Paying for university

[walibe]

I did the whole university thing and took on a reasonable debt. I only have a certain length of time to pay it off and if I don't then is written off. Yes far too many people have a degree they arn't worth a whole lot on their own anymore.

Yes students should pay far more for their courses. Yes there are those who parents fund everything but thats always been the case. They have a paid for house, new cars and don't have to work whilst at unit - is it fair? Well its life!

What has opened by eyes however is that when I joined the armed forces I did a modern Apprenticeship as part of my trade trainning and its the opportunities to turn this into a HNC, HND and full degree and I've noticed some of the Aircraft Techs in their later years have even turned them into Masters - all through part time studying. Lets remember his/her degree is worth far more to an employer than some guy straight from uni.

[neonplanet40]

Well the report was released today. What do you guys think of it?

I think the idea of an unlimited cap on universities rediculous and is once again a return to elitism.

It is not the solution to this problem.

[Spud1]

Some good points, some bad ones.

Main thing I am pleased about is that they are not looking to introduce a graduate tax to so speak, and without explicitly saying so they are looking to reduce the number of people going to university, and good on them for that. I feel that they should be doing that by reducing the number of micky mouse pointless courses but..I doubt that is going to happen. We will need to educate people away from "media studies","golf management" and "David Beckham Studies"

I agree its looking very elitist now though - if you are broke or rich you can afford to go, but if in the middle classes..you are going to have a very tough time affording the fees.

I guess we will have to wait and see what actually gets implemented from these proposals - as that is all that they are at the moment.

[Phage]

They've missed an opportunity.
I would have liked to have seen a policy that actively encouraged people to study those degrees which contribute. Per Lucio earlier, we should be encouraging study in Science, Maths, Medicine, Engineering etc. Perhaps more favourable terms on the loans, than would have been applied to Media Studies ?

[neonplanet40]

Ive finsihed uni but I do want to go back and do a masters so this will affect me. I graduated in an honours degree in English with History. Some people say they are useless subjects too.

But i was only timetabled for 7 hours per week. So why should I pay the same price as someone in science who gets 25+ hours teaching a week? Surely they as a student cost more to maintain than I do?

So really this is a very complicated problem that cant just be fixed in one go. Someone actually needs to rethink from the ground up how universities work.

But i think if they start charging £12,000 a year it will have a negative impact and cost them in the long run.

[Hicks12]

Ive just started university, thankfully for me i start my proper course next year (on foundation at the minute) so this wont affect me until i decide whether to go onto do a masters or not.

It seems like a stupid idea, i understand that the tax payer is funding a big part of my education but think about it this way.... if i graduate and get a good job (this is the plan you see ) then i will end up paying a good amount of tax which is put back into the economy, its an investment the way i see it.

A quick question... how does scottland get their funding? IIRC scottland get our taxes or something? So basically we are paying them to go university for FREE! Cut that right off and put it like the rest of england and it would help a bit. Another thing is the grants... no one needs £2500 (up to 3500 they said now right?), my friend up north is getting 2 grand because his parents are on benefits and basically do sod all (his words), so he gets 2 grand for free because the government is paying for his home and all his food and other bills.... where as a lot of people get £300 for paying their own bills!.

I think the system really needs to change, not in the way they are saying though because it seems the working/middle class is once again penalized, the rich get richer and the lazy ones get better off. Its funny how the main contributors to tax (i hope im right?) get the least out of this country.

[nibbler]

People here in Scotland are convinced that it is their right to go to uni for free. I reckon there would be half as many students if they had to pay. I think they just choose to use their allocated budget (whatever that is) to pay tuition fees.
The question I have is when will the rise in tuition fees (for universities which decide to raise them) be implemented?

[Hicks12]

I read on the bbc that the earliest will be the year 2012 (academic so september/end of 2012 i assume). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11519642


If your right about the budget bit where scottland actually allocate it for education then its not a problem As long as its not meaning they take money for other things .

[Saracen]

Well the report was released today. What do you guys think of it?

I think the idea of an unlimited cap on universities rediculous and is once again a return to elitism.

It is not the solution to this problem.

I don't know yet, because I haven't read the detail, just head the headlines, and as always, the devil will be in the detail.

But broadly, if I understood it correctly, it doesn't seem too bad.

