Off Topic University degrees are they really worth it?

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When I left school in '83 there was 3,500,000 unemployed thanks to that **** Thatcher & her ****ing cronies.
No apprenticeships, no way into uni for a young man like me.
I took a couple of dead end jobs for about 50 quid a week but they bored me to bits.
That's why I signed up, nowt to do with patriotism, there was **** all else to do.
The forces offered a way out of that.
We didn't get paid much back then but you didn't really need it.
We were clothed, fed & housed - no living expenses & a few quid in your pocket a week to buy your beer & tabs.
Plus I got to see a bit of the world all expenses paid.
There must've been 100's of lads like me around that time.
 
It depends what she wants to do, the debt is actually insignificant and here is why:

1. With inflation by the time she pays it back its not going to seem like anywhere near as much money.

2. You only pay it back when you earn a certain amount and they cannot actively collect the money through the courts unless you are earning a certain amount.

3. Its the lowest interest loan you will ever get.

4. It does not count against you getting credit for a mortgage or most other forms of credit.

I have a design engineering degree, I got an offer to go on and do a masters but decided to leave and start my own business. I don't do anything related to my degree now. I have never been asked if I have a degree.

In some fields it will hold you back, If you want a traditional job: Doctor, teacher, solicitor etc..... then it's worth doing. If you wanted to get into a different sector say: events production, photography, film making or radio, don't bother going to uni it's a waste of time. Those industries rely on on the job experience and contacts.

I would advise your daughter to think hard about what she would enjoy doing. If she does not know what that is then going to uni is a decent option as it will probably help her decide on a career. I become a much more confident person following my time at uni and I gained many skills out of the class room playing sport and helping run entertainment events.
 
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Billy Cattermole said:
When I left school in '83 there was 3,500,000 unemployed thanks to that **** Thatcher & her ****ing cronies.
No apprenticeships, no way into uni for a young man like me.
I took a couple of dead end jobs for about 50 quid a week but they bored me to bits.
That's why I signed up, nowt to do with patriotism, there was **** all else to do.
The forces offered a way out of that.
We didn't get paid much back then but you didn't really need it.
We were clothed, fed & housed - no living expenses & a few quid in your pocket a week to buy your beer & tabs.
Plus I got to see a bit of the world all expenses paid.
There must've been 100's of lads like me around that time.
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Yeh mate that was always an option for some so young.it gave them a chance to see the world and gain some life experience. <bubbly>
 
I have 2 GCSE's to my name, but a wealth of knowledge that I've obtained through literature, the internet, work based courses and learning from experienced colleagues and people I've met along the way in my line of work. You can get on in life without A Level/university education, as I achieved 4 promotions in 5 years and increased my salary by 250%.

Some of my colleagues have degrees to do exactly the same job as I do at the same salary level, so for me, studying for 4 years was unnecessary, but at least they have the prestige of being able to put letters after their name in their email signature boxes! :emoticon-0110-tongu
 
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All I wanted to do when I left School was join the Army! But I couldn;t due to my diabetes (I wanted to "be a soldier" not someone stuck behind a desk at a base in the UK!) - So I went into computers and maths and now I teach maths and computers for the NHS!

I have no degree but have a number of formal quals which have helped me - but I worked for 10 yhears before I studied - if I'd gone to uni when I left school I'd have no appreciation for the work and no experience - the fact that I went to work and got experience before doing my formal qualifications made a big difference to me - still don't have a degree but I'm working towards it now! I reckon it helps if you're older (like me - I was 40 the other week!) but at 20 year old very few people want you with no experience!!
 
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Sometimes may depend on employer attitude/ability to do HR also. When I worked in a bank, several people were in for a job at HO. Liz got the job and admitted herself it was down to the fact she was the only candidate with a degree. It was a degree in dance. So a degree may help, if not in the obvious way.
 
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I did my degree as a mature (yes I know!) student but I had no experience in the profession that I had chosen so knew that it would be difficult to get a job when I had completed the course. With that in mind I took a sandwich degree course which meant that I did two years at Uni then one year on a work placement then the final year back at Uni.I would highly recommend that to anyone embarking on a career that they have no experience in as you have a year to put on the CV and you are not just taking pot luck finding a job afterwards as it does give you an advantage. The other thing that the placement year did was to give me an insight into different aspects of the job and therefore when I completed the course I knew exactly what I wanted to specialise in.

