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

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.

God mine became painful in 3 months I wanted to change but they said I had to repeat the year I was like

What made it painful?

It was the course content to be honest, it wasn't for me. (Very waffly subject) And most of the lecturers were not particularly engaging. (I only chose Business because I didn't do very well in Science at A-level so it was a last minute change of mind. A snap decision like that isn't very likely to lead to enjoyment but it's over at lebast! )

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.

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

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.

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+!

Yes, for vocational courses like mine (vet med).

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.

With respect we are talking about tuition fees here and not living costs. That's another issue entirely.

Don't think many things are worth 9 grand a year tbh.
My course has 3D printers etc and good contact time but is it worth £50,000 in total obviously not.
Am only here to get a graduate design job, can't wait to leave the uni experience seems to revolve only around drinking, being loud and living messily.

So basically you're paying for the connection/ opportunity - that's the value. How are you feeling about going back in September?

I'm paying for the ability to put down on an application form

"I'm studying at University of XYZ"

I've not made any meaningful connections as a *direct* result of university

How do I feel? One year closer to finishing, I suppose.

Have you asked your employer whether your university made you a more favourable candidate? Do they tend to recruit from a similar batch of unis?

Annecdotally, they don't seem to care. I have met interns from very different unis, ranging from Oxbridge to Oxford Brookes.

I think the ethos here is very much

If you've got potential
If you're going to be good at your job
If you're going to deliver results
If you pass the tests
If you raise the hiring bar
If the culture is for you

Then you're hired, no matter what uni you're from.

What was painful about it? The content, the way it was taught/ guided? What could have been done differently to meet your expectations and improve value for money?