What will we do if tuition fees are uncapped ?

- someone with their head screwed on, at last.

The way I see it, if tuition fees are doubled, and the loans are doubled to match, it won't actually make a difference..

A similar idea has been mentioned in past threads; basically, if you come out of uni, £15k in debt, and your friend comes out £30k in debt.. then you both get the same job with the same wage, you'll both be paying the same amount back per month out of your salary.

When you get to the 20 or 25 year point, if for example, you've just paid off your £15k, but your friend still has another £15k to go, it gets written off.. so in the end you will have both paid the same amount..

Obviously there are variables to this and I think, if it takes you 20-25 years to pay off your loan with a % of your salary then your degree might have been a waste of time.. but you get the point I'm trying to make..

Fees increase, loans increase, % you pay back out of your salary stays the same, payback duration cut off point (whatever it's called) stays the same, it really doesn't make any difference, it's just the government that will end up taking the hit by lending out more money each year to students...

Im aware they are eligible for scholarships ofc. However, under a free market system, universities can charge what they want. so say an arts degree, now just over 3k a year , rises to 7k. A student from a rich family will be able to pay that as his parents earn a lot and therefore have more money to spend on their child's education. Now, a poor student wouldn't, BUT if univeristies offer scholarships similar to the US (which are more generous) then they could find that they pay between 3k-nothing at all. However, scholarships are held within a certain band, so lower middle class families, who are more likely to go to uni atm, wont be able to afford the 7k, and have to resort to taking out a private loan OR spend their uni time working 2 jobs as well as studying, thus losing out on extra cirriculars which are needed for grad. jobs

right now, everyone can take out a basic loan, which pays for the essentials. which is fine, as low middle class families can pay for their children's food/clothes etc if need be, or students can take a part time job to pay for these, as everything else is pretty much covered. however, if unis are open to the free market, and higher end unis charge more than lower end unis, then some students, who are bright enough to go to say, Bristol, will either find themselves having to make up the shortfall of living costs, as well as tuition. They may be forced to stay at home, and go to the local university/FE college, like in America, and being forced to playing a game whereby the 'elites' who could afford top unis get the top jobs, whilst those that went to a 'liberal arts uni' (ie. a lower ranked one) will either have to go to grad school or settle for a relatively **** job. This is how it works in america, and im glad that the Obama administration is trying to find a way around this.

Perhaps you should watch the movie 'accepted' to see what im talking about, and furthermore, what the russell group are aspiring to be.

And trust me, universities dont really like home undergrads. They like foriegn students and postgraduates, as they pay $$$$ upfront and are more likely to get the university recognised internationally. No wonder UCL want to charge more to invest in their science department, ever since one of their alumni won a nobel prize.

at the end of the day, Universities are becoming businesses, and it really is upsetting.

I think it will force people to realise that you can get something decent without a piece of paper showing that you can jump through hoops.

Many of my friends are finding that their degrees are worthless. A lot of them still do bar work, one to several years after they've finished their degree, one still works in a retail shop. I, however, have two interviews lined up, for two different, pretty damn good careers, and I failed my course. And I will get one of those jobs because I'll show I can do the work, whereas Uni focuses more on theory work, which means sweet FA.

I took a software engineering course. Very little of it actually had anything to do with software development. And the little bit that did was either pure theory, or it was using outdated and/or useless methods/software.

My final year project required me to create a piece of software, and write a thesis on it. The software itself was only worth a measly 10% of that module. So I showed off an industry standard piece of software that did everything it was supposed to. One of my friends played around in XNA, and made a little "game" that just dropped blocks wherever was chosen on the screen. He got a higher mark, even though his software did practically nothing, all because the University couldn't give a **** if people can actually make software or not.

I know I'm ranting, but I'm hoping that, through this, some people realise that University is often a joke. People just do it now because it's the done thing - to stay in education as long as possible. Some people do it because of their expectations of the lifestyle - get free money, and get ****-faced practically every night. I went because I thought it would further my career, and that I'd learn valuable information from it. I didn't. And now I'm getting interviews for job offers because I'm self-taught in the stuff that matters.

Also, I have to ask, but what do people expect to get from degrees such as art? They seem pretty damn useless to me. Maybe I'm missing something...

Just a thought. If the Browne review comes to the conclusion that tuiton fees must be uncapped to keep the 'standards of universities' strong, and we are faced between 7,000-14000 per year, what will future students plan to do ?

no one cares how special you think you are.

I think it will force people to realise that you can get something decent without a piece of paper showing that you can jump through hoops.

Many of my friends are finding that their degrees are worthless. A lot of them still do bar work, one to several years after they've finished their degree, one still works in a retail shop. I, however, have two interviews lined up, for two different, pretty damn good careers, and I failed my course. And I will get one of those jobs because I'll show I can do the work, whereas Uni focuses more on theory work, which means sweet FA.

I took a software engineering course. Very little of it actually had anything to do with software development. And the little bit that did was either pure theory, or it was using outdated and/or useless methods/software.

My final year project required me to create a piece of software, and write a thesis on it. The software itself was only worth a measly 10% of that module. So I showed off an industry standard piece of software that did everything it was supposed to. One of my friends played around in XNA, and made a little "game" that just dropped blocks wherever was chosen on the screen. He got a higher mark, even though his software did practically nothing, all because the University couldn't give a **** if people can actually make software or not.

I know I'm ranting, but I'm hoping that, through this, some people realise that University is often a joke. People just do it now because it's the done thing - to stay in education as long as possible. Some people do it because of their expectations of the lifestyle - get free money, and get ****-faced practically every night. I went because I thought it would further my career, and that I'd learn valuable information from it. I didn't. And now I'm getting interviews for job offers because I'm self-taught in the stuff that matters.

Also, I have to ask, but what do people expect to get from degrees such as art? They seem pretty damn useless to me. Maybe I'm missing something...

2) And if I had to pick between an Arts graduate and a person who failed software enginering I know which one I would employ.

Might as well say goodbye to my plans of postgrad.

Surely that depends on what the job was?

This is what everyone will be saying soon!

Oh - apart from rich people.
Because that's fair you see

no one cares how special you think you are.

I was under the impression that postgrad fees aren't capped anyway - every institution seems to charge differently/however they see fit (hence why I won't be doing postgrad stuff unless I get some serious funding!).

It does suck though