Re: Uk : uni vs Apprenticeship/ working
I graduated from university 2 years ago and i have to agree with you. The thing that angered me the most was that my relatives who attended uni a few years prior to me were only forced to pay 3.5k a year whilst me and everyone else after me had to pay 9k a year which is quite frankly a ridiculous amount and that's not even counting the insane level of interest they charge each month on that debt after you have graduated. And then there's also maintenance loans which increase your debt and the only worthwhile thing was the maintenance grants that was free money basically and now students in the recent years can only take maintenance loans out and grants are no longer offered.
You've wasted 3 years and are 60+k in debt that is rising rapidly by the month only to get a job that is almost always under 25k for graduates if you're not in london.
The main issue is that teenagers who don't know much about the world are forced to make such a huge decision about their future and there's so much pressure with parents and friends going to university that you think it's the correct thing to do. There is no weighing other options or taking a good long think about it, you just go along with what you're being told and that's mostly to go to uni and graduate into a 20k/year job. Whilst your peers who didn't go to uni are making way more and a lot better off. Colleges and parents especially need to stop forcing college students that are about to graduate into going to university.
It's a total joke and i completely regret going to university. That piece of paper is not worth even 10% of the debt that i have had to take on to acquire it but mostly the time wasted where i could have achieved a lot more. Everyone can take loans and get a degree, it's just not something special or worthwhile anymore. As for Lemon263, i do know how loans are paid in this particular situation. You pay monthly a portion of it, there's a calculation that i'm not going to bother writing here but essentially if you make over 25k, you start paying the loans off e.g. £100 per month and you're obviously never going to have it paid off because of the high level of interest that makes your payments negligible. Also, your debt gets written off after 30 years but let's be realistic, you're obviously going to make more than 25k sooner or later and be forced to start paying the loan off, and even if you don't, you're going to be 50 years old and then your loan is written off, it simply doesn't matter at that point. Also James you are not correct. I can personally tell you that Accountants do NOT need degrees at all. As a matter of fact, not going to university is a more effective and efficient way of becoming a certified chartered accountant with less money spent and less time wasted. So it's better to simply go directly into an accounting job that also pays for your ACCA exams and is also providing you the necessary experience so you're killing two birds with one stone instead of wasting 3 years at university. I can't speak on lawyers or doctors but i'm sure lawyers have better alternatives than university. Doctors however do need do go through the proper channels of med school or a degree in medicine and then go from there. Overall a terrible system, and a huge regret in my life. p.s. being an accountant is soul-draining. /rantover
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