Student Protest

[Boycie]

Well you'll have to climb on a few more church roofs mate.

[MrsRam]

That's good to hear BARRman - I would love my daughter to go on to Uni eventually if she wants to and not be put off by all this.

[MrOrdinary]

That's good to hear BARRman - I would love my daughter to go on to Uni eventually if she wants to and not be put off by all this.

the money side it is a bit crappy, but honestly it is worth it and as i said you only pay back equivalent to what you earn.

and honestly id advise anyone to go to uni, even for a few weeks, for the experiance if you dont like it you dont like it.

[Boycie]

Gerrajob!

[MrsRam]

Boycie - I went out and gorrajob - I've now just got myself an A level 30 years after leaving school. I could have done so much more. :frown:

I don't want to push my daughter to do something I wish I'd done, I'm very aware of that, but you have to work for so long in your life - to have a decent education and subsequently a decent job (fingers crossed) is a must in my eyes. Unless, of course she marries a trillionaire and even then, I'd like her to have the knowledge to not be fleeced come the divorce.

[Boycie]

Being a millionaire isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Look at Daveo.

Hundreds of Forums involving , footy and cars, and is he happy?

If someone wants to go to uni then good, if they don't, then it's probably not a good idea to push anyone into it.

You don't always need a degree to succeed in life. Look at me and Alan Sugar from London.

[Alex W]

I like the sound of Young Rams new political party, but Alex's new match chat site also sounds good.

But who has the best chance of actually doing something about it and not just letting off hot air?

There's only one way to find out........FFFFFFFFFFFIIIIGGGGGHHHHHTTTTT!

I've just been stood making sure 30 yobs didn't bother a shop in Heanor, one more shouldn't be any bother

[Alex W]

You don't always need a degree to succeed in life. Look at me and Alan Sugar from London.

Agree with that, i'm so 'cock sure' of myself that I know I have talent for some things, I don't see why I need some piece of paper to get into certain jobs.

I would like to be able to apply for a job and be judged on my skills, and not what grades I have etc.

[MrsRam]

I've just been stood making sure 30 yobs didn't bother a shop in Heanor, one more shouldn't be any bother

Not that Polish shop is it - always makes me laff - I only buy polish about once a year.:redface:

[Alex W]

Not that Polish shop is it - always makes me laff - I only buy polish about once a year.:redface:

Haha nope, a group of lads had wrecked the shutters on the 'Pantry' shop last night and threatened the owner who's a good friend of one of my mates.

Went down to make sure nothing happened again, 30 lads were about but nothing kicked off thankfully.

[MrsRam]

Good. my dad was from Heanor, (that is all I can say about it. lol)

[Alex W]

Good. my dad was from Heanor, (that is all I can say about it. lol)

It's not brilliant. (That should really be the description on the tourist board posters)

[Day]

Being a millionaire isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Look at Daveo.

Hundreds of Forums involving , footy and cars, and is he happy?

If someone wants to go to uni then good, if they don't, then it's probably not a good idea to push anyone into it.

You don't always need a degree to succeed in life. Look at me and Alan Sugar from London.

I aint got a site!.....Heart Internet don't allow that kind of thing on their servers otherwise I would

Oh and I've sold the car forum off last month so I'm down to this one now.

[Kris Marina]

I don't buy the "I can't afford to go to University" bullsh1t.

The loan you get for tuition fees is easily payable if you're a post-graduate earning £40,000+. You also pay the loan back according to how much you earn.

If you're from a poor background, you'll get extra help.

If you earn £21,000 or less after Uni, you don't even need to pay back a penny.

It seems perfectly fair to me. Someone needs to pay for it, be it the taxpayer or the student.

I'm not too worried about people believing they can't afford University, that means there's more places available for me

At the end of the day, I'm happy to pay back the extra 3 grand a year, I'll earn more than the difference in future. Plus, I know jobs are harder to come by, but I've got a job sorted and I do fine.

[MrsRam]

Well I'm a bit ignorant of it all to be fair, and after this daughter has decided and done whatever she wants to do, I have another daughter, who, when she reaches year 11 - has to stay on at school. The school she attends at the moment, (she's year 8), doesn't have a sixth form, and has said, it won't have a sixth form by the time she leaves - so we will be doing this all again - as a matter of course.

[Perky1106]

I don't buy the "I can't afford to go to University" bullsh1t.

The loan you get for tuition fees is easily payable if you're a post-graduate earning £40,000+. You also pay the loan back according to how much you earn.

If you're from a poor background, you'll get extra help.

If you earn £21,000 or less after Uni, you don't even need to pay back a penny.

It seems perfectly fair to me. Someone needs to pay for it, be it the taxpayer or the student.

I'm not too worried about people believing they can't afford University, that means there's more places available for me

Exactly this. When the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor graudate with the same degree from the same University they are on a level playing field in the job market.

Their background is irrelevant when they are qualified and go and get a good career.

