University tuition fees Up to 9 grand a year now?! (Potentially) Even now, im sure its about 1500 quid a year aint it? Once you factor in living costs, and all that jazz is it honestly even worth bothering with? Surely there is a cheaper way to get twatted mid week, laze about all day, and party like there is no tomorrow, for 3 years, without coming out of it all in massive debt?! If i had my time again, or if and when i ever have kids and had to give them advice (not that they would take it), i would seriously think twice about whether or not i wanted to spend 1-2 decades paying for a few years on the razz. .... especially when you factor in the value that the vast majority of university courses actually offer when it comes to getting a real job. Totally nuts. Only 13 years ago you got a grant, and your fees paid for. I'd rather my massive taxes went towards funding those, instead of invading other countries and keeping chavs in social housing.
I think it's shameful how my generation got free tuition, living grants and well staffed, well funded Universities have now pulled up the drawbridge behind them and left todays generation in the shit. I did fine art which I has let me make a living doing something I love, as well as enriching my life, but if I thought I would have left with a massive debt there is no way I would have done it. People laugh at courses like mine as being useless but much of what makes the UK a force in world culture, musically as well as creatively, came out of art schools, and often from working class kids like me who got a chance to develop their talents in a way that was free from financial risk. We as a country need to nurture talent not crush it under a dead weight of debt. Who in their right mind would take on £20K of debt to do a course with no guarantee of an income at the end of it? Daughters of rich people who get their fees paid by daddy, that's about it. That's who we will be looking to for the future of Britain's creative sector. What a joke.
There was a survey on the news last night that showed: 50% would be put off at anything over £6k a year 80% would be put off by £7k or over, 90% would be put off by £9k+. I don't think I would have considered doing the course given the figures being talked about now. My masters degree cost £3500 (self funded) and I thought that was steep at the time. I only took out one years worth of student loan to pay for it (£2.5k) and saved the difference. I've only just paid off the student loan after 2 years, and thats on a decent wage. I'd quite happily pay extra tax every month if it meant everyone had the same chance as I have to study further if they wished. If they go through with this it'll turn Universities into the playground of the rich. It'll also kill future funding as interest in University courses will plummet, meaning fees have to go higher to make up for the lack of students. If this goes through, everyone loses.
I suppose free higher education is probably the only thing i really agree with as far as my taxes are concerned. Most other things i find highly questionable as to whether we really need them or to the extent that we support them. Its a shame alot of younger people have been brainwashed into thinking Uni is a 'must do' these days, and that they have missed out on life or something if they didn't go. .... which is why you have a generation with large numbers of people saddled with debt for years to come. Government supported vocational schemes might be a better way of allowing people to learn, without being trapped in a full time job (YET), but still allowing them to gain some actual real world skills. My entire career has been based off of a 35 quid book that i bought after i barely scraped through uni with a 3rd class honours in a completely unrelated subject. The idea that you need to have a degree to get a decent job is a total load of crap (Outside of jobs that require significant academic studies beforehand - medicine etc).
Im seriously worried about this as I still have another 3 year at Uni once this year is finished. My fees are £1820 a year for the part time course but the rumour is they will double Luckily my work pay my fees but I dont know whether they will be happy to pay double what they are at the moment!
Why the hell are people up in arms about this? I would gladly pay 9k a yr for my degree as it has progressed me to the position I am in now. Hopefully it will stop people going to uni who will no doubt become a debt bear on the nation i.e. media studies, sociology, photography etc etc. This is by no means a dig at those courses they should be an outlet for those who want to study them but not on the numbers which are now seen, X amount of media study graduates all with a 1st? Sorry but it really pisses me off those who go to uni expecting an easy life and a well paying job at the end of it.
Surely they can't change the course fee prices on you once you are on a course? I'd imagine it will be for the next intake of poor sods (in general!).
You would gladly pay 50 grand (once you figure in other costs) for a 3-4 year degree? ... how do you plan on paying this off? I'm pretty much sure 250-500 quid per month being taken out of your wages for years to come won't be so nice. Thats before interest as well. The old system was better. Less courses where entry to university wasnt a god given right, and and you had to work towards getting a place at a uni/course you really wanted to go to. The last 13 years of the previous labour government convinced a generation of people they could 'study' anything that they fancied, and that there would be a job for them at the end of it, in our ever booming 'knowledge economy'. What was ever wrong with going to college or nightcourses, if you werent cut out for the whole uni thing, and lets face it, alot of people arent - all they really want is to live the dream for a while.
I'm currently 26 and the 50k debt of my degree wouldn't bother me now so no I don't see it as a problem. I see it as a problem for people who goto university because that's what they were spoon fed to do. As you say it is down to the degree/course and the ability of universitys to pop up from colleges with out any real need and everything which used to be at college level now being degree (gateshead college offering degree course for example) . I think the whole system is screwed, look at the states for example, colleges (unis) over there will charge a lot more than the UK yet it's never been an issue, why is it here?
Im doing 2 courses, this is my final year of my first course then I go on to my second course next septemeber. May even have to do my masters yet too.
Another problem with the new system is that if you go abroad for more than 5 years, your student debt is wiped. How long before we see people going on 5 year trips abroad to do placements and stuff, before coming back to no student debt?
