at its best.