What the heck am i paying £9000 for?

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Reply 20

Lil08

I am paying for a piece of document, in all honesty.

Reply 21

Jebedee

Original post by talulahjane

Haha I wish it was that easy but really I have always aspired to settle down with a good job in the UK and nonetheless they would probably chase me up on it if I moved away

No the only thing they can do is affect your credit rating. If you move to a country that experia doesn't deal with their credit records, it will make no difference as you'll be starting a new credit record there regardless and they don't communicate.

Reply 22

talulahjane

Original post by mcooper90

I'm glad someone feels exactly the same. Also how much teaching time do we actually get?.. October, November, 2 weeks in December, February, March, May. Say £9000 divide 6 months = £1500 a month, around £350 a week. £350 for 10 hours of presentations, sometimes I haven't gone in for a whole week because I realised I hate my course. I want to change course now so that's £9000 down the drain. I could've done so much with that.

That is so true, I did not look at it from that perspective. I just kind of thought of it for the full year but really it is not even a full year. There is hardly any time spent in university lectures, the fees are extrosionat ! Ah I'm sorry you did not enjoy your course but I hope you make the right decision for you for a course you enjoy for the next few years. It is great you did not carry on with it if you hate it. It is much better to do a course you shall enjoy and that will be something of your money's worth, ha. I agree it is such a shame it has gone down the drain especially when you feel it was not even worth the money. If only we could ask for refunds :P

Reply 23

talulahjane

Original post by Jaska

If you don't believe your course is £9000 worth of education, don't go... Its simple as that. Don't just go because you think Uni will be a laugh, what makes you feel you should be entitled to such a privilege?

Posted from TSR Mobile

No it really is not as simple as that. It is funny you jump to such conclusions about me that I would even go to university for a laugh? I can laugh outside of university without a debt hole in my pocket. The debt actually frustrates me. I wanted to go to university because I enjoy education and I want to be in further education. My rant is that I do not agree with the extrosionat amount of money I am charged from a university that I am given hardly anything in return and yes I know it is independent study but it does not compensate for the money I have to fork out for accomodation and living costs , you would think at least the university would provide free printing or accomodation to students at the price they are asking from each student. It really is not worth £9000 of education when I am teaching myself everyhing from the year as the lecturers are merely reading from a ppt. Do you really think that resources provided on blackboard are sufficent for the £9000 I pay? Indeed not. I would not mind paying £1000-3000 a year and that be for the qualification but £9000 is actually ridiculous. I went to university to study and I should have access to the privilege of the degree because I am a damn hard working student that achieves high grades but robbing me of my money is mocking me the same way you are assuming I would ever attend univeristy just for a laugh. Please.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 24

talulahjane

Original post by PQ

It's not quite the case that pgt if profitable. Hefce is still subsidising all PGT by £1000 - and tbh most of them are loss leaders for uk/eu students. They're there to balance the international numbers and keep those students happy with their experience.

Hefce have the stats somewhere on average costs that were used to calculate the rates for fees/subsidies post 2012. The cheapest subject was costing £5,500pa to teach in 2008 - most classroom subjects were aroung £6-7k. Add on inflation (which hasn't been applied to either ug fees or hefce subsidies) and take off the £1k every uni has to pay towards extra scholarships/outreach and even the classroom subjects are borderline loss making :frown:

.

Also since 2012 capital funding has more or less vanished meaning universities have to use fees to find enough surplus to maintain/rebuild their estate and there's no real winners here. University finances are a lot less healthy than they were, students are paying more for less and the government got their sums wrong on tuition loans so the tax payer will be paying out more over the long term.

Ah I really wish I understood this finance/political/goverment stuff but it really does seem like a whole new different language to me >.<

Reply 25

talulahjane

Original post by Lil08

I am paying for a piece of document, in all honesty.

An expensive document, indeed.

Reply 26

talulahjane

Original post by Jebedee

Could you please explain credit rating? I am so lost lol

Reply 27

Jebedee

Original post by talulahjane

Could you please explain credit rating? I am so lost lol

If you don't keep up payments on your student loan then it affects your credit rating which makes it harder to take out a mortgage or loan in the future. But the company that holds these records doesn't cover every single country. All the countries think of right now that use the same company are US, Canada, France, Spain. There are plenty that use different companies therefore any positive or negative affects on your rating here will be irrelevant in those countries.

Besides they can't chase you either way. What are they going to do? Send interpol in boats?

Reply 28

username1258398

Original post by Jebedee

If you don't keep up payments on your student loan then it affects your credit rating

Yeah, but if someone on £30,000 pa has to pay £94/month towards student loans, there's not really much chance of that.

OP: if you're university experience is garbage, drop out.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 29

A1112787

First of all, seeing as your lecture slides are made available online why do you still bother to go? I mean lectures are only meant to be introductory sessions which you build upon through reading, tutorials and seminars. That's the way it's always been - though I too feel lectures are a bit archaic and useless.

