university - £20k+ is it worth it?

[severnside gull]

If you sign up for a three year degree in sports management it will cost you .......................................................NOTHING


Dependant on your parents' income, you will receive a grant to live on. It will cost you .........................................NOTHING


If after you complete your degree you obtain employment and earn less than around £20,000 per annum you will repay ....................................NOTHING


If you were to move abroad you would repay ................................................NOTHING


Repayment effectively comes in the form that earnings over £20K per annum will attract an additional level of tax but it is still much cheaper than any form of loan and you will (reasonably speaking) be earning substantially more BECAUSE you have a degree so it isn't a bad trade-off.

If you earn mega bucks (unlikely off the back of a sports degree tbh) throughout your working life you would theoretically pay back more than you "borrowed" to pay for your degree BUT no matter whether you have paid back some money or no money, after 30 years your debt is written off.

I work with young people studying for leisure industry vocational qualifications. Most starting their studies next year will eventually pay back (by my best calculation) less than a third of the total amount they theoretically "owe" and that over their whole working life. Those who get reasonably well paid (over £20Kpa) jobs immediately after completing their degree will be repaying LESS than a student who has completed their degree and gained employment in the last five years.

You will gain intellectually and socially from studying for a higher qualification. With the alternative of dossing on the dole queue because there are no jobs for young people without advanced qualifications there are no down sides. JUST DO IT!

The Government have failed singularly to explain the real facts about the real costs of obtaining a higher education and I suspect that is because it is still cheaper for them to allow young people to stultify on the dole than for them to study towards personal betterment - unless of course they come from a class and background where the cost of education is irrelevant.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Alternatively enroll on one of the thousands of degree courses taught, in English, at mainland europe universities at a fraction of the cost. If you search the web you'll find details. There's an English girl who kind of pioneered this and went to Maastricht. She wrote a blog and has helped others to take this route and I also think she might have helped the university itself, with promoting it's courses over here. No foreign language is needed and many part-time jobs are also available. The girl I am talking about got a job working for the dutch post office.

 

[SeagullSongs]

I'm in the same position as you. Don't forget, you kind of never actually pay it. They just wait until you're earning £21k p/a afterwards and then take 9% of what's over that. If there's still some debt left after 30 years, they forget about it

A degree will help you get a higher wage, so in the long run, it's probably worth it. All depends on your chosen profession though

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'm in the same position as you. Don't forget, you kind of never actually pay it. They just wait until you're earning £21k p/a afterwards and then take 9% of what's over that. If there's still some debt left after 30 years, they forget about it

A degree will help you get a higher wage, so in the long run, it's probably worth it. All depends on your chosen profession though

Still crap that you have to pay for it in my opinion. The government are happy to pay 40k a year to lock up a criminal but if you want to make a go of things and better yourself then it's YOU that has to pay around 40k.

 

[cw00]

If you sign up for a three year degree in sports management it will cost you .......................................................NOTHING


Dependant on your parents' income, you will receive a grant to live on. It will cost you .........................................NOTHING


If after you complete your degree you obtain employment and earn less than around £20,000 per annum you will repay ....................................NOTHING


If you were to move abroad you would repay ................................................NOTHING


Repayment effectively comes in the form that earnings over £20K per annum will attract an additional level of tax but it is still much cheaper than any form of loan and you will (reasonably speaking) be earning substantially more BECAUSE you have a degree so it isn't a bad trade-off.

If you earn mega bucks (unlikely off the back of a sports degree tbh) throughout your working life you would theoretically pay back more than you "borrowed" to pay for your degree BUT no matter whether you have paid back some money or no money, after 30 years your debt is written off.

I work with young people studying for leisure industry vocational qualifications. Most starting their studies next year will eventually pay back (by my best calculation) less than a third of the total amount they theoretically "owe" and that over their whole working life. Those who get reasonably well paid (over £20Kpa) jobs immediately after completing their degree will be repaying LESS than a student who has completed their degree and gained employment in the last five years.

