Universities 2012 on-wards

hilly said:
Does she actually want to do this (lots of students change their mind). It'd certainly make sure that any daughter or son of mine ensured that they wanted to do this course / job before saying yes, go for it and helping them out.

it's going to be tough for students, but I think it will stop numbers attending who just go for the social life and go for the subject they're interested in.
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This is another good point I've strongly put across that bailing out isn't an option.

[TW]Fox;20679808 said:
Treat it as a graduate tax and forget about it. It's not conventional debt.
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A lot of you have said this so i guess it's kind of the right way to think. It's still a huge unconventional debt, which ever way out look at it. But maybe that's just my old fashioned way of thinking about it.
 
sammo62 said:
This.

The debt doesn't burden your life like a normal loan, it just means when you get a pay rise you get slightly less than you think and bonuses at work get 9% eaten out of them.
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This is exactly how I'd treat it to be honest.

My student loan has pretty much only ever risen since I left University, and I don't really miss the £40 per month 'tax' that I have to pay on it.

I'd concentrate on clearing any other debts beforehand - for instance, in my case, dumping £500 in mortgage overpayments gives me the tangible benefit of shortening my mortgage term, whereas dumping £5k on my student loan would achieve.... nothing.
 
Honestly, I can see your concern now. £50k of debt for a Public Service degree from Anglia Ruskin... hmm :/
 
Honestly, having gone through Uni at the first level of fees, currently paying back around £10k of debt, I struggle to understand how Leeds University justifies even that. Most of my friends say the same. I do not think most universities give value for money, and increasing the fees yet further just makes the value proposition even lower.
 
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Admiral Huddy said:
Can you expand.. I'd value all your comments - positive or negative :)
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Cambridge university is the university that is renowned world wide. Basically whatever degree you do you can probably get a job.

Anglia Ruskin is a seperate university with a campus in both Chelmsford and Cambridge, but isn't as high performance so basically doesn't look quite the same on the CV. Saying that, if she really wants to do that degree, and loves that University, nothing should stop her from going there...

Edit: i know you didn't say Cambridge uni, but people automatically assume, so opinions will probably have been formed on it xD

Out of interest do you know where else she is applying to?

kd
 
I don't think anyone here wants to be telling you or your daughter what she should study. But Public Service just don't strike me as a worthwhile thing to be studying. You don't need a degree to do well in the public sector.

Frankly, it's a paper degree.

I'd be encouraging a more traditional degree. Something that will be valued and opened doors for her in the private sector.

Student loan repayments are an arse basically. Before you know it, you're earning £40k or whatever and you're paying out £300 a month on your loan. That's a third of a mortgage payment for most people. And I'm lucky, mine is capped to 1.5% interest rate at the moment. Her's won't be! I've just been through the whole mortgage process for my first home and I can tell you that they DO take notice of student loan debt. It totally remains to be seen how mortgage lenders will start reacting in a few years when people in their mid 20's come along asking for £150k loan when they already have £50k of student debt to their name. These are the sort of things you need to consider IMO.
 
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Huddy I will say one thing, please don't take it wrongly but make sure she actually wants to do the degree.

I go to college and there are a few people in their mid 20's that have done a degree at a not so good university they are redoing their a levels to get into more traditional degrees.

Some young adults/teens don't know what they really want to do and will just choose something to pass the time.

Somebody I know is doing a degree in hotel management, we tried to tell him that doing the degree would be a waste of time and wouldn't get him into the position of hotel manager as soon as he got out of university.

If you ask students, quite a few of them don't know what they want to do after the degree, they haven't planned ahead.

Sorry to bore you, you probably know this stuff already.
 
It's a great shame than now young people won't have the same opportunities as I once had only several years ago. I think everyone should be able to pursue an interest (within reason) to university level and I think it's sad that many individuals may reconsider.
 
NathanE said:
I don't think anyone here wants to be telling you or your daughter what she should study. But Public Service just don't strike me as a worthwhile thing to be studying. You don't need a degree to do well in the public sector.

Frankly, it's a paper degree.

I'd be encouraging a more traditional degree. Something that will be valued and opened doors for her in the private sector.
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To be fair, it all depends entirely on what she wants to do. Every degree has a target job really. Or a job that particularly favours that degree. So it does depend. Presumably she has done a reasonable amount of research on it and prospects....

kd
 
flibbage0 said:
Huddy I will say one thing, please don't take it wrongly but make sure she actually wants to do the degree.

I go to college and there are a few people in their mid 20's that have done a degree at a not so good university.

