"graduate tax" scrapped - universities to be 7k per annum

[Rayleigh boy]

good news for the young uns who have worked hard at school -

afterall Eton is only 13k a term -

Cheers Dave -

 

[Mad Cyril]

Dave, George, Tony, Ed etc. have of course already received their free university education.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Looks like Vince had his arm twisted.

 

[Hotman]

A university education is worth far more than 7k per year if used correctly - this should sort the wasters from those who will truly benefit.

And Barnablue - don't even start about the poor asylum-seeking benefit claimants with bad backs - they can get student loans and repay it with their increased earnings post qualification.

 

[EastStandBlue]

A university education is worth far more than 7k per year if used correctly - this should sort the wasters from those who will truly benefit.

Indeed.

IMO, this is a far fairer alternative to the graduate tax that would've forced those who studied something meaningful to subsidise those who studied David Beckham for three years.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Indeed.

IMO, this is a far fairer alternative to the graduate tax that would've forced those who studied something meaningful to subsidise those who studied David Beckham for three years.

What do you define as meaningful?

David Cameron has a degree in PPE which isn't something I would wan't to be looking for a job with at the moment.

 

[EastStandBlue]

What do you define as meaningful?

David Cameron has a degree in PPE which isn't something I would wan't to be looking for a job with at the moment.

It depends on the course and the syllabus, in my opinion. If you can take my Sport Journalism degree as an example, I know a fair percentage will deem that meaningless, but I left University with experience in both print and multimedia journalism, shorthand certificates and my NCTJ accreditation, so I left in good stead for a career in that particular field. If you compare this with other Multimedia degrees, where the syllabus is loose and you leave with little more than a rudimentary understanding of editing with a handful of programs, those who chose that option face a long, hard slog to find a career down that particular path.

If you want to study Football Studies at Southampton, and you think it warrants the £7kp/a, then be my guest... but I think this is right in forcing people to carefully evaluate a university education before simply opting for that route because they don't fancy working yet.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

What do you define as meaningful?

David Cameron has a degree in PPE which isn't something I would wan't to be looking for a job with at the moment.

You may scoff, but the third of his course that concentrated on economics has probably turned out to be quite handy for him in the current climate.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

What do you define as meaningful?

David Cameron has a degree in PPE which isn't something I would wan't to be looking for a job with at the moment.

Well it hasn't done me any harm. If I'd obtained the degree from some cesspit poly, it might be less well respected however.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Well it hasn't done me any harm. If I'd obtained the degree from some cesspit poly, it might be less well respected however.

Exactly. The establishment from which you obtain your degree has a massive impact.

And when Oxford and Cambridge start bumping their prices through the roof they become less accessible to the offspring of the less well off.

 

[osymandus]

Exactly. The establishment from which you obtain your degree has a massive impact.

And when Oxford and Cambridge start bumping their prices through the roof they become less accessible to the offspring of the less well off.

Which as educationists have already pointed out will deprive the nation of intelligence and future growth . Money never equals genii . A good education will only make the most of what a person already is.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

A university education is worth far more than 7k per year if used correctly - this should sort the wasters from those who will truly benefit.

And Barnablue - don't even start about the poor asylum-seeking benefit claimants with bad backs - they can get student loans and repay it with their increased earnings post qualification.

MC,
Sorry to disappoint but I'm more interested in people coming from a working class background like myself and my two brothers who all went on to achieve degrees(the first in our extended family) in an era when Higher Education was effectively free at source for the recipients.Hypothetical, I know, but I doubt if any of us would have wanted to saddle ourself with student loans/debt even the brother who went to Cambridge to study Economics and is now an Investment Banker.
BTW, how exactly do you use a university education "correctly"?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

MC,
Sorry to disappoint but I'm more interested in people coming from a working class background like myself and my two brothers who all went on to achieve degrees(the first in our extended family) in an era when Higher Education was effectively free at source for the recipients.Hypothetical, I know, but I doubt if any of us would have wanted to saddle ourself with student loans/debt even the brother who went to Cambridge to study Economics and is now an Investment Banker.

