I would just like to know what the general thoughts were on student funding. I am currently studying medicine. Like many of my peers who are under 25 and studying medicine as a second degree, I am heavily in debt and have just had my student loan decreased as I have had to apply for an NHS bursary to cover tuition fees and I don't recieve any further bursary from the NHS.
The course is demanding and does not allow time to seek part time employment. Thus I am forced to rely heavily on my parents for financial support. Many of my peers are being forced into taking out bank loans at high street interest rates to cover their living expenses. My main confusion is as to why the Student loans from the Student loans company (SLC) are a)means tested when they are loans that will be paid back, and b) why the loans become decreased once you apply for an NHS bursary that only covers tuition fees?
I do not expect the tax payer to pay for my degree, but would like to be able to take out a larger loan from the SLC. I have no problems with the fact that I should pay for my degree, but do feel the financial burden that it is placing upon my parents is unfair.
Firstly I am surprised that a bursary reduces your SLC payments, all other bursarys that I have heard of and also an emergency loan (well grant!!) that I took out at uni was on top of the student loan payments.
I guess they are means tested because its public money and the more that can be pushed back onto the parents of students the better for the country as the current taxpayer does not have to pay for this in the short term.
the one confusion about university funding that is at the minute (the one that provokes the most anger) is that involving scottish students but i guess this is different to your question
My view is that university students taking a degree or vocational qualification in a proper subject should receive a free education. These students are exactly the people we will need to run the professions in our country and paying for them to have a free education out of the public purse is a national investment which will work to the benefit of our country.
I was certainly livid when 'Animal Farm' Labour brought in student fees even though they said they wouldn't in their manifesto. All their years in opposition Labour went on and on about helping the poor, the disabled, the old, the young, single mums etc. Yet from the moment they have come to power they have been hitting all those groups hard. Poverty has widened under Labour. This Animal Farm Labour government showed its true nature when it became corrupted by power.
LET EDUCATION BE FREE
LET US GIVE THE YOUNG OPPORTUNITY
LET US INVEST IN THE FUTURE
I agree with tonymakara's summery.
that was a while comming :)
I also remember when education was free
not so long ago 20 years prehaps
Its shocking to here the debts ,go on and that
means testing is a critical issue with them.
How governments have the bare faced cheek to extort
the obscene levels of tax they do and simultaniously
cut back core / essential services,or put them in
the hands of people only interested in profit,
Is beyond comprehension.Defying logic and reason,
it would seem,is a qualification for being a public
servant these days.
Why does noone test their integraty / compitance before
they are allowed to assume office.
These tests are cheap and reliable.
i lived with some french girls at uni and comparing our fee paying universities to those free ones in france was non-comparable.
if we want the investment in education to keep improving our universities then students have to pay for it.
i have my loan and owe around £12k (luckily i got in before student fees went up), but frankly i don't mind paying it as it has giving me the helping hand to get a good job.
i didn't pick up on the fact this was your second degree until yorker pointed it out, most people that i have known that have gone on to do another degree etc haven't even been able to get a loan or funding
The big problem I have is that, despite having a decent degree (whether Tony would see it as useful or not is another question!) and a respectable CV, I have been unemployed for the best part of 5 months. If you think your debt is bad at uni, you just wait until you're forced to pay private rent on your shoe-box sized studio flat, utility bills, and council tax, with a scarce and unreliable income from agency and cash-in-hand work. It is really quite unpleasant!
Unfortunately I'm in a catch-22 situation where I have a pretty decent degree, but firms are increasingly turning away from graduates like me and towards properly work-experienced applicants.
At the other end of the scale, I have been turned down by Tesco, Sainsburys, Wetherspoons, WH Smiths (etc) because of the fact that I am a graduate and, in their opinion, unlikely to stay put for long before being swept into the realms of corporate management (if only!).
Fortunately I have had a job interview just recently, although not really the sort of job you would typically expect to see a University graduate going in to.
Life as a student is hard - life as a graduate is indefensibly hard!
I've tried to bring