The Student Room Group

£36,000? Really?

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Original post by thegaffer91
What about the cost of buying thousands of books and maintaining them in a library that is easy for all students to use?

What about the costs of the salaries of all the support staff - cleaners, security staff, teaching assistants?

What about the cost of water, electricity and Internet to cover the entire campus?

What about the cost of all the practical equipment used in science and engineering degrees, among others?

What about the cost of renevating and upgrading learning spaces on a regular basis?

I could go on and on...


I here what you say and there is some truth behind it.

However, please explain why the, unregulated, cost of most arts taught masters is between £3-4,000.
Reply 41
Why not try an OU degree. It's something like £5k I think...http://www8.open.ac.uk/study/explained/how-to-apply/what-you-can-expect-to-pay
Original post by thegaffer91
What about the cost of buying thousands of books and maintaining them in a library that is easy for all students to use?

What about the costs of the salaries of all the support staff - cleaners, security staff, teaching assistants?

What about the cost of water, electricity and Internet to cover the entire campus?

What about the cost of all the practical equipment used in science and engineering degrees, among others?

What about the cost of renevating and upgrading learning spaces on a regular basis?

I could go on and on...


you perhaps could go on and on but no-one in government or at the universities would thank you for suggesting that these are the kinds of costs factored into what are explicitly billed as "tuition fees", i.e. fees for instruction. Are 18 year old kids being asked to pay the cleaners, a cost with an anyway negligible unit-rate? Or to fund the renovation of buildings owned by either the government or the university, such that they could as well be privately sold by either?

This bloke seems willing to pay his way, and is only asking whether he is being asked to pay more than that. A student wanting a 2nd BA is exhibiting a degree of commitment to the subject that perhaps doesn't obtain for many students only jumping the the hoop of making themselves graduates. In many cases as well these are degrees taken on by people wanting to make themselves more obviously employable, this truest in the case of Arts to Law, with Law almost certainly the most popularly taken 2nd bachelors. Why not only calculate the additional unit-cost of having another student on the course and give this as the amount for which that student is liable?
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 43
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
I am interested in going back to uni to study something else as a hobby, as my previous UG degree was obtained 2 years ago and now I am bored.

However, degrees are now £9k per year? Plus at least £3k per year compus accom.

Is there no way of doing any kind of study at a bricks and mortar uni without these ludicrous prices?


You have a good interest, but f*** that! WTF you want the government to FUND YOU FOR A "HOBBY" thats not even going to make a contribution at the end? You want our money, tax payers, to f***ing fund you for **** NOT WORTH? A HOBBY? there are loads out there who want REAL EDUCATION! AND THE GOVERNMENT WOULD BE BUSY WITH THEM, NOT SOME **** LIKE YOU. GO F...K yourself!
Original post by ishan777
You have a good interest, but f*** that! WTF you want the government to FUND YOU FOR A "HOBBY" thats not even going to make a contribution at the end? You want our money, tax payers, to f***ing fund you for **** NOT WORTH? A HOBBY? there are loads out there who want REAL EDUCATION! AND THE GOVERNMENT WOULD BE BUSY WITH THEM, NOT SOME **** LIKE YOU. GO F...K yourself!


yeah, he doesn't want that, though. As he has said several times, he wants to pay his way. For the 2nd BA he will have to pay as he goes, not through a deferred graduate tax that people are prepared to suffer because they know that the financial value of being a graduate (but he already is that) outweighs the amount levied.
Original post by DarkTitan
i dont think you understand...they wont fund you for a 2nd UG degree...so they'll have to pull out the money from themselfs...now instead of around 3.4k a year they be paying 9k a year...of their own money obviously after working as to get money to fund yourself for 3 years would require you to have worked if not from a well off background.

i bet u still dont realise what they are complaining about


I think it's you who doesn't understand. At some universities the cost per student is upwards of £15000. The government pay for whatever you don't take a loan for. If you've already been funded tens of thousands of pounds to get a degree and done nothing to benefit the country with it then why should you be funded 10s of thousands more just to delay responsibility and boredom?

In my opinion second undergraduate degrees should be paid solely by the student.
Reply 46
Original post by cambio wechsel
you'd likely protest if the state, which has a large role in the pricing of alcohol, put the price up by a factor of 4. That's the whole of this lad's complaint, as I understand it. Complain about the fee increases as someone doing a first degree and you'll here be cheered to the echo, largely because there are so many others here affected in the same way. But complain at the increases as they bear on a 2nd BA, where these can't be deferred in the same way, and suddenly you want the moon on a stick, it seems.


Except the government didn't actively put the price of tuition up by a factor of 4. It only raised the cap on what universities were allowed to charge (and it was more like x3 anyway). As far as I know, there is no government cap on the price of beer. If the government introduced a minimum pricing plan that meant a pint cost £12, then yes, I probably would protest. But the government does nothing to university prices except limit them.
You say you don't want the government to pay for your second degree, but you want the fees to be how they used to be. It's a contradiction.

When they were ~3k a year, the government were paying the other ~6k FOR you. You just didn't see that ~6k to know that the government were paying it.

So now we're paying the full 9k ourselves for our own education - I really don't see the issue, or how this is everything that's wrong with the country. Unemployment is what's wrong with the country.
Original post by hassi94


In my opinion second undergraduate degrees should be paid solely by the student.


but why not only the unit-cost? I think a part of what's informing attitudes here is the feeling from those younger than the OP that he got a cheap degree first time around. I wonder whether this thread would play out differently a few years along the line, when an OP asking the same question will be understood as having paid his dues first time about. "Fair enough, you've put a hundred books in the library"...

