Universities want higher fees - would it put you off going?

So universities are saying that they want to charge higher fees to students. How much is too much? What level of fee would stop you going to uni?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33328382

I think 9 grand is too much already. Anything above this and undergrad courses will be costing upwards of £30,000 which seems like pretty bad value...

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Reply 1

RiahDawson

You pretty much pay to go to the university.. No accommodation costs, food costs, transport included. Why would I want to go if they raise it? It's already high enough in England. If anything they should lower it.

It would put me off going to university in England. I may aswell go to Germany where they even teach in ENGLISH and it's a lot cheaper. Plus the idea of living in a foreign country where it doesn't rain most of the year already sounds very promising.

Reply 2

CSL123

No. It is not worth it. You aren't even guaranteed a job at the end of it

Reply 3

valkyrie-grey

Definitely would put me off although I don't know what else I would do instead of uni. I agree that £9000 a year is a bit much. I'm worried about how I'm going to pay everything now, mind about if the fees go higher. If they want to charge higher fees, I would expect a higher level of assurance that they can get me into a good paying job after the degree.

Reply 4

Duncan2012

Original post by TomatoLounge

I think 9 grand is too much already. Anything above this and undergrad courses will be costing upwards of £30,000 which seems like pretty bad value...

Aside from the fact that it's not a direct cost and you may not even end up repaying it at all... You can't just say something like 'it seems like bad value'. It depends how you're quantifying value. Without a degree you have no chance at a grad scheme/job and you may be limited in your choice of future jobs. Over the course of a working lifetime that could outweigh the cost of university several times over. So it depends what career you're hoping to get in to, and what sort of jobs you'll be happy doing.

Reply 5

Daisy21

Rip off for a lot of non STEM courses given the contact hours they have.

Reply 6

TomatoLounge

Original post by Duncan2012

It seems like bad value in terms of the contact hours I receive. 9 grand a year is a lot when you're only getting 7.5 hours teaching a week :/

Reply 7

Brownclown

When would the tuition fees go up? Hopefully not for 2016 entry..

Reply 8

grant-m-s

Not particularly. I didnt mind that the fees went up to £9000 because the way I see it uni is giving you an insurance policy where if you dont get a good job you dont pay it back.

Im from a family where put together they make about £15000 so a job where I make £21000 on my own income is good (not sure if you lot would class that as a well paid job though).

Even if i get a job well over £21000 a year your debt still gets written off after 30 years (think thats the amount of time) so I doubt you'll pay the whole £27000+ / £36000+ anyway. Any higher fees and its just making it more likely not to be fully paid off.

Reply 9

callum_law

Original post by CSL123

No. It is not worth it. You aren't even guaranteed a job at the end of it

If you don't get a job, you don't pay it back. What's the issue?

Reply 10

CSL123

Original post by callum_law

If you don't get a job, you don't pay it back. What's the issue?

Expensive living costs, wasted time etc

Reply 11

callum_law

Original post by CSL123

Expensive living costs, wasted time etc

Don't have to pay back a maintenance loan till you get a job either. If you don't get a job, it's 3 years of free living. You can't beat that.

Reply 12

The_Blade

I will be spending at least 11k x4 at uni. That's going to take at least 15 years to pay off. There has been no studies to show how people have coped paying this all back. I can't imagine how non stem people are going to cope unless their family have them covered.

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Reply 13

41b

Original post by grant-m-s

The government is selling off the loan book. Why do you think the terms of your loan won't be unilaterally changed by them? It is more like a pension than a bank loan, in that respect.

I am sure private companies will reduce the wage cap and increase the interest rate.

Reply 14

CSL123

Really? I've never hear of this before, please expand?

No, I'd still go.

Any amount below £30k a year; anything more than that would just be taking the p*ss.

Reply 17

Duncan2012

Original post by TomatoLounge

It seems like bad value in terms of the contact hours I receive. 9 grand a year is a lot when you're only getting 7.5 hours teaching a week :/

That's far too narrow a way to look at it. You're not just paying for contact hours - who pays for the university infrastructure, non-teaching staff, scholarship funds etc etc?

If you just want to learn the material then buy a book, go on YouTube and learn by yourself. You'll end up knowing the same material but you won't have a degree, which, as I said earlier, opens doors (grad schemes, higher average lifetime earnings etc) which are closed to the non-grad. Your choice.

Reply 18

TimmonaPortella

I would pay more but that's because my course was well-taught and well worth it as an investment, though I wouldn't consider it a 'waste of time' if it didn't pay off as a financial investment because I'm not a total philistine.

Presumably if caps were raised we'd start getting market control of rates; there'd no longer be pressure for every university to keep its fees at the cap for fear of looking second-rate by lowering them, since the cap would be infeasibly high for that. Raising the cap might even cause fees to drop at a lot of schools for that reason, though that's purely a guess on my part.

Basically it depends on the course whether it's worth the investment.

Original post by 41b

The government is selling off the loan book. Why do you think the terms of your loan won't be unilaterally changed by them? It is more like a pension than a bank loan, in that respect.
I am sure private companies will reduce the wage cap and increase the interest rate.

You know that's not how debt obligations work right? One party can't retrospectively change the terms of an agreement. The government is specifically empowered to in the case of student finance, but that power is the government's. It can assign the debts without passing on the power to vary them (I very much doubt it could pass on that power within the terms of the legislation).

Reply 19

localblackguy

Original post by Duncan2012

That's far too narrow a way to look at it. You're not just paying for contact hours - who pays for the university infrastructure, non-teaching staff, scholarship funds etc etc?
If you just want to learn the material then buy a book, go on YouTube and learn by yourself. You'll end up knowing the same material but you won't have a degree, which, as I said earlier, opens doors (grad schemes, higher average lifetime earnings etc) which are closed to the non-grad. Your choice.