You will gain intellectually and socially from studying for a higher qualification. With the alternative of dossing on the dole queue because there are no jobs for young people without advanced qualifications there are no down sides. JUST DO IT!

The Government have failed singularly to explain the real facts about the real costs of obtaining a higher education and I suspect that is because it is still cheaper for them to allow young people to stultify on the dole than for them to study towards personal betterment - unless of course they come from a class and background where the cost of education is irrelevant.

cheers for your input, when you put it like that it does seem better. are there certain career areas that should be looked at more than others? obviously im not going to be a doctor but havn't set my heart on any particular career. i did IT at college and got a good grade but dont think i would enjoy a career in IT.

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Started Uni this year , I can safely say it was the best decision of my life, minimal work, drinking most of the week , living away from home and making new friends from all different backgrounds.
Students will be just as well off under this new system, as £9000 is paid back only after you are earning £21,000 anyway.

 

[Gullys Cats]

NO, start your own business instead.....

 

[astevens76]

thoughts? im still considering it but finding it hard to justify the average £8k-£9k a year cost. pretty crazy how just a few years ago people were paying as little as a £1k-3k

You have to pay a lot more than I did (and I only graduated in June this year) but it will be the best years you will have. Possibly ever. Worth every penny IMO. As long as you get your head down a bit and use all the help they offer you to get yourself into a job at the end of it, you'll forget that you even owe any money. It's more than just 3/4 years of study - it's a life experience.

 

[drew]

cheers for your input, when you put it like that it does seem better. are there certain career areas that should be looked at more than others? obviously im not going to be a doctor but havn't set my heart on any particular career. i did IT at college and got a good grade but dont think i would enjoy a career in IT.

But this is from someone who considers a well paid job is £20k (the national average is £26k I believe). A debt that if you are just earning over the threshold you will be paying until you are 51 (assuming you graduate at 21). He also implies in his penultimate paragraph that because you won't get a job without advanced qualifications then if you have them you will get a job. Of the million plus NEETS are all of them without degrees?

Surely the correct advice is to go to Uni if you really want the experience or if your chosen career requires it.

 

[Poojah]

Know what you want from life. Believe you can achieve it. Work your balls off until you get there.

Unless you want a career that requires a specific qualification, i.e. brain surgeon or barrister, then whichever route you choose to take you above should be sufficient.

 

[Giant Seagull]

I worked full time for 3 years before going to uni and in comparison uni was the biggest doss ever!

 

[marshy68]

thoughts? im still considering it but finding it hard to justify the average £8k-£9k a year cost. pretty crazy how just a few years ago people were paying as little as a £1k-3k

dont worry you wont get a job afterwards so you wont have to pay it back - simples.

 

[El Presidente]

As much as I loathe the new system, it is effectively a graduate tax. If you earn £25k a year you pay £7 a week, so it is not too onerous.

Repayments stop after 30 years, so think of it as a one way gamble. If you are successful you will earn enough to repay the debt without too many problems. If you end up with no job or a poorly paid one you won't have to repay.

The aim of the scheme is to shift government borrowings off balance sheet, so the government can claim to the market that it is dealing with the debt burden.

 

[tedebear]

Of course its worth it but it depends on doing a degree which is going to help you get a job! It seems getting a job is the hard part these days, so doing something to boost your chances is well worth it. Alternatively an apprenticeship is great for practical careers.

 

[Glawstergull]

If you end up with a carreer as a Vet or a Dentist or similar yes,if you end up out of work with an Engineering degree or similar then no.If you can`t work that one out god help you

The manufacturing sector are crying out for Young Engineers as the apprenticeship schemes really stopped.Any "good" degree (don't do Media or Sports Science) will be worth it.

 

[severnside gull]

cheers for your input, when you put it like that it does seem better. are there certain career areas that should be looked at more than others? obviously im not going to be a doctor but havn't set my heart on any particular career. i did IT at college and got a good grade but dont think i would enjoy a career in IT.

