How would/do tuition fees influence your university decisions?

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Yes I did, but your post still came across as elitist and judgemental.

So, why don't you engage in a debate on how you reached your opinion, rather than spitting a question back at me? If you can find the wherewithal to do so...

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You seem quite aggravated. Do you not go to one of these Universities? Why is he wrong? How would you change the list?

Reply 21

amongsttheweeds

Original post by Occams Chainsaw

You seem quite aggravated. Do you not go to one of these Universities? Why is he wrong? How would you change the list?

To copy Nitrogen's technique I'll ask you: why is he right?

I could almost fathom a list of good universities for a particular subject, but to say that any university not listed is immediately a waste of money is not constructive in the slightest.

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Reply 22

User990473

Original post by addylad

Sure. I'll answer!
After a certain point I think that, for what you are paying, the brand name of only a few Unis is worth the price per year. for 20k a year I would probably only look at the very, very top because I want that 20k a year to count. I'm not sure that the University of West England would be a smart investment for 60k tuition fees for the 3 years!

His list is what he regards to be the better Unis (overall) which is fair enough. I'd create a list too but there would obviously be objections. The point I think he was trying to make is that, as I said, after a certain point everybody is going to wonder if x University is worth y amount of cash.

EDIT: The standard list would probably look something like:

Oxbridge/Imperial/LSE/UCL/Warwick
Durham/Edinburgh/Nottingham/Bristol
York/Bath/St Andrews
King’s/Manchester/Birmingham

With the first tier being a better value for your cash.
I'm not saying this is my view. I'm just saying that this is probably what the convention looks like.

EDIT: If you could now answer my questions I would appreciate it given that I answered yours first even though I asked first!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 23

littlesmurfette

Depends on what the repayment plan would be like. If it was hundreds of pounds a month- then probably not, no. But if it stayed as it is- then yes.

Reply 24

Nitrogen

Original post by addylad

If you cant handle an opinion I suggest you to get off the internet. If I was being elitist I would have just said Oxbridge.

No one needs to attend a university to make a judgement on it, theres something called statistics and data in this world. You don't need to have attended Oxbridge to know that its world class and neither do you have to have attended London Met to know its a second rate university. The universities that I have listed all hold strong reputations nationally and internationally. A university essentially goes off by its reputation and the chances are that if you attend one of the universities I listed you'd have much better employment prospects than say somewhere like Bolton.

Reply 25

ineedtorevise127

It wouldn't really affect me. Even if tuition fees rose to £20k a year I'd still go because we would probably still have the same repayment system. Yes, if fees rose to £20k the average debt would be around £60-£90k a year after graduation but the good thing is we don't pay anything unless we earn £21k or more. And the debt gets written of after 30/40 years if you can't pay it of. The only reason I would not go to university is if I had my own successful business/done a worthwhile apprenticeship at a top company like Capegemini, PWC etc...

Reply 26

elbos93

Original post by Nitrogen

Oxbridge
Imperial
LSE
UCL
Warwick
Durham
Bath
Bristol
KCL
Manchester
Birmingham
Leeds
Exeter
Southampton
Loughborough
Lancaster
Newcastle
York
Sheffield
Leicester
Surrey

You're probably wasting your money if you don't go to one of those institutions listed above imo. Didn't include scottish unis.

Why didn't you include Cardiff its also Russell Group?

Reply 27

gr8wizard10

At what stage would you no longer consider going to university? Not entirely sure

Would tuition fees influence your decision as to which course to study? Not at all seeing I don't have to pay until after a certain threshold.

If you didn't get into a particular set of universities would it no longer be worth it for you? Which universities? Yea, I only want to get into one of the Top 25 universities for my chosen degree course, according to the university league tables.

Did anyone choose not go to university who would otherwise have ended up at a 'top' (I'll leave you to define this) university? Not that I know of.

Reply 28

Nitrogen

Original post by elbos93

Why didn't you include Cardiff its also Russell Group?

This is only my opinion, so you don't have to take it too seriously. First of all the Russell Group means nothing. Yes it's true that the Russell Group contains the majority of the best universities in the UK, but that doesn't mean that every universities apart of the Russell group are excellent. Cardiff, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway and Liverpool are all good examples. Imo those universities have an average reputation and their entry requirements are very low for what you would expect from top universities. They have one or 2 good departments and thats about it.

Reply 29

SilverstarDJ

Original post by Nitrogen

I got to Liverpool, and for my course, I am just as employable as someone who studied my degree at Cambridge (vet med). The requirement for my course is AAA now so not sure why you say entry requirements are low, and really, just because you do well at A level does not mean you will get a good degree classification. I think you are overgeneralising to be honest: there is no magic, definative 'list'.