Some young adults/teens don't know what they really want to do and will just choose something to pass the time.

Somebody I know is doing a degree in hotel management, we tried to tell him that doing the degree would be a waste of time and wouldn't get him into the position of hotel manager as soon as he got out of university.

If you ask students, quite a few of them don't know what they want to do after the degree, they haven't planned ahead.

Sorry to bore you, you probably know this stuff already.
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I guess as a counter, I think plenty of students apply to uni, well before anyway, and then based on what they like at uni, this helped them choose their degree... I decided what I wanted to do through my first year summer... So after having done a year already. Thankfully the degree will help with it. But yeah I understands where you're coming from...
kd
 
To be blunt, irrespective of the cost involved and on face value (Ive done no research so fully prepared to have my face slapped) its a wishy-washy degree from an average university (just outside the top 100).

I see little value in the accredation post graduation but have zero-knowledge of that area. Worth finding out what she wants to do with it and work backwards from those job roles to see what the typical requirements are.

I know plenty of people who have a good solid degree subject under their belt from a good university, but it had zero relevance on their final career, but the quality of that degree opened that initial door. Very few careers require a specific degree...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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Admiral Huddy said:
The problem is the compounding interest charges. Although the loans/debt aren't considered in risk assessment.. it's still a heavy burden to carry. One for for sure I'd feel uncomfortable with.



Would you not think employees would look at candidates with some experience, rather than those with full academic achievements. My point here is that surely a apprenticeship would be far more beneficial than a costly degree which could be useless against those with some experience.
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Experience is not that important, you will pick it up in no tiem on the job. Put it this way, given 2 near-identical candidates for a job, one with 2 years experiencer and one with none. Obviously the employer will pick the person with experience. Now Imagine someone with a good degree and 2 years experience vs someone with only 2 years experience, the person with the degree is much more likely to be hired.

Not to mention the fact that many careers paths require at least a bachelor degree, and many other career paths will be very liomited without a good degree.


I certainly wouldn't worry about that anmount of debt if going to do a good degree at a good university. The debt could be paid back in no time, especially if you are willing to work outside the UK. E.g. a good computer science degree from say Cambridge could get you into a US software firm earning well over $100K starting! Hence US student don't mind acquirign $200K of debt doing a good degree.
 
It was certainly my concern given the current situation and one question that I asked on the open day but I was told the course extends way beyond just the public services we are all accustomed too. The course extends to Criminology, forensics, psychology as so forth so it does have a broader appeal in the private sector as well.

She ultimately wants to work in the Police as a DI ( I think ) :p

flibbage0 said:
Huddy I will say one thing, please don't take it wrongly but make sure she actually wants to do the degree.

I go to college and there are a few people in their mid 20's that have done a degree at a not so good university they are redoing their a levels to get into more traditional degrees.

Some young adults/teens don't know what they really want to do and will just choose something to pass the time.

Somebody I know is doing a degree in hotel management, we tried to tell him that doing the degree would be a waste of time and wouldn't get him into the position of hotel manager as soon as he got out of university.

If you ask students, quite a few of them don't know what they want to do after the degree, they haven't planned ahead.

Sorry to bore you, you probably know this stuff already.
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Not at all mate. Thanks. Again I have asked her the same concern. She seems very adamant this is the path for her. What I'm concerned is that she can obtain her same goal but without the degree and the cost although it might take longer and with a lot more work. This is the point of my opening post that the degree may not be worth it and this may be the same or a lot of other students :(


ps3ud0 said:
I see little value in the accredation post graduation but have zero-knowledge of that area. Worth finding out what she wants to do with it and work backwards from those job roles to see what the typical requirements are.

I know plenty of people who have a good solid degree subject under their belt from a good university, but it had zero relevance on their final career, but the quality of that degree opened that initial door. Very few careers require a specific degree...

ps3ud0 :cool:
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You make a very valid point.
 
ps3ud0 said:
To be blunt, irrespective of the cost involved and on face value (Ive done no research so fully prepared to have my face slapped) its a wishy-washy degree from an average university (just outside the top 100).

I see little value in the accredation post graduation but have zero-knowledge of that area.

ps3ud0 :cool:
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I think continuing to judge someone harshly by their University choice, thus basically their A-level results, is silly. I really don't think A-levels demonstrate how able someone might be at a job. Granted, take it into account, but still. I think exit velocity is more important - how good you were all the last few things you did.
 
Well in 3 years, once we pull ourselves out of this recession there might actually be jobs available, like everything right now, it's a risk you take.
 
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