Growing UK University Tuition Fee's

[diggersjohn33]

My son is currently studying his AS levels and will soon be choosing his university placements.

We're by no means well for money and with the recent increases in tuition fee's here in the UK, I am genuinely considering his options as to whether it is viable for him to still go to university or not.

Are other people feeling the same? What are the alternatives, if any?

John

[AdamW]

If he wants to do he takes out a stonking student loan/grant/mix of and get's into huge debt like many others. My parent's couldn't afford to contribute and although some years ago I still had to fund with with a student loan.

Alternatives? A job, apprenticeship. Does he want to go to university? That's really the main question to ask.

[Ray Stewart]

My youngest son Matt has just finished his AS exams and is looking forward to Uni. The tuition fees are not putting him off. He is determined to go to either Cambridge or London to study engineering.

He did want to try out for MIT but even he baulked at the potential fees of $90,000pa on top of living and travel costs, even if he could win a scholarship. So I suppose our Uni's are still a bargain compared to some.

His attitude is that his degree will give him a kick start into his career and as the loan is written off before he hits retirement it won't bother him too much if he can't get into his chosen career. His attitude is that if his employers tell him he is on £30,000 he will work his finances out on £27,000 and not think about it too much (we will see about that when it happens). But, if he succeeds in getting in, the rewards are such that paying the loan off won't damage his finances at all. And he is not a young man to give up before he gets where he is aiming to go.

Not all his peers share his view but Matt is a seriously focussed individual and not going to uni is simply not an option for him, despite the debt. His school are trying to talk his year group out of thinking about uni because of the costs and go for apprenticeships instead. So much for encouraging our young folk to achieve their dreams.

It is a good thing we are all built very differently and I am not entirely convinced he is our son - swapped at birth perhaps

[AdamW]

Originally Posted by Ray Stewart

His attitude is that his degree will give him a kick start into his career and as the loan is written off before he hits retirement it won't bother him too much if he can't get into his chosen career. His attitude is that if his employers tell him he is on £30,000 he will work his finances out on £27,000 and not think about it too much (we will see about that when it happens)

Great attitude to have though He might need some gentle reminders of it though

[cheaper accountant]

The hike in fees might seem large on the face of it, but I see the increase as marginal tax or even a "graduate tax". The vast majority of students will fund the payment of fees through a loan with the Student Loans Company, with repayments linked to income, it is very different to a regular bank loan and a lot more affordable. In my view the loan is more like an increase in tax rather than debt.

[diggersjohn33]

He's a pretty good student, but don't know whether 'all paid' scholarships are a possibility. What he wants (what he says anyway...) is the paperwork, not necessarily the whole 'university lifestyle'.

I was looking long distance learning courses such as this: http://www.brightonsbm.com/hnc-hnd-c...c-business.htm

Similar to OU? Can save plenty of ££££ staying at home.

Thoughts?

John

[diggersjohn33]

ooops... bad link.

HND in Business & Management Distance Learning Online Course

The HNC in particular.

John

[gordano]

An interesting thread. I have a son who recently started university - just before the fees went up. My thoughts are however that university fees are actually quite cheap, for example students pay higher fees in USA and their economy appears to do well by comparison?

Perhaps we need to take another look at degrees, what do employers really require? I recently read that there are far more people taking law degrees than there are places for lawyers, barristers, etc. Also how many people do we need to take degrees in 'psychology' or 'design studies' (two of the more popular degrees)? Should we not try and match supply with demand? If there is more employer demand for teaching then offer greater government financial assistance, likewise if we do not need anymore people qualified in sports science then we should not provide any financial assistance for these degrees?

Clearly there are other factors but somehow we need to spend our limited tax payer resources to drive the future economy by creating skilled employees for the future.

[gordano]

A good point Barry, but there is a finite amount of taxes collected and therefore there are decisions needed on where those taxes are spent. For example if we use a figure of 480,0000 students per year (I think this was 2010) and subsidise by £24,000 each (3 years at £8000 to be similar to France / Germany) then we would need to find budget savings of £11.5 Bn to per year elsewhere.