When I leave I will have £20,000+ of debt. But I can pay this back if I get a good job. But if I don't get a good job I won't have to pay it back. As a meerkat would say, simples.

[MrsRam]

sounds like a win win to me

[Hartley Hare]

Exactly this. When the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor graudate with the same degree from the same University they are on a level playing field in the job market.

Their background is irrelevant when they are qualified and go and get a good career.

When I leave I will have £20,000+ of debt. But I can pay this back if I get a good job. But if I don't get a good job I won't have to pay it back. As a meerkat would say, simples.

The richest of the rich will have no debt, mummy and daddy will pay.

The poorest of the poor will have little or no debt, everybody else's mummy and daddy will pay.

As always, it's the one's in between who will be worst off.

I never cease to be amazed at people's attitude towards debt. Once upon a time, credit was to be avoided, debt was an embarrasment. Now, debt is just a given, credit means you can have what you want (not what you need) now, and go bankrupt and not worry about it.

Mrs Ram, the people who are telling you now that the debt is manageable have graduated/are graduating under the current funding arrangements. Next year's intake will be the last one under those arrangements. Your daughters, should they go to uni, will likely have to face course fees of £9k a year. So over 3 years that's already higher than the debt that Joe, etc, have mentioned to you here. Add living costs, costs for equipment, etc on top of that, and you can easily see how students will be graduating with debts of well over £40k. And that's assuming it's only a 3 year degree.

Before anyone says "It won't be £9k, that's the maximum allowed", well, that's what they're saying now. However, if 2 uni's are offering the same degree course, and 1 is charging £6k and the other £9k, it's likely that the one charging £9k will receive more applicants because it will be seen to be of higher quality and therefore worth more in the jobs market - higher cost being equivalent to higher quality in many people's minds. The uni charging £6k will have to raise it's fees just to be able to look as attractive as the one charging £9k. In time, all uni's will be obliged to charge £9k per year in order to complete with each other for students.

Joe, you're ok because your debt is written off after 20 years. Under the new funding it's written off after 30 years. So you'd still be paying off your student loans when you're well into your fifties and are trying to fund your children's uni education, and possibly even after you've finished paying the mortgage on your home! Also, the more you earn the more interest is applied to your debt, increasing the outstading sum. Your repayments won't change unless your income changes. It's effectively another income tax for students, and will apply to you whether you get a 1st class honours or a 3rd. It's designed so that you never pay the whole sum off, but if you do happen to pay it early then you'll be hit with a penalty charge. But, as I say, that's nothing you have to worry about, by the sheer fortune of your birth date you are spared that future. If you want your kids to avoid the new higher levels of debt, then you'd better get saving that £405 a month asap. Except you're not likely to have £405 a month spare cash once you've got a young family. Unless you can already afford not to have to worry about finding £405 a month to save, of course. If you're happy for your kids to rack up that student debt, then you'd better start preparing yourself for higher taxes across the board, for all of us.

Any change in the funding arrangements for HE education should come hand in hand with a full overhaul of the type of education offered. "Joke" degrees need to be scrapped. Poorly performing uni's need to be closed. Students are going to study for these degrees, graduate from poor uni's, and not be able to get a job (or not one that pays enough to trigger the student loan repayments). In theory, those students could go for a whole 30 years and not make 1 payment on their student loans. But that money has already been paid by the Government up front. Somehow, at least some of that money has to be recouped. And it'll be recouped in higher taxes, since that's effectively the only income stream the Government has. Students looking to graduate from uni with degree's that are paid for up-front by the government need to be studying in productive subjects at well regarded uni's so that their employment prospects are enhanced (which surely is the whole point of taking a degree, or has that principle been lost somewhere?) and the cost of the education can at least in part be repaid by the student through their earnings.

Sorry to go on, but because I have kids who are going to be entering uni over the next few years you could say I have a personal interest in the matter.

Mrs Ram - Bilborough provide a number of bus routes for students, they don't come all the way out to Derby city centre, they do come out to Oakwood/Chad and Draycott/Ockbrook/Breaston, so it depends on where you are as to how accessible it is. The current timetable is here :-

http://www.bilborough.ac.uk/SiteData/Root/File/Student%20Support/Bus%20timetable10-11%20_2_.pdf

It's a good college, even though it's in Nottingham. My lad wears his Rams shirt there from time to time and not had any bother as far as I can tell

Joseph Wright is supposed to be good too if you're looking at A levels, we know a few folks who've been there and they enjoy it, and results are good. I wouldn't be surprised if my daughter goes to 1 of the Derby college sites (JW or the Roundhouse, depending on which course she chooses) rather than Bilborough, my impressions are that there's not a great deal to choose between them.

[MrsRam]

Thanks for the link Hartley - can't see my daughter catching a bus at half seven in the morning.

I think it will be Joseph Wrights she'll go to, she doesn't want to go to a sixth form, she wants to get out of the school environment.

[trigger]

i think most people nowadays take uni as an easy way out ,

they take what they call - A GAP year out wtf is that about?

lazy cnuts if you ask me!