As to your main rant, I understand your frustration because all students who aren't aristocratic toffs have to endure the trials and tribulations of university; however, you have to accept the situation as it is for now, be pragmatic and get on with it. The absolute truth for most, and perhaps not necessarily you individually, is that the state pays for our university (yes we have loans but we'll pay those back at an expectionally slower rate in comparison to the speed at which the original fees were paid to the university), so be grateful; indeed it could be much worse - such as it is in the U.S. where the top unis are private and charge what they want. Without this money, universities simply wouldn't be able to function. It's also true the state simply cannot afford to make university education free - and nor should it: tertiary education is a choice and none of us students should feel entitled to it simply by virtue of existing. Also, as long as students avoid choosing useless degrees, they should have a steady and profitable career after university.

Having said that, I think some reforms could be made: for instance, there could be more transparency so that we understand how our loans are being used; universities could implement better finance systems for accommodation (for instance by allowing the student to fulfil jobs for it in return for a reduced rate of rent).

Reply 30

MintyMilk

Depends on what university you go to. Go to a Polytechnic and of course you won't get £9000 a year's worth of education (as an extreme example).

Reply 31

VannR

Original post by MintyMilk

Depends on what university you go to. Go to a Polytechnic and of course you won't get £9000 a year's worth of education (as an extreme example).

Someone I know did an Anthropology degree at UEL. They only paid £3k a year for it, but that's still too much when you consider what was received in return

Reply 32

Barnaby123

If you go to a good university, you often get 1 to 1 tutors.

Reply 33

Windows 10 :)

It's not even 9k a year

University usually lasts from late september to may, so that's like 7-8 months for 9k

And this isnt even counting in holidays and shiz
Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 34

FrostShot

The 9000 pound fee is worth it for Cambridge though right...?

Reply 35

nulli tertius

Original post by PQ

Also since 2012 capital funding has more or less vanished meaning universities have to use fees to find enough surplus to maintain/rebuild their estate and there's no real winners here. University finances are a lot less healthy than they were, students are paying more for less and the government got their sums wrong on tuition loans so the tax payer will be paying out more over the long term.

I can't let this one pass. This is what THES says following its regular annual review of university finances:

During 2013-14, UK universities generated surpluses totalling £1.2 billion before exceptional items were considered, up 12.6 per cent year-on-year.

As a percentage of total income – a good measure of financial health – this stood at 3.9 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent the previous year, after two successive years of decline.

Total sector income in 2013-14 came to £30.7 billion, up 5.7 per cent on the previous year, or £30.6 billion if the private institutions ifs and Regent’s University London are excluded.

For David Barnes, a partner and head of higher education at Grant Thornton, the surpluses “support the view that the sector as a whole is financially sound”.

However, with major challenges ahead, Barnes questions “whether surpluses are sufficient in the medium to long term for all institutions to be able to maintain and develop their capital estate and, in some cases, to fully implement ambitious investment plans”.

The overall picture also masks significant variation in individual performance. Of 160 institutions included in THE’s analysis, 143 were in surplus before exceptional items, and 80 enjoyed a surplus equivalent to 4 per cent or more of their income.

Universities are awash with cash and applying the good old public sector adage of "use it or lose it" they are spending that cash on shiny new buildings.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 36

schmuur

Original post by talulahjane

Let me just get this rant over and done with on a forum that I hope shall give me some answers. I am seriously frustrated at the corrupt education system that is apparent in my life right now. Why on earth do I pay the university 9 grand a year for my degree. Like where the heck is the money going?!!!!! I pay for my own accomodation, food, transport, PRINTING AT THE LIBRARY, univeristy gym fees, society membership fees and the list goes on. Is the education and university system actually mocking us students???? Compared to high school and college where everything was free and you had much more benefits of one to one revision sessions to resources being printed out for you, university is absolutely horrendous and robbing students out of their pockets. I think it is totally shameful and disrespectful to rob students of money for on average 10 hours a week in university of a average skilled lecturer reading off PowerPoint slides and then later posting them on blackboard. What are we paying for the PowerPoint documents on blackboard or are we paying for the lecturer to teach us sod all? I mean this year at university I have learnt much more myself basically self teaching myself the whole content of everyhing posted on blackboard. I should be getting paid to teach myself. Or have a one to one tutor on hand. If they want to charge for the documents posted on blackboard or the qualification itself then it should be a bloody reasonable price such as a maybe a grand a year. Does anybody feel the same as me or am I just being narrow minded. I certainly am not. It really is corrupt. I could buy myself a new car and a flight to Germany and lessons to learn German just to study univeristy in Germany for FREE for less than the price I am paying for my uni education in the UK. EDUCATION SHOULD BE FREE - especially when your bloody teaching it to yourself.

someone has to pay, and if it wasn't you it would be the government. and frankly, why should they have to pay when they are already preoccupied funding their own second houses and expensive holidays. goodness, don't be so selfish- there are higher priorities that making education affordable for everyone! :wink:

Reply 37

cambio wechsel

Original post by schmuur

I sensibly don't imagine that the alternative is that the members of the government pay.

Reply 38

schmuur

Original post by cambio wechsel

I sensibly don't imagine that the alternative is that the members of the government pay.

I meant more the fact that their wages are generally much higher than necessary and if they had more sensible wages then the money could be used for uni funding or the NHS instead.