The reason you will (albeit grumblingly) pay the nine grand a year is that you know it pays off for you, or can know that you're indemnified against the possibility that it mightn't. That's rational choice making, then. But what of the 40 year old who graduated nearly 20 years ago and would like now to make a change of direction or only pursue a passion, and is asked to pony up. That now doesn't make sense for him or her, and this is a person who is suspending a career and is NOT doing it only for the graduate status that he/she already has.
He isn't saying he wants the government to pay, he's just unhappy that it's so expensive - he'll pay himself but thinks the price is too high.

OP, I know you said you wanted to study in a bricks and mortar uni but how about the open university? It's a little cheaper. If not, like others have suggested, go abroad? And if all else fails then maybe a bank loan?
Reply 50
Ah a 2nd UG degree? Don't fancy getting a job so want to be a "professional student?"

Dam government not funding our lifestyles!
Original post by cambio wechsel
but why not only the unit-cost? I think a part of what's informing attitudes here is the feeling from those younger than the OP that he got a cheap degree first time around. I wonder whether this thread would play out differently a few years along the line, when an OP asking the same question will be understood as having paid his dues first time about. "Fair enough, you've put a hundred books in the library"...

The reason you will (albeit grumblingly) pay the nine grand a year is that you know it pays off for you, or can know that you're indemnified against the possibility that it mightn't. That's rational choice making, then. But what of the 40 year old who graduated nearly 20 years ago and would like now to make a change of direction or only pursue a passion, and is asked to pony up. That now doesn't make sense for him or her, and this is a person who is suspending a career and is NOT doing it only for the graduate status that he/she already has.


You make good points and I can see where the OP is coming from. Even still it's important to note that the government are not increasing the cost of university per se, they just aren't paying as much towards it. I know you know this but it's just it doesn't seem reasonable that some people are funded twice as much as others just because they made a mistake the first time round.
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
I have had my free degree.

I don't want another free degree.

I just prefered the previous payscale (i.e. £3k per year). The recent price hike is ludicrous, and prices people like me out of the system, who are even willing to spend their life savings to get back in uni.


I think everyone did.

That'll be an expensive hobby. Like others have said, look at studying in a different country. Or if you're clever enough you could possibly get scholarships etc. If not then work and save up.
Reply 53
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Try reading my posts before chipping in with irksome diaspora.


Irksome diaspora? An irritating group migration from a country or region? What is this gibberish?
Reply 54
Have you looked into apprenticeships? Websites like notgoingtouni might be useful. Going abroad may be cheaper but depends whether it's worth the hassle.
Hope that helps :smile:
Original post by AliceStrawbs
He isn't saying he wants the government to pay, he's just unhappy that it's so expensive - he'll pay himself but thinks the price is too high.

OP, I know you said you wanted to study in a bricks and mortar uni but how about the open university? It's a little cheaper. If not, like others have suggested, go abroad? And if all else fails then maybe a bank loan?


He won't do any of that, though. With distance learning courses like the OU, public libraries and cheap books there's absolutely no reason why he can't learn on his own. But I get the strong impression that he wants to delay responsibility and have the 'student lifestyle' back.
Reply 56
Given that our working lives post 21 are likely to be 50+ years before the official state retirement age. It is likely that a career choice made at 18 has a good chance of becoming obsolete at some point during our working life. Hence there will be a greater need to make a radical career change to remain employable. This may require a second degree to achieve that change.

It is sad that funding for part time evening education has become so limited that it is hard to find courses that either help progression in your current career or a provide a gateway to the next.

ELQ is another barrier to further study, as you can end up being charged not the £9000 max fee level for first UG degree, but the international student fee, which is uncapped.

Until the banks start to offer loans structured for further study (as they do in USA), it is likely that older workers in the UK will be skilled out of the workplace. Poor provision for retraining limits the options available and will long term cost all tax payers. Education should be seen as an investment in the future.

For example being a librarian was a career that 30 years ago had an expectation of lasting a working lifetime. With the closure of libraries and the move to electronic databases the number of posts has fallen dramatically.
What do you want to study? And what did you study first time around?
Reply 58
Original post by Piko_Piko
He won't do any of that, though. With distance learning courses like the OU, public libraries and cheap books there's absolutely no reason why he can't learn on his own. But I get the strong impression that he wants to delay responsibility and have the 'student lifestyle' back.


Unfortunately the OU is no longer a cheap option as the fees for UG courses are now around 5K a year. However now you get access student loans, if you don't already have a degree. Considering that these are distance learning course, I struggle to see how this cost can be justified. I believe OU fees are also subject to ELQ, so you could pay more.

To the OP if the subject you are interested in is offered by the University of London International program. Then that is still a cheap option. Pay for access to their libraries around £50 a year. To cope with the lack of support hire PhD students as tutors as required to provide support. Attend the summer schools offered by some courses. As far as I know, UoL international courses are not subject to ELQ.

University library access gives you the opportunity to mix with other students and potentially establish study groups with people doing the bricks and motar version of your course.

Accept that at the moment undertaking second UG course full time, without a well paid part time job or independent wealth or other funding source is for most people a potential financial nightmare.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by el pollo diablo
Your fees are still subsidised, albeit to a lesser extent. Degrees cost more (in some cases considerably more) than £9k per year. You're not paying the full fee by any stretch.


Not necessarily. The data is very opaque but look here

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