Poll: YOUNG ENGLISH PEOPLE: Will you go to university?

[The Cheezy One]

Yes, but only because I miss the increase in fees by one year! I'm even tempting fate by being on a gap year now
Seriously though, the cost should not be an issue. All of life is an experience, so get as much as you can!... as one of the Motto of the Moments has said, or words to that effect. My personal favourite is the one about the endgame content!

 

[TilMorrow]

-snip-

In the UK I would say Dundee and Stafford. As I said eariler on this thread currently at Stafford and both were recommended by one of my old teachers. Can't really say much about the design courses other then from my friends here there is a lot of graphics work in them.

I'll make sure to check them out thanks for the suggestion.

 

[mizushinzui]

I'm waiting for my replies from unis at the moment. I have one rejection from Glasgow but the other four still haven't said anything :L

I think that UNi can be real important depending on what you want from life.

 

[kromify]

i'm a 3rd student and i am about to go on the job market. this may not be a problem when you hit graduation, but make sure you choose a course where there are plenty of jobs available!!


in regards to the fees, don't worry about them. (worry instead about living expenses!)
if you can get into a career you would otherwise not have been able to, then it's worth it. if you don't know what degree you want, or just want to have any degree for a better chance of getting a job, it might be a better idea to try getting that job in a way that doesn't involve large debts.
x

 

[KaiRai]

I'm planning on going to uni. My costs will be £2300 a year which seems fairly reasonable. Means I'll go from earning maybe £14,000 a year if I'm lucky unqualified, to paying off a £10,000 loan on a £40,000 a year job when I'm out of uni. You seem to be along the same lines of my girlfriend, who wants to be a doctor, and is now going shit-crazy because cambridge are putting their fees up. It's not like that at all.

 

[KLJT]

If you read my post i was saying WHY must WE be in DEBT for doing a job we love. All bigger fees will do is make more people go to uni to get high paying jobs (insert used examples) they hate just to pay off their loans or avoid the loans end up doing a low paying jobs they hate (shop assistant, cleaner or worst of all leader of the Lib Dems).

Because the government can't pay for our university fees any more, they need to use taxes to pay for other things. Apparently a lot of tax payers didn't like having to pay for university fees as well.

Free tuition was brought in under the labor government in the late forties when BRITAIN WAS THE POOREST IT HAS EVER BEEN, we just need the perspective to see that creating a smarter country that focuses on science, philosophy and technology (usually low paying jobs) as they create truly financially stable countries like Germany instead of focusing making people in bankers and similar professorial areas as look where that got us and raising tuition fees just encourages such a policies

 

[i am not god]

I'm already in the first year of my degree, but after I finish I'm going to do another one. So yes, I'm still going to go.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Of course. I might end up going to Maastricht, though.

Awesome, same place where I study at right now.

OT:
Dutch grant system is getting a cut in its funds. Tuition for Dutch universities also gets increased next year. It's is a nice country to study though. Do not let money keep you from studying. What I ment to say is; The Netherlands isn't as good as it seems to you now.

Does Maastricht do PPE?

I'm thinking of going there because it'll look good on the CV, and I think living in Holland for a few years would be good for me- learning a new language and that.

 

[TurkeyProphet]

It seems to me that the rising fees are one of the smartest things they have ever done.

At first I thought it would just mean bigger debts. But it looks like people are actually choosing not go because of the price. Clearly these aren't the people anyone wants in the system. Although I'm already at Uni, I'm hoping that anyone that was only going to Uni to kill some time will now be discouraged.

For anyone unsure about university I would say completely ignore anyone who talks about useless degrees or focusing on a career degree. People seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that a degree in Chemistry isn't worth any more than a degree in Sociology unless you work in that field after graduation!

But whats important is to remember you are going to live a long time. Between the ages of 18 and 23 you most likely aren't going to get into an industry (without a degree or college training) that is worth anything. It's the only time in your life where it is socially acceptable to waste your time and have fun. The 3 year head start isn't going to change your life anymore than the experiences you can have without the responsibilities that will come later in life.