Reply 30

Nitrogen

Original post by SilverstarDJ

Obviously vet med, medicine and dentistry are going to be exceptions, because it doesn't matter where you study at for those degrees. Entry requirements reflect the calibre of students to an extent and Cambridge has stated that A-Level performance is a massive indicator on how well you would do in your degree. Entry requirements at Liverpool are low in general and thats a fact. of course there isn't a definitive list thats why I say its my opinion. All the universities I listed all hold strong reputations and are definitely worth the 27k in the long run as long as you don't do a mickey mouse degree. If you ask me if its worth it to study a degree at salford where the average salary is probably 15k provided you get a job in this economic climate then I'd probably say its not.

Reply 31

SilverstarDJ

Original post by Nitrogen

Entry requirements are just as likely reflect how many applicants they have for the course compared to spaces on the course (ie as a filter).

Or the uni may accept more students and have a higher drop out rate.

Reply 32

RibenaRockstar

Original post by Occams Chainsaw

EDIT: The standard list would probably look something like:

Oxbridge/Imperial/LSE/UCL/Warwick
Durham/Edinburgh/Nottingham/Bristol
York/Bath/St Andrews
King’s/Manchester/Birmingham

With the first tier being a better value for your cash.
I'm not saying this is my view. I'm just saying that this is probably what the convention looks like.

Aww, I love how people still go with old reputations and put Bristol above Bath! (Despite the fact that Bath is wayyyy above them in most of the league tables these days). Though I totally agree with you about the rest of that theory, I'd just put Bath up to the second row and Nottingham down to the third row, based on personal perception.

As a side note, universities are clearly quite aware that the price we are willing to pay goes down as our perceived value of the course does - I applied to Aberdeen whose standard offer was more than a full set of grades below my predicted grades (they wanted BBB, I was predicted A*AA) and they offered me quite generous scholarships if I firmed them, meaning that had I gone there I could probably have been financially independent.

Reply 33

User990473

Original post by RibenaRockstar

I just put the general consensus out there. I prefer Bath as a city, for sure. As a Uni, they are pretty even imo. My dad used to live there and so I used to visit a lot. I love the abbey and the fudge stores :mmm:

Although, I did actually apply to Bristol to study physics rather than Bath :dontknow:

That's interesting! I mean, the US offer a lot of scholarships right now but it tends to be the better/more prestigious ones that offer it because they have the cash thus creating an even bigger gap between the elite and the rest (cheaper and better!). Something similar will probably happen in the UK soon. Oxbridge is heavily sponsored and so they will probably give out more scholarships to people than other Universities which means that they will be cheaper and academically supreme and so will be a mile away in terms of prestige!

Reply 34

Hellz_Bellz!

The fees in this country are one of the main reasons I'm going abroad to study.

Reply 35

Le Nombre

Original post by Occams Chainsaw

Although, I did actually apply to Bristol to study physics rather than Bath :dontknow:

A factor to remember with the US is that many FBS schools in particular, but also top tier basketbal schools, make huge revenue out of something unrelated to academics, their athletics, and this gives them money to spend which wouldn't be available to British unis. Alabama's athletic department turned a profit of 143 million dollars in the last year, that's a lot of money to go back into the universty. This allows more average unis a route to the budgets available at the big name schools (and some big name schools a chance to get even bigger, Stanford athletics is worth a huge amount to the university in terms of both profit generated and boosters attracted) which doesn't exist in the UK, making the chasm even greater.

Reply 36

hollo

I went to a fee paying university to study something I was extremely interested in, but not a subject that would lead me to a particular career. I became deeply unhappy and decided to leave - the fees were definitely one of the things which made me consider if I was getting 'good value' out of my course. I didn't want to be paying £3k+ to be unhappy and not be achieving a specific goal at the end of it. Personally, I think that was a good thing as I know a lot of people who kept going through a degree they hated and put little effort into, because they weren't paying for it.

I'm at uni in Scotland now, so pay nothing but I think my course is worth the amount that is charged. My belief is that you should attend university either because you want to study something purely to learn or because it will lead to a career which you are passionate about. In my mind, both of these things are worth paying for.

Reply 37

Snufkin

Universities Forum Helper

If there was no alternative (as is the case at the moment) then I would probably pay whatever the cost because it's better than doing nothing, or being stuck in a job I hate. If I wasn't applying to do such a niche course I would certainly go abroad to study, my big regret is that I can't find any university in Europe which offers Norwegian taught in English. :mad:

Reply 38

Smack

Volunteer Team

I didn't pay any tuition fees for my course but I would still have went even if I did have to, even at the £9,000 level. Careers and career prospects were a major factor in my course decisions, and I chose one that has an excellent pay-off so even at a high rate of tuition fees it would still have been worth it.

Reply 39

TattyBoJangles

I can't get into the career I want to get into without the degree I'm doing, so they could rise as high as they like and it wouldn't have affected my decision to go (as long as they kept up the current loans system).

Paying upfront etc. would be a different matter entirely as there's no way on earth I'd ever be able to afford it.