Edit : Right that's the finish of me being sensible for the rest of the day
 
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gelders pie said:
Sometimes may depend on employer attitude/ability to do HR also. When I worked in a bank, several people were in for a job at HO. Liz got the job and admitted herself it was down to the fact she was the only candidate with a degree. It was a degree in dance. So a degree may help, if not in the obvious way.
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Biggest bunch of ****ing waste of space I've ever had the misfortune to meet.
 
No degtees for this thicko...Mind i have travelled a lot of the world, and got a canny job..Just imagine if i had stuck in at school and then went to Uni, instead of living a real life.

You may have guessed by now, i'm not a scholar....Although i do have 2 kids who have both gone to uni..in frog land..
 
Billy Cattermole said:
Yep. My daughter is at Sunderland uni studying psychology at the St Peters campus.
Most university fees never reach the stage where they are actually owed.
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My girlfriend will be starting uni at Sunderland in September, studying Psychology, at St Peter's campus <cheers>

Does your daughter live on campus? The dorm rooms are the absolute pits!
 
I'm currently at university studying a health based degree. After which I will be undertaking a further 2 year course to become an advanced anaesthetic practitioner. Out of the 5 years I will be at uni, I will only pay course fees for the last 2, and I receive a modest bursary (around 4 grand a year). There is currently a 100% rate of people leaving university with my degree and getting into jobs, so knowing that I'm working towards something means that for me I've found/am finding university to be totally worthwhile.

I lived first year on campus and am moving to Jesmond next year with 5 mates I met in halls this year. In my experience, there's a massive percentage of the student population who are at uni only for the social life (which is awesome to be fair) and a lot of the people I've met are already fully accepting that after qualifying their degree isn't necessarily going to lead to anything. Remember that over 50% of graduates now work in jobs that don't require a degree. I think something a lot of people forget about the debt is that, while paying it off isn't a MASSIVE expense, that debt can still weigh around your neck when applying for things like mortgages and loans etc.

For me, going to university should be something that is done when you know excatly what you want to do an d a degree is required for it. It shouldn't be, as it is now, the "done thing" for all 18 year olds. Schools should shoulder a massive responsibility for pushing every single student to go to uni, whether they know what they want to do or not. Going to uni for 3 years, getting a degree in something like Art, Drama etc might have been worth it when fees were 3k a year, but now you're looking at around 40k of debt for a degree that's highly unlikely to make one jot of difference when you enter the working world. It's not worth it IMO.
 
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Lostinvegas said:
4. It does not count against you getting credit for a mortgage or most other forms of credit.
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This is the official party line but isn't actually true. Me and my parents spent a lot of time talking about that very issue with the careers counsellor when I was 16/17, and although she really didn't want to have to say it, she eventually conceded that having such a massive debt could count against you if you wanted a higher than average loan, mortgage etc.
 
John Cardew said:
I'm currently at university studying a health based degree. After which I will be undertaking a further 2 year course to become an advanced anaesthetic practitioner. Out of the 5 years I will be at uni, I will only pay course fees for the last 2, and I receive a modest bursary (around 4 grand a year). There is currently a 100% rate of people leaving university with my degree and getting into jobs, so knowing that I'm working towards something means that for me I've found/am finding university to be totally worthwhile.

I lived first year on campus and am moving to Jesmond next year with 5 mates I met in halls this year. In my experience, there's a massive percentage of the student population who are at uni only for the social life (which is awesome to be fair) and a lot of the people I've met are already fully accepting that after qualifying their degree isn't necessarily going to lead to anything. Remember that over 50% of graduates now work in jobs that don't require a degree. I think something a lot of people forget about the debt is that, while paying it off isn't a MASSIVE expense, that debt can still weigh around your neck when applying for things like mortgages and loans etc.

For me, going to university should be something that is done when you know excatly what you want to do an d a degree is required for it. It shouldn't be, as it is now, the "done thing" for all 18 year olds. Schools should shoulder a massive responsibility for pushing every single student to go to uni, whether they know what they want to do or not. Going to uni for 3 years, getting a degree in something like Art, Drama etc might have been worth it when fees were 3k a year, but now you're looking at around 40k of debt for a degree that's highly unlikely to make one jot of difference when you enter the working world. It's not worth it IMO.
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I thought you were doing poetry?
 
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