If you wouldn't have wanted to saddle yourself with debt, then you obviously wouldn't have had much faith that you could turn your education and qualifications into hard cash in the employment marketplace. Hence, there would have been little point in going in the first place. I went to University when student loans were first being introduced, and had repaid them within three years of going to work. I have no sympathy with the whining ninnies who take 'Left-Wing Horse**** Studies' at some fourth rate polytechnic and then struggle to pay back all the money they spent on fourth rate hashish because they're incapable of getting a real job. Man up ladies.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

If you wouldn't have wanted to saddle yourself with debt, then you obviously wouldn't have had much faith that you could turn your education and qualifications into hard cash in the employment marketplace. Hence, there would have been little point in going in the first place. I went to University when student loans were first being introduced, and had repaid them within three years of going to work. I have no sympathy with the whining ninnies who take 'Left-Wing Horse**** Studies' at some fourth rate polytechnic and then struggle to pay back all the money they spent on fourth rate hashish because they're incapable of getting a real job. Man up ladies.

FYI, I paid for half of the costs for my(part-time) MA at the IE, UCL round about the time you were doing your degree.My(then) employers paid the rest. But by 1991 as a mature adult I wasn't saddling myself with debt and I knew pretty much what an MA in TESOL was worth in the marketplace(which incidentally is NOT the reason I did it anyway).
At 18(or 19 in my case after a year on the buses with Eastern National)all I knew was that I preferred to do a degree rather than take up the place I'd been offered at Weymouth Teacher Training College.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

FYI, I paid for half of the costs for my(part-time) MA at the IE, UCL round about the time you were doing your degree.My(then) employers paid the rest. But by 1991 as a mature adult I wasn't saddling myself with debt and I knew pretty much what an MA in TESOL was worth in the marketplace(which incidentally is NOT the reason I did it anyway).
At 18(or 19 in my case after a year on the buses with Eastern National)all I knew was that I preferred to do a degree rather than take up the place I'd been offered at Weymouth Teacher Training College.

If you were a mature adult in 1991, what's happened in the 19 years since?

 

[Mad Cyril]

But by 1991 as a mature adult I wasn't saddling myself with debt and I knew pretty much what an MA in TESOL was worth in the marketplace(which incidentally is NOT the reason I did it anyway).
.

Sorry to hijack the thread but out of interest how true to life was 'Mind your language'?

 

[londonblue]

Well it hasn't done me any harm. If I'd obtained the degree from some cesspit poly, it might be less well respected however.

I went there, but I called it the Poly of Last Resort!

 

[londonblue]

A university education is worth far more than 7k per year if used correctly - this should sort the wasters from those who will truly benefit.

And Barnablue - don't even start about the poor asylum-seeking benefit claimants with bad backs - they can get student loans and repay it with their increased earnings post qualification.

Not all degrees are vocational, but that doesn't make them a) any less interesting to study or b) any less useful. For example, a history degree could be used to teach, but not everyone wants to be a teacher. Some people may just want to study it because they find it interesting, and may end up being curator of a local museum, which wouldn't pay a huge amount, but is a useful job.

If I had the time I would do a second degree in history and politics, and a third in physics but neither would help me with my job!

 

[Mad Cyril]

If you wouldn't have wanted to saddle yourself with debt, then you obviously wouldn't have had much faith that you could turn your education and qualifications into hard cash in the employment marketplace. Hence, there would have been little point in going in the first place. I went to University when student loans were first being introduced, and had repaid them within three years of going to work. I have no sympathy with the whining ninnies who take 'Left-Wing Horse**** Studies' at some fourth rate polytechnic and then struggle to pay back all the money they spent on fourth rate hashish because they're incapable of getting a real job. Man up ladies.

So what happens if you are (for example) a brilliant physicist that wants to devote their life to research?

 

[londonblue]

So what happens if you are (for example) a brilliant physicist that wants to devote their life to research?

You end up in a wheelchair with a mechanical voice.