tony de wonderful

Quite shocking to see in the papers that students may now owe £36,000 and face decades of interest payements.

It's a fair chunk of change and most students don't start on £100k in the city.

Having said that nobody forces young people to do a degree, and there has been too many people doing Micky Mouse courses since the shakeup in the 90's.

Quite how graduates are supposed to get on the 'property ladder' (our great institution and religion) with this sort of debt is hard to fathom, and this sort of thing coupled with pensions being reduced by the state and private sector is fcuked; buy your own pension, education, expensive house etc etc, taxes stay the same though or go up. You basically get shafted now if you are young, it's like a big wealth transfer up to the Baby boomer generation IMHO, who got it all in their lap.

FYI I still got a grant at uni which was admittedly not much, but I only had ~£12k debt after getting my MSc, which I paid off in a lump sum.

Ray_li

for £36,000 my kids (when I have some) will be training to become airline pilots for that price

David Lock

Times have certainly changed. My daughter is doing a post grad course which she needs to try and get a decent job in her chosen career (Speech Therapy). But you can't get a student loan for this so it had to be a bank loan so that's another ten grand she owes even before she's started work

My own engineering course was free although there were a lot of time wasters who left or got slung after the first year.

It is pretty depressing for the kids. dl

tony de wonderful

It will be all Chinese pilots by then working for half the price.

Clarebabes

It's a shame yes, but did you listen to the guy who wrote the report on breakfast telly? I can sort of see that this has been blown out of all proportion a bit, but there's nothing like a good headline, is there? However, the middle-income families yet again take the brunt of this as poorer families will get help and the rich won't see it as a problem.

By the way, some universities may not even increase their fees, though they probably will for the principle.

The Zohan

You do have to wonder just how much longer middle-income families can go on supporting everybody else when there is little if nothing in it for them but more taxes and working for longer...

Leslie

I think it is wrong to charge so much for higher education when people have earned their place at University. I think it should be regarded as important to the country that people can do degree courses without starting their working life in enormous debt.

I also think that the courses available should be looked at closely and to ensure that each course is of significant value rather than being something comparatively easy which is of no use for the future and is merely a "ticket" for convenience's sake.

Les

Clarebabes

I do think that a first degree has been devalued by so many people getting one now. It used to be that only the really intelligent could get one, now they hand them out like confetti!

BTW, a colleague and I were laughing about how we were probably the last generation of students who actually read books to do research and not just looked it up on the internet!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

And the Scots? HOW can they continue to get it for free?

Ray_li

I am Chinese but wont be taking half price

Leslie

You know how to tell 'em don't you!

Les

[-(o)-]

iTrader: (1)

This is going to hit the economy hard. Excuse the sweeping generalisations, but the typically degree holding middle classes are going to be up to their eyeballs in debt before they even manage to buy an overvalued house. They won't have any disposable income to spend elsewhere...

A complete bodge of a coalition policy. The better answer would have been scrap the valueless degrees and raise entry standards then reallocate the funds. That encourages competition and excellence, and yes it might put some people delivering substandard/unneccessary education out of work...

I am biased. In 5 years time we'll be supporting two undergrads, in a Tory voting household on two above average salaries and I'm seriously worried how we'll do it.

Richy P1984

I'm just glad I got my degree and graduated before all this kicked off. If I had been two years later, I would probably be working in a completely non related field and an uninteresting job.

I'm still pissed that I owe the students loan company ~£14k (slowly paying it off every month). My parents were only just able to afford the costs of me going to uni - didnt get very much after the basic loan entitlement at all, and my parents only just made the 'middle income' rating.

A level students (non apprentice) are pretty much forced into higher education these days, as very few companies will hire anyone without a degree + some form of experience.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Isn't that what a Bankruptcy Agreement is for ... live at home for a few years post degree then start again

TX.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Yeah right, it was a piece of p*ss!

TX.

HPLovecraft

Ever since nu-labour announced their determination that half of all school leavers would have a place at university degrees have become more and more devalued. You can't force people to become more intelligent, but something has to give somewhere when faced with educating the masses rather than just the cream of the crop, and that something is the quality and complexity of the course content. And to ensure that half of all school leavers get this opportunity nu-labour mickey-mousified A levels so that the entrance requirements could be met.

So todays poor saps not only get a devalued degree, but end up paying a pretty penny for it too.

tony de wonderful

You have Scoobs in China?

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

I think Ray Li lives in the UK.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Hang on a goddam pickin minute.

Why is that students get a NUS Card allowing them to get cheap booze, buses, books etc?

If they spent less time getting rat arsed a lot of the time, spending a year travelling the world to "de-stress after my degree", they may not get in as much debt.

Ray_li

I'm in red neck America where you're from

loser

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

all they do is take a job of less than 15k for 5 years after that the student grants are wiped off , thats what i was told anyhows by a customer of mine who pays a engineering graduate 14999 per year and then gives him a 3k cash bonus at xmas

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

That may apply for grants, I'm not sure, but certainly doesn't apply to a student loan (at least not at the time I was there).

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

That may be true in some, possibly many cases but if you have a student whose parents can't afford to pay out the fees, then a loan will have to be used to pay to go to uni. So even a sensible student who doesn't do the above could leave with a fair amount of debt.

tony de wonderful

You must be there on a visa then?

boomer

+1

mb

Martin2005

The things that you don't mention are that most of the world top 100 universities have one thing in common....they charge some sort tuition fees, plus without the introduction to TF most of our higher education institutions would of collapsed years ago

The Tories, quite disgracefully and opportunitistically voted against TF when in opposition, now of course they have the responsibility and have a different perspective on the issue

Jamz3k

Being an uneducated halfwit that I am, I actually don't believe that students should pay fees for higher education if their education will help the community.

For instance if you are going to Uni to train to be a doctor/nurse, it should be free as long as you are willing to be contracted to the NHS for a set period of time. I don't mind my taxes paying for someone who may end up saving mine or a friends life.

Dingdongler

In the same way that Labour introduced TF and now are against raising the fees??

lozgti1

I thought it was a brilliant way to change unemployment figures for the benefit of the government

Stick everyone in University.

I say bring back Poly's to remind us thick ones of our place (Ex poly person)