But whatever happens, we need to remember that this isn't just about the impact on individual students, it's also about the whole method of funding universities. We need to solve the funding issues, while still keeping some broad fairness in the impact on students and protecting the option of those with the ability and inclination to go to university to be able to, regardless of wealth. A university system catering solely for the affluent elite we don't want, but we do have a massive deficit to sort out. Maybe that needs to include focussing potential student's on the cost of their education, as well as whether the taxpayer continues to fund an attempt to get 50% into university. I always did think that that was a daft and arbitrary target, and now it seems it's an unaffordable one too.

[planet436]

They've missed an opportunity.
I would have liked to have seen a policy that actively encouraged people to study those degrees which contribute. Per Lucio earlier, we should be encouraging study in Science, Maths, Medicine, Engineering etc. Perhaps more favourable terms on the loans, than would have been applied to Media Studies ?

I don't think decimating teaching funding for humanities is the way to go. This country would be a poorer place to be if the only degrees people could afford to do or were available were science or law/business. Competition for jobs which used these would be extreme and we would risk damaging the cultural health of the country.

Universities isn't just about the specific knowledge you gain. Being able to think critically, reflectively and write coherently are all key skills that humanities degrees teach, which, for a lot of jobs is more important than specific numeracy skills many science degrees give you.

Before people say, I'm not a media studies student but about to submit my PhD for Math

[Terbinator]

Maths and the Sciences usually suggest you have decent logical capacity though (I say this as a Politics/Philosophy student) which in some cases (if not all?) is more important.

[jim]

Students are already offput by £21k of debt. How £31k of debt is going to help, I really don't know.

I'm still very hacked off about the entire episode. Why do universities cost too much? Because we have far too many of the damn things. By making it intellectually equal, they're making it financially inequal. How very fair of them.

[Splash]

Out of interest does anyone know how much the average Open University degree costs? I'm still kicking myself for never going to Uni, and though I would love to do some part time study towards a degree I can't afford to just ditch my job to do it.

[Cheapy]

Surely the graduate tax where the more you earn the more you pay back is a silly idea as isnt that what the higher tax bands are for?

For the current university generation (speaking as one) where you go to college if you dont know what to do in life most teachers will recommend going to uni. Its seen as the next and almost only step to take after college. While its good people are being encouraged to go and shown how to go about getting there the other side is does everyone need to go to uni or could those years be better spent on another qualification or going into work?

EDIT:

Why do universities cost too much? Because we have far too many of the damn things. By making it intellectually equal, they're making it financially inequal. How very fair of them.

Most places get a uni just to say they have one. Take Bolton uni. Its near the bottom of the league tables for everything had a one point a 50% drop out rate. Theres 3 much better uni's of manchester, manchester met and salford are 20 minutes away not to mention preston uni nearby as well.

[Blitzen]

Students are already offput by £21k of debt. How £31k of debt is going to help, I really don't know.

I'm still very hacked off about the entire episode. Why do universities cost too much? Because we have far too many of the damn things. By making it intellectually equal, they're making it financially inequal. How very fair of them.

I will not...will never.....couldn't ever vote Tory (or whatever guise this rabble decide they are this week), but with this they have it SPOT ON!

For all those that are saying it will only promote elitism, they are very wide of the mark.

It is a good idea for these fee increases because it will discourage people taking on a pointless degree that any member of the animal kingdom could pass, and in turn, it will not waste more tax payers cash on courses for people that want a few more years not having to work.

I do however feel that some course that benefit EVERYONE in England, for example Doctors, dentists, scientists, should not pay anything if they agree to conduct their chosen profession in England for a set amount of time after starting the job.....10 years maybe.

This way, we will have no elitism, we won't have to pay for professional students that are studying useless subjects, we will keep SKILLED professionals in the country for a certain length of time, and all in all it will be better for everyone.

[Nerval]

Can't see myself what's wrong with elitism.

This PC business we have today of pretending everybody is somehow "equal" doesn't even stand up to the slightest scrutiny.

Some people have what it takes to be mathematicians, some to be doctors, some to be bricklayers and so on. Nothing wrong with that.

And of course some people have very rich parents. How are you going to stop them getting an advantage from that? Or why should you want to?

Must be sickening for bright kids now to have to get into so much debt for what should be provided by the state for free. But that's what having politicians in charge does for you.