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University students: do you think your uni education is value for money?

Hey everyone :wavey:

This is a question that gets asked a lot, but based on the fact you might have just finished your first year, or about to graduate I wanted to ask :smile:

Do you think your uni education is value for money based on your experience?

Has it met your expectations?

Do you have any advice based on your experience for applicants who are making their choices now or beginning in September?

:heart:

Scroll to see replies

graduated now, absolutely not.

well in my case, only in hind sight-perhaps.. but 95% of cases, no.
Original post by gr8wizard10
graduated now, absolutely not.

well in my case, only in hind sight-perhaps.. but 95% of cases, no.


Can you share a little bit more about why it isn't value for money? What would have made it better value?
Original post by She-Ra
Can you share a little bit more about why it isn't value for money? What would have made it better value?


could've learnt everything on google tbh. i'd rather have paid £10 for the references to relevant youtube videos / websites. also it's mostly theoritical crap. only reason it was useful because i was able to leverage the brand name of the uni to get a job in a competitive career field. also i forgot 99% of the things that was taught - because they were irrelevant to any real world application.
Original post by gr8wizard10
could've learnt everything on google tbh. i'd rather have paid £10 for the references to relevant youtube videos / websites. also it's mostly theoritical crap. only reason it was useful because i was able to leverage the brand name of the uni to get a job in a competitive career field. also i forgot 99% of the things that was taught - because they were irrelevant to any real world application.


Do you mind sharing what the course was?

Seems like you feel the brand name of the university opened a door career-wise?
Original post by She-Ra
Do you mind sharing what the course was?

Seems like you feel the brand name of the university opened a door career-wise?


finance related

yes, and was the only worthwhile factor.
(I'm an OU student)

Yes, I think it is valuable, especially as my fees will be about £5-6k and I get grants each year. You learn a lot outside of the topic you're studying when you do a degree and I often think that's invaluable. It has met my expectations. My advice would be to stay organised and remember why you're doing it. Revel in the topic and enjoy learning. :smile:
Original post by She-Ra
Hey everyone :wavey:

This is a question that gets asked a lot, but based on the fact you might have just finished your first year, or about to graduate I wanted to ask :smile:

Do you think your uni education is value for money based on your experience?

Has it met your expectations?

Do you have any advice based on your experience for applicants who are making their choices now or beginning in September?

:heart:
Personally I do overall. I have around 12-14 contact hours each week, and the lecturers are always on hand to give additional support if needed. I do Law, so online resources are pretty important (for finding cases, etc). My university has access to most, if not all, of the online legal databases for which the subscriptions are very expensive.

To get even more out of my degree, I'm doing a year abroad which is a very cheap way of living in a country for a year. At the moment I am also on a month-long summer school in France which the university is almost completely paying for.
I think a lot of it depends on your expectations of uni and how much you get involved outside of the curriculum. For me, solely based on education, probably not. The access to equipment and resources is incredible and definitely helps bump up the value, but ultimately a lot of what we're learning we can easily learn online and you definitely don't need to come to university to study what I do and make a career in it. However, the access to support and other opportunities and access to the students Union and all that they offer does overall make it value for money, personally
Original post by -Eirlys-
(I'm an OU student)

Yes, I think it is valuable, especially as my fees will be about £5-6k and I get grants each year. You learn a lot outside of the topic you're studying when you do a degree and I often think that's invaluable. It has met my expectations. My advice would be to stay organised and remember why you're doing it. Revel in the topic and enjoy learning. :smile:

I agree with you wholeheartedly on learnings outside of the topic area.

Do you think the fact you're paying £5-6k and not £9k makes you a happier customer?
No, my loan doesnt cover accommodation and I dont want to live away from halls.
Original post by She-Ra
Hey everyone :wavey:

This is a question that gets asked a lot, but based on the fact you might have just finished your first year, or about to graduate I wanted to ask :smile:

Do you think your uni education is value for money based on your experience?

Has it met your expectations?

Do you have any advice based on your experience for applicants who are making their choices now or beginning in September?

:heart:


Honestly? Really not so much. I've just finished my second year in forensic psychology. I've had no more than 12 hours contact time in a week (sometimes dropping down to 6 or 7) and lecturers who really don't seem bothered.

For one of my modules, an awful lot of lectures were cancelled for no apparent reason and just re-named as "self-study". Basically, we had to read through the powerpoint at home and make notes. If we got the same learning from that as a proper lecture, why even turn up to them if we can learn everything from the slides?

For that same module, we were supposed to have a 3 hour lecture every week. This rarely lasted more than 2 hours, mostly 1.5 hours. This made it seem like we were missing out because we were not getting the full contact time we should. Of course it was nice to not have to be lectured for 3 hours, but the frequency at which it occurred was alarming.

So many lectures just read out from the slides. Not adding any more info, just reading out loud what we could already read. What is the point in a lecture, then, if they're just going to read from the slides? I could have done a distance learning course and done the same from the comfort of my own home, where I don't have to pay rent or for food etc.

As for the availability of lecturers in office hours, this was pretty poor as well. A lot of the time emails would go ignored or replied to after a deadline has passed, which renders it pointless.

I hope I've made my point (sorry it turned into a bit of a rant!) about it not really being value for money. I'm paying £9,250 a year to read off the slides basically without much outside assistance or extra knowledge. I know university is about doing your own independent work, but I don't see why I am paying for someone to read words from a powerpoint when I could do that for free at home myself.
Not worth 9k a year especially for my degree History which can be self taught in my opinion. Lectures are just introductions (most of what you learn is through wider reading), and seminars... idk. Stuff like footnotes, and historiography you can learn by yourself at home

But it doesn't matter because the system for paying back the loans are pretty fair, and so I am using university to grow as a person while studying what I enjoy. Its also important to make the most of it and not just party every night
No - parents got all of their education paid for. #BoomerPrivilege
Original post by Anonymous
No, my loan doesnt cover accommodation and I dont want to live away from halls.

With respect we are talking about tuition fees here and not living costs. That's another issue entirely.
The only value university has given me so far is the ability to apply for undergraduate internships.

That's it.

I'm learning more at work, whilst being paid a good amount than I have the past 2-years at university.
You're my spirit animal I second this. :biggrin:
Original post by Blue_Cow
The only value university has given me so far is the ability to apply for undergraduate internships.

That's it.

I'm learning more at work, whilst being paid a good amount than I have the past 2-years at university.
My whole degree costs £5-6k I mean, not per year! The price has risen but it's £1k per module. But yes, I think all degrees should be closer to the price of a car, not £20k+!
Original post by She-Ra
I agree with you wholeheartedly on learnings outside of the topic area.

Do you think the fact you're paying £5-6k and not £9k makes you a happier customer?
Yes, for vocational courses like mine (vet med).
Reply 19
Avatar for kkboyk
kkboyk
21
No it wasn't worth much tbh. It was the most painful thing for me and by the end of first semester of my final year I began to detest my course. In fact, at least 60% of people in my course felt the same (since most stopped showing up for lectures). Sure I've learnt a lot of mathematical concept and improved my analytical abilities, but it sure wasn't worth it.

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