Cost Of A Degree Thanks To Nu Labour

[mjhodgson]

Out of interest, why are there not many jobs left in the music industry. I thought it was one of the UK bigger success stories?

There are no degree courses in what I do (music industry), which includes complex contract negotiation, sales and marketing, accounting, IT and ultimate people skills. Doesn't stop job ads requesting a degree does it?

I am trying to transfer my skills (not many jobs left in the music bizz) but I am also facing being on the scrap heap at the age of 40, regardless of the years of experience it takes to learn this trade.

In so many ways I did everything right by not going to uni, getting into the industry at 19, but in the last five years, that's when I have seen all the job ads ask for a degree. It's ridiculous.

I started as a receptionist and worked up, and worked hard, harder than anyone I know at uni.

[Boomer Baby]

Sorry to be rude, but this is a pretty pointless post because

Your kids lived at home and you gave them 7k each

Not rude, just missing the point due to my syntax.

What I wrote was ....living at home then working in any job they could find in holidays... which was intended to convey that they worked throughout their summer holidays, while living at home. In term time, they were in Uni accommodation then student flats.

So, maybe not quite so pointless as it's an accurate breakdown for Uni costs in the recent past.

[Game_Over]

Not rude, just missing the point due to my syntax.

What I wrote was ....living at home then working in any job they could find in holidays... which was intended to convey that they worked throughout their summer holidays, while living at home. In term time, they were in Uni accommodation then student flats.

So, maybe not quite so pointless as it's an accurate breakdown for Uni costs in the recent past.

Ok - Well fees are now 3k - Accommodation is at least 3k and other living expenses are I guess around 3k

that is 9k a year for 4 years = 36k

I would guess that your contribution was more than you actually realise.

The reason I started this thread is that my son, even with grants and bursaries will finish owing Student finance England, hopefully a bit less than 20k which is a lot less than the average for a 3 year course and even less than what students who don't get a grant will end up owing.

Some are going to be well over 30k in debt IMO.

The facts are the facts - if someone pole dances or sells a kidney and only comes out owing 5k that hardly disproves my figures and costs have escalated rapidly even in the last couple of years as fees increase, grants and bursaries are cut and accommodation and food and transport costs rise

Edited September 13, 2010 by Game_Over

[winkie]

....work for a company that pays for your training and pays you at the same time....those were the days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDVhB0jGP7I&feature=related

[Game_Over]

For those who are genuinely interested this is where we are heading

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8570153.stm

The cost of a 4 year degree at a top US university is now 132k

Cue people saying that their cousin in America got a degree from Harvard with only 4k of debts by drug dealing and pimping in their summer holidays

[Game_Over]

....work for a company that pays for your training and pays you at the same time....those were the days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDVhB0jGP7I&feature=related

Yeah, when I were a lad I studied for a degree in mill wheel design at the University of Cloghampton and when I graduated I owed not a penny to Student Finance Ye Olde England.

I used to spend 4 hours in lectures then 20 hrs working down the pit - I wrote my disertation by the light of a Davy lamp while mucking out pit ponies - but did I complain?

Students these days just spend 3 years watching TV, driving round in posh cars and drinking and shagging - no wonder they end up in debt.

In my day we had it hard.

[winkie]

Yeah, when I were a lad I studied for a degree in mill wheel design at the University of Cloghampton and when I graduated I owed not a penny to Student Finance Ye Olde England.

I used to spend 4 hours in lectures then 20 hrs working down the pit - I wrote my disertation by the light of a Davy lamp while mucking out pit ponies - but did I complain?

Students these days just spend 3 years watching TV, driving round in posh cars and drinking and shagging - no wonder they end up in debt.

In my day we had it hard.

In my day only the few who could prove their intelligence got a free university place (nobody in my class)....the rest left school with a half decent education, then went on to live on their wits...survival of the fittest.

[dissident junk]

Mind you, it already cost about £21k to do a degree back in the mid '90s when there were no tuition fees. I remember my living costs worked out at about £7k a year back then (though it was London).

These days, with tuition fees on top, I would say that someone who managed to come out of university with less than £25K worth of debt (all debt, including evil student loans) was doing pretty well.

The HE funding system is just going to have to change. I reckon degrees should become modular, a bit like OU but where you can attend lectures and seminars in the evening and at weekends, and pay per module as you go along, slowly acculumating the components of your degree over time, whilst working or doing something else.

If this were so, I could see the viability of someone who was unemployed being able to pursue higher education very easily during their unemployment time -- instead of this ridiculous scenario where because you have to be "willing and available for work", you can't really start a degree course unless it is OU, which doesn't really give you that environment of "learning in community" that a lot of people need.

Otherwise, HE is going to end up being like it was back in the early 20th century .... only for the elite.

[Game_Over]

Mind you, it already cost about £21k to do a degree back in the mid '90s when there were no tuition fees. I remember my living costs worked out at about £7k a year back then (though it was London).

These days, with tuition fees on top, I would say that someone who managed to come out of university with less than £25K worth of debt (all debt, including evil student loans) was doing pretty well.