Choose a degree that you think you will enjoy and (more importantly) something you think you can and will complete. The increase in vocational degrees means that more people now study with a specific career in mind but when you consider that most people now have two, three or more "mini careers" in their working lifetime, and that most still take arts degrees, and very very few go on to actually work in the topic area that they studied, it is clear that it is still the journey that matters more than the route. Education (and particularly higher education) is as much about developing the ability to look for information/knowledge and to understand how to apply it, as it is about being an expert in a particular topic. The three years spent studying give you time to make more informed and mature decisions about your immediate worklife targets which will change anyway as the economy changes. Learning to use language effectively and having a proficiency in numbers will always be key so any degree that incorporates those two elements will set you in good stead. Take no notice of people who denigrate sports, leisure or tourism degrees. Choose a uni with a good reputation and with the best possible student support services and have a great three years!

 

[Foolg]

Started Uni this year , I can safely say it was the best decision of my life, minimal work, drinking most of the week , living away from home and making new friends from all different backgrounds.
Students will be just as well off under this new system, as £9000 is paid back only after you are earning £21,000 anyway.

I started this year too, and for the first few weeks would agree with what you said about drinking and minimal work. However i'm now head to toe in work, have been for the past few weeks, so that's not strictly true, all depends on which course you opt to take.
As to whether it's worth it or not, all depends on which course you opt to take and where abouts it is IMO. Being in 27k worth of debt in fee's alone is not worth it if you're going to do Business at a lower end university, which will probably end up with you in a similar position to which you'd be able to attain by working your way up in a company for 3 years. However obviously if you want a career which requires a degree, its a must, and you'll probably reep the rewards salary wise.

 

[Foolg]

Choose a degree that you think you will enjoy and (more importantly) something you think you can and will complete.

Oh, and most certainly this. I'm starting to become bored of my course after just a few months, and probably picked the wrong course thinking about it (Law and Criminology at Sheffield), but everything else is good fun. Very dry subject with a HELL of a lot of reading.

 

[severnside gull]

But this is from someone who considers a well paid job is £20k (the national average is £26k I believe). A debt that if you are just earning over the threshold you will be paying until you are 51 (assuming you graduate at 21). He also implies in his penultimate paragraph that because you won't get a job without advanced qualifications then if you have them you will get a job. Of the million plus NEETS are all of them without degrees?

Surely the correct advice is to go to Uni if you really want the experience or if your chosen career requires it.

Bear in mind that the average earnings include everyones' favourites, the bankers and their bonuses and other very high earners, and that most people still earn considerably less. The mean average income is probably around £5K lower but consider that you live in the most affluent part of the country so your perspective will tend to be skewed, and my assertion that anything over £20K is indeed a good income is probably not unreasonable. More crucially it is the ball-park boundary for the new graduate tax. Of course like most forms of taxation it can be most painful at the margins and someone whose earnings are just above the threshold for the entire 30 years that payment could apply might be advised to take a small pay cut! Most people will tend to move clear of the margin as their career progresses though, so the dark picture you paint is extremely unlikely to apply.

I agee with you that having a degree doesn't guarantee a job (although if not it will at least mean not having to repay the debt) but it does improve the chances of gaining employment and remains a factor in optimising career earnings. Whichever way you look at it graduates earn more on average than non-graduates - they always have and very probably always will.


Your advice to go to uni if you want the experience or if your chosen career requires it is spot on although I would add, if you can't get employment now, and also if you think it might help your long term employment career/earnings prospects...........................

I also think Poojah's advice - the bit about working your balls off - is excellent, although not all students adhere to it in my experience

 

[Spiros]

Started Uni this year , I can safely say it was the best decision of my life, minimal work, drinking most of the week , living away from home and making new friends from all different backgrounds.
.

Glad to see that things haven't changed that much since I went in the mid-80s.

I would suggest to the OP that although you can get a degree by studying locally/part time you only really get the full-on experience by actually going to a university full time and away from home. Although I got a degree which proved useful in my career (and probably has meant that I did better in the long run than I would if I'd not gone to uni) the experience and lifestyle were just as important for me. Also, as severnside says above, you only really pay for it if you do get a well-paid job anyway.