Would you go to University?

Nah, there was no way I was getting into 6th form at my old grammar school in 1982 with 5 O levels (Bs and Cs).

Went straight into an apprenticeship and was gainfully employed by corporations large and small for the next 37 years.
 
I went when it was free. Only debt I had was £600 loan which I got to go Inter-railing.
Eldest daughter is in final year of an engineering degree. Its cost me £30k net for the accommodation. She now has debt of £28k. Its really disgraceful that a nation is placing that burden on its young talent. Youngest daughter is undecided, I'll fund her if she goes but not to do something like marketing or business or sociology.

I'll get flamed for this and its against my generally liberal views - the conversion of polytechnics to unis in the 90's / noughties was a terrible decision. It created far to much capacity, cost and inefficiency for poor quality qualifications. Everyone can go to Uni now - only the brighter kids went when i was at school. Youngest daughter has many fiends who got results today - one of them got 2 D and E 'A' Levels but still got an offer from his first choice course albeit for a foundation year. I think that is madness.

Far more vocational, technical training should be encouraged along with more apprenticeships. We need more people in the workforce sooner if this economy s to grow and improve productivity. More kids going to Uni who aren't up to it and come out with life limiting debt is utter madness.

Apologies if this comes across in any sort of discriminatory way but something has to change.

As an aside I heard a proposal from Richard Tice a few years ago which I strangely agreed with. He advocated cutting degree durations to two years. I think that is more than do-able for a lot of courses and could be worth exploring. It's about the only sense I heard form him.
 
I went in 2002 when I think Tuition was about £1200ish, even after I initially completed the course I probably thought I would just get a job if I had my time again. In 2024 with £9k a year tuition plus the rest never in a million years would I go!

Maybe sharper minds than me can explain how the whole thing isn't building up a massive financial black hole. You go to uni build up on average £45k worth of debt with RPI interest going on top which is accruing all the time. You don't start paying it back till you're earning over £25k and the debt is written off after 40 years or you die. Genuinely how many people are actually going to clear this debt in their working life? It feels like not that many! If you gave a million people in the UK £50k each as a loan and only 25% of them actually paid it all back surely this would be an issue?
 
I never went to uni, would have been 2006 if I did so when fees were still more manageable

Did an apprenticeship instead then carried on from there, it doesn’t appear to have held me back in an IT career other than perhaps doing a couple of years in entry level support jobs to get the initial foot in the door

The only real regret I have with it is realising how much of a blessing being able to seriously study full time can be and how much harder this is when you’re older with bills to pay, potential loss of earnings etc. So basically if you do want/need to go to uni absolutely do it while young if possible
 
Given my time again, I would probably choose it.

After failing my a levels spectacularly (e.g. turned up for maths mechanics paper to find it was pure paper), I got an unconditional offer from Kingston polytechnic following an interview. I didn't take it up as my life was pretty chaotic at the time. I ended up living in squats, getting wasted and doing temp/ cash in hand work for a couple of years, before meeting a girl who sorted me out.

It's a regret. My life is great and I am happy with it now, but I always wonder how that path would have gone.
 
I went to university and did computer science.
I initially thought that it wasn't worth it but many years later that piece of paper and my graduate scheme did help me get on the ladder and into my Product Management career.

Even did a Master's degree later on but I did that with the OU while working so that I didn't miss out on work experience.
 
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I feel like those 3-4 years at a very pivotal age are often a time people 'find themselves'. I didn't go to Uni, and I'd be interested, in another timeline, to see who I might have been if I had.

But things turned out OK, and I'm mortgage and debt free at 50, so from that perspective I guess things turned out OK.
 
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I did an accounting degree and became an accountant. I didn't need a degree for that career path, but it did help with the accounting exams.

I would defintiely go and relive it all over again as uni was a great experience, but I would probably choose a different degree such as economics. The fees and in particular the student loan interest would make it a difficult decision these days though. Back when it was £3k a year it was a no brainer.
 
I went, wish I never bothered (apart from meeting my wife there). Did not learn much and I wasn't grown up enough to care enough to fix the problems myself.
 
I feel very sad that university is so crippling financially now.

I was from a quite modest background (council house, factory worker dad etc), and was the first in my entire family to go to uni.

I've done ok, but it's been tricky navigating professional workplaces without having any prior contact with the real middle classes who dominate these roles. University helped bridge that gap a bit and gave me enough on my CV to get a trainee accountant job in the first place, albeit at a tinpot accounting practice: it's taken real effort to get to a more lucrative position.

I would never have gotten this far without uni. People like me have it so, so much more difficult now than even 20 ish years ago when I started work. The path I took is basically closed
 
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Would have used the Sports facilities at Bath more if I had the time again (in addition to cycling up the hill)

Jackie Smith just on c4 news (in additioa to Liverpool Hope? vice) extolling UK having 15 universities in the worlds top 100 ... unclear what the criteria is Nobel prizes ?
 
Calpol said:
I went when it was free. Only debt I had was £600 loan which I got to go Inter-railing.
Eldest daughter is in final year of an engineering degree. Its cost me £30k net for the accommodation. She now has debt of £28k. Its really disgraceful that a nation is placing that burden on its young talent. Youngest daughter is undecided, I'll fund her if she goes but not to do something like marketing or business or sociology.

I'll get flamed for this and its against my generally liberal views - the conversion of polytechnics to unis in the 90's / noughties was a terrible decision. It created far to much capacity, cost and inefficiency for poor quality qualifications. Everyone can go to Uni now - only the brighter kids went when i was at school. Youngest daughter has many fiends who got results today - one of them got 2 D and E 'A' Levels but still got an offer from his first choice course albeit for a foundation year. I think that is madness.

Far more vocational, technical training should be encouraged along with more apprenticeships. We need more people in the workforce sooner if this economy s to grow and improve productivity. More kids going to Uni who aren't up to it and come out with life limiting debt is utter madness.

Apologies if this comes across in any sort of discriminatory way but something has to change.

As an aside I heard a proposal from Richard Tice a few years ago which I strangely agreed with. He advocated cutting degree durations to two years. I think that is more than do-able for a lot of courses and could be worth exploring. It's about the only sense I heard form him.
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I worked for a northern based univeristys London campus which is essentially a cash cow. Lots of people ill suited to doing a degree being signed up to do either business management/hospitality/accounting and nursing, i think the nursing one had the best caliber of student but it was a low bar. Also, there was 0 sixth form leavers going there. Lots of eastern europeans in their 20s/30s and middle aged black woman, an interesting mix.

Many just had gcses and were placed on a foundation year to help them get up to speed.
 
Depending on your financial state
If well off i believe UNI is beneficial if the child has the will to learn, otherwise a huge financial trap. Kids this days are better off going for apprenticeship to get them on their feet early, can always re-visit uni avenue later if there is a massive urge
There is enough uncontrolled drugs/booze/girls as is
 
I never went to begin with, family couldn't support a second kid in education at the time so I went downt he apprenticeship route instead.

My suggestions, if you can afford it, do it.
 
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