The HE funding system is just going to have to change. I reckon degrees should become modular, a bit like OU but where you can attend lectures and seminars in the evening and at weekends, and pay per module as you go along, slowly acculumating the components of your degree over time, whilst working or doing something else.

If this were so, I could see the viability of someone who was unemployed being able to pursue higher education very easily during their unemployment time -- instead of this ridiculous scenario where because you have to be "willing and available for work", you can't really start a degree course unless it is OU, which doesn't really give you that environment of "learning in community" that a lot of people need.

Otherwise, HE is going to end up being like it was back in the early 20th century .... only for the elite.

Thanks for your contribution - so I'm not going insane then.

[jiggles]

Thanks for your contribution - so I'm not going insane then.

I went to uni in the mid noughties when fees were £1k a year or there abouts. I was in the south east and based on how much I got from my parents, working and student loans - if had no help at all I would have needed to generate £22k for a three year degree in a pricey southern city. There were no class A drug habits and not much drinking - bought some clothes for work experience and for my first job out of that cash. So no you are not going insane!

[Tonkers]

Out of interest, why are there not many jobs left in the music industry. I thought it was one of the UK bigger success stories?

Because Moneys Too Tight Too Mention!

But really with cd sales going ever down, margins are too squeezed in a high investment business.

[miko]

...when could students in the past claim benefits....?....

Err where did I say they could ? but in answer to your question they could in the past post 66 has answered that for you.

[Mancghirl]

Mind you, it already cost about £21k to do a degree back in the mid '90s when there were no tuition fees. I remember my living costs worked out at about £7k a year back then (though it was London).

Really? I graduated in '94 (from a redbrick university in the midlands). No grant, no fees. Saturday job/summer work only to fall back on.

Total debts: £750 overdraft (which the sodding Natwest gave me hell over) and 3 x student loans at the maximum available - £1200. So less than £2,000. Did things really deteriorate that quickly?

[MarkG]

I could be wrong, but I think that changed about 30 years ago.

I think we could still sign on at the end of the 80s, though I worked through most of my vacations (on a whole three pounds an hour, AFAIR). We could certainly get housing benefit if living out of college.

Either way, my debts at the end of the course were about 250 pounds.

Edited September 14, 2010 by MarkG

[Game_Over]

So what we appear to have established is that when the 'nasty' Tories were in power ordinary working people could get a degree and it cost them virtually nothing.

But after 13 years of socialism ordinary people are now going to be leaving University with an average of over 20k debt.

Another Nu Labour success story

:angry:

[PopGun]

So what we appear to have established is that when the 'nasty' Tories were in power ordinary working people could get a degree and it cost them virtually nothing.

But after 13 years of socialism ordinary people are now going to be leaving University with an average of over 20k debt.

Another Nu Labour success story

:angry:

I don't remember Thatcher bringing back the Grammar Schools, and we're very clear on Cameron's position on them.

[Game_Over]

I don't remember Thatcher bringing back the Grammar Schools, and we're very clear on Cameron's position on them.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you're on about here.

Tuition fees were introduced by Nu Labour and were then abolished in Scotland to buy votes

And as far as I know we still have grammar schools.

Personally I am not opposed to the Comprehensive system provided children are streamed so that slower kids don't hold back the brighter kids.

That is the problem with State A level Colleges.

The college my kids attended worked on a kind of triage system where their aim was to get everyone a C grade - they didn't even teach up to grade A standard.

My kids only got A's because of studying that they did at home.

[PopGun]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you're on about here.

Well that's really shocked me to the core.

[Johnny Storm]

The £20k figure is very believable.

I know people who did part time work while doing a degree and ended up with no debts and work experience. I would advise everyone to do this.

[Game_Over]

I know people who did part time work while doing a degree and ended up with no debts and work experience. I would advise everyone to do this.

In the worst depression since the 1930's and most of the people saying this had no tuition fees to pay either.

[Game_Over]

Well that's really shocked me to the core.

Yeah well I understood everyone else's comments

Perhaps you could elucidate?

[Tonkers]

I know people who did part time work while doing a degree and ended up with no debts and work experience. I would advise everyone to do this.

No debts AND work experience? That aint the experience of anyone since 1997. If you write a book on how to do this, we could be millionaires Rodney!

[Game_Over]

No debts AND work experience? That aint the experience of anyone since 1997. If you write a book on how to do this, we could be millionaires Rodney!

Does selling your ass actually count as work experience?

Meanwhile in the 21st Century, people are leaving Uni with degrees and having to work free for a year just to get their foot in the door

[Tonkers]

Does selling your ass actually count as work experience?

Meanwhile in the 21st Century, people are leaving Uni with degrees and having to work free for a year just to get their foot in the door

Selling my ass is all I do! But my looks are f a d i n g ...

[South Lorne]

In my day only the few who could prove their intelligence got a free university place (nobody in my class)....the rest left school with a half decent education, then went on to live on their wits...survival of the fittest.

...yes ...but there were jobs for all fits of wit then....and now many of these jobs require a degree to get started....