So just have fun and keep in mind a lot of older people over estimate how hard they worked at this age.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

Heres a tip (and what im doing) study in scotland and its only 1800 a year, he he he he

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Sorry but you will still end up in debt and if you want to do something like become a scientist, games journalist (Like me) or just something like art or philosophy then you will unlikely ever be able to really pay off that debt without a serious impact on your standard of living. This system has been designed for accounts, lawyers and bankers in true Tory fashion"

Ok, before anyone else tries to take the easy way out and turn this into a class war debate, lets just consider this from the governments perspective.

Sure, £9,000 may seem like a big number for us, but when you consider the size of the deficit (I couldn't be bothered to find out the exact amount but I remember from memory that it is several BILLION) that the government has to worry about, because the last one (in true Labour fashion) borrowed stupid amounts of money from absolutely anywhere on several occasions without a second thought. Because "Hey, it's not like the global economy is going to crash or anything..." You've got to have some sympathy with the government. They don't like the stuff they are doing right now any more than we do, but here's the crunch... they HAVE to do it.

If it's anyones fault it's the Universities, they were actually given the alternative of abandoning soft option degree's as a method of cutting costs, which would have been much better. I'm not judging anyone who wants a career in something like hairdressing, but if that's what you want to do an apprenticeship is actually much more useful than a degree. But the Uni's refused, leaving raising the tuition fees as the only other option.

Of course, I have learned over my years as a British teen who actually gives a shit about politics, no kind of reasoned argument like this can sway the majority rule that "WAHH! WE DON'T WANT TO WAHH! TORIES ARE RICH SO THAT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES THEM BAD WAHH!"

Edit: I know I may seem unduly angry here (I probably am) but I just got so fucking sick of all the drama about this and for how long it went on. A load of disaffected youth taking to the streets with only the thinnest veneer of a cause to justify their insatiable need to hate everything and to "bring down the man!" with no consideration to the fact that "The man" may just be in the right if they took a bit of time out from all their Communist bullshit to see the bigger fucking picture!

 

[The Rockerfly]

I am already at university in my first year, I have gotta say the amount of idiots here just to party is almost offensive. The rise in fees should mean there are less people here to party and get laid which is a great thing but I agree is sucks for actual students however I do have a solution.
Have a plan and make sure your course can earn you money in the future from your course and you will be able to accommodate for the higher costs

Oh and for those worrying it's going to be 6k - 9k a year that's a load of crap, I know Nottingham Trent Business Uni is only going up by £500 a year so don't worry guys

 

[Daveman]

You can still go easily on loans like everyone does it's just you'll have much more debt than people who went before you. So you can still easily go, it's not like your parents HAVE to contribute for you to go. Besides, you can cover most of your debts (well, from my calculations at least £3000 fairly easily) just with a saturday and summer job if you're dead keen...

"Sorry but you will still end up in debt and if you want to do something like become a scientist, games journalist (Like me) or just something like art or philosophy then you will unlikely ever be able to really pay off that debt without a serious impact on your standard of living..."

I hate to admit it but that bit is just silly as the amount you pay back is entirely based on how much you earn. In fact if you haven't paid off your loan by the time you're 40 (I think) your debt gets wiped clean.

I still think university should be free in principle (with it being paid for with taxes) but I have to concede that the truth is the situation isn't as dire as it's presented.

 

[ultimateownage]

I wish I could answer that final option on the poll, but unfortunately I'll be 19 by the time of the General Election and probably in University at the time.
I'll be okay, I can just rob a bank for the money. By the time I need the money the Conservatives will have removed all of the police force to save money.

 

[Baradiel]

I live on the Isle of Man, so this throws up issues that the Mainland students don't have to worry about.

For starters, we count as "International Students", meaning we already have to pay £9,000 or more. Luckily for us, our government (at the moment) gives grants to students who's family's annual income is lower than £30,000 or something like that, with the amount of money given decreasing the higher the salary. So, we have an advantage over the Mainland, in that universities get more money from us, and most families don't have to shell out the full amount.

