Student debt - a lifelong millstone for some.

[HJL_Shef]

Well there certainly isn't a great shortage of Chinese students coming over here to go to uni. They obviously haven't been put off by the rising fees.

 

Their parents usually work 60 hour weeks, weekends, and take one day off per year in order to send them here though.

[harvey19]

You'd be very lucky to get offered a PhD with no undergraduate degree! I would consider it an impossibility at most universities.

Things may have changed but this is how he did it probably 20 years ago.

He had obviously gained qualifications whilst working.

[dosxuk]

I think the whole issue is about reducing student numbers and making degrees more selective. Eventually I think certain degree courses will receive extra subsidies and some universities will close. Slowly changes are already being made to the initial proposals and I dare say other changes beneficial to the students will be reported as being won by the LibDems.

 

Another thing which makes me wonder what the heck the Government are thinking... Surely if the new fees policy is as progressive, accessible, open and good for students, tax payers, business and universities, it doesn't need any concessions made. And if it does need concessions, why haven't they been discussed and agreed before the headline policy has been taken to the house and voted on? It just seems like madness to me.

 

Unless, of course, you're a Lib Dem MP who has only just realised you've killed your party and unless you can be seen to be doing something to stand up for the people you just annoyed you're dead in the water?

[dosxuk]

Well there certainly isn't a great shortage of Chinese students coming over here to go to uni. They obviously haven't been put off by the rising fees.

 

Foreign students don't pay the same fees as UK students - they get charged whatever the University they apply to wants to charge them for the course they apply for, with no regulation.

 

If a University felt it would be beneficial to them (in terms of research grants / future prospects / expansion), there is nothing to stop them offering courses to foreign students for free.

[harvey19]

Another thing which makes me wonder what the heck the Government are thinking... Surely if the new fees policy is as progressive, accessible, open and good for students, tax payers, business and universities, it doesn't need any concessions made. And if it does need concessions, why haven't they been discussed and agreed before the headline policy has been taken to the house and voted on? It just seems like madness to me.

 

Unless, of course, you're a Lib Dem MP who has only just realised you've killed your party and unless you can be seen to be doing something to stand up for the people you just annoyed you're dead in the water?

 

Or if the closing of universities and reduction in student numbers will benefit those students studying for selected degrees. Bargaining power. Remember this government is in power until 2015.

[puisseguin]

Foreign students don't pay the same fees as UK students - they get charged whatever the University they apply to wants to charge them for the course they apply for, with no regulation.

 

If a University felt it would be beneficial to them (in terms of research grants / future prospects / expansion), there is nothing to stop them offering courses to foreign students for free.

 

But they don't. Universities publish fees to overseas students in a prospectus and they charge a lot more than they charge UK students. If those students protesting about fee rises thought that non UK tax payers were being subsidised at their expense they really would have something to complain about..

[harvey19]

You'd be very lucky to get offered a PhD with no undergraduate degree! I would consider it an impossibility at most universities.

 

My apologies.

I have just checked with my brother in law and he does not have a PhD he has an MSc.

Once again I apologise for misleading anyone.

[TeaFan]

It is all related, and everyone can see as such, apart from the Government. Why the review into student funding didn't tackle the number one question of "why do so many young people need to go to University" we'll probably never know, but it didn't, and we've now seen the results of the review.

 

The future of higher education, as I see it, and without some big change of direction, is higher fees and slowly increasing numbers. Universities are businesses, especially now they've had virtually all of their funding removed, and as such the only way for them to continue in business is to lobby for higher fees and higher intakes.

 

Labour wanted to get lots more people into uni and the Tories have an interest in continuing it.

 

Person 1: reaches 18, not much work available, jobs going to those with experience. Signs on JSA, claims housing benefit while looking for work.

 

Person 2: reaches 18, goes to uni, can't claim JSA, can't claim housing benefit, borrows everything they need to live on and pays it back to the government later.

 

Not difficult to see the government's incentive to getting people into uni, is it?

[Gordonb]

A student will find it difficult to live on £4,000 a year. In many places that won't even cover the annual rent in halls of residence. They will still require further financial assistance.

 

This shows how expectations have changed over the past few years.

As I understand it the current rents payable for a room in a shared house range from £1300 to £2500 per year depending on whether you want to live on Ecclesall Road or somewhere else. The current rents on one of the modern student blocks near town with en- suite facilities etc are more like 4,000. I thought that part of the uni experience was to learn to live with other people not spend your life in something akin to a hotel bedroom. I could show you many overseas students who come over here who simply can't afford 4000 and who have to take a job in Mcdonalds to pay for their living costs whilst paying the full level of fees alluded to elsewhere in this thread. The difference is to them it is a goal to aim for by hard work, not a right to be.

[altus]

Labour wanted to get lots more people into uni and the Tories have an interest in continuing it.

 

Person 1: reaches 18, not much work available, jobs going to those with experience. Signs on JSA, claims housing benefit while looking for work.

 

Person 2: reaches 18, goes to uni, can't claim JSA, can't claim housing benefit, borrows everything they need to live on and pays it back to the government later.

 

Not difficult to see the government's incentive to getting people into uni, is it?

You're forgetting Couple A: Proud their kid is the first member of their family to go to university.

 

If anyone thinks higher uni fees are unpopular, try telling parents the country can only afford to send the top 10% there and 80% of those who currently go will no longer be able to.