Ofcourse, once the universities raise their prices, it will probably double or triple the amount we already pay. In that event, the Isle of Man government will have to decide whether to continue the grant system.

If the student drops out from the course, without an acceptable reason, they have to pay the government ALL the money back. Basically, the Isle of Man government forks out the grant in the hope that, once the student has qualified, they will return to the island and improve it. Therefore, the government is hoping to have a quality investment in the Islands future.

Strange, there's people who go/went to my uni who came from isle of man as one would like to boast about all the time, for some reason. I'm fairly sure they paid the 3.xk a year tuition fees which were supported by student finance loans, and got eh usual grants and bursaries.

Was your time at uni recent? I've had this information in my face for the last two years, from school and parents. Since the Isle of Man is a crown dependency, that classes as international, and as international students we have to pay more. Its slightly ridiculous, but thats just on a long list of things that the UK government crews us over with

 

[WrongSprite]

I'm in 1st year at the moment.

But I'd still go if the price went up, it's not like I can afford what I do at the moment, that's what loans are for.

 

[WrongSprite]

I live on the Isle of Man, so this throws up issues that the Mainland students don't have to worry about.

For starters, we count as "International Students", meaning we already have to pay £9,000 or more. Luckily for us, our government (at the moment) gives grants to students who's family's annual income is lower than £30,000 or something like that, with the amount of money given decreasing the higher the salary. So, we have an advantage over the Mainland, in that universities get more money from us, and most families don't have to shell out the full amount.

Ofcourse, once the universities raise their prices, it will probably double or triple the amount we already pay. In that event, the Isle of Man government will have to decide whether to continue the grant system.

If the student drops out from the course, without an acceptable reason, they have to pay the government ALL the money back. Basically, the Isle of Man government forks out the grant in the hope that, once the student has qualified, they will return to the island and improve it. Therefore, the government is hoping to have a quality investment in the Islands future.

Strange, there's people who go/went to my uni who came from isle of man as one would like to boast about all the time, for some reason. I'm fairly sure they paid the 3.xk a year tuition fees which were supported by student finance loans, and got eh usual grants and bursaries.

Was your time at uni recent? I've had this information in my face for the last two years, from school and parents. Since the Isle of Man is a crown dependency, that classes as international, and as international students we have to pay more. Its slightly ridiculous, but thats just on a long list of things that the UK government crews us over with

Depends where you go, I know people at Uni from Poland and Estonia and such, I'm fairly sure they pay the same as me, about 3.5k.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Free tuition was brought in under the labor government in the late forties when BRITAIN WAS THE POOREST IT HAS EVER BEEN, we just need the perspective to see that creating a smarter country that focuses on science, philosophy and technology (usually low paying jobs) as they create truly financially stable countries like Germany instead of focusing making people in bankers and similar professorial areas as look where that got us and raising tuition fees just encourages such a policies

We're broke. No focus on specific university courses is going to fix that. Making universities free again isn't going to fix the balance of trade deficit. Arguing over university costs is futile when you look at these sorts of things as a broad overview.

The Tories have a shot at fixing the country, I say give them a chance. They probably won't come back into power after this stretch, heck they might not make the four years, but as long as they're doing something then we can only hope that it works and predict whether it will or not.

I find it amazing how many people just plain don't understand that as a country we just don't have enough money to fund things like this. I was watching a panel show a few weeks ago where a Tory spokesman just bluntly said 'we're broke, we can't just pull money out of our arse because it'd be nice'. Well, words to that effect.

That Tory probably got bollocked for saying that, you never say that your country is broke. At least there's one guy who isn't afraid to say it how it is though.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

Hoping to get a place to train as a Paramedic starting in September (I'm 25, will be 26 by the time I start, hoping to have a career change...) I'll be living with my parents, to keep costs down, and the course fees are (partly) funded by the NHS, so money isn't the biggest issue - like others have said, yes, it's expensive, and getting worse from 2012, but necessary for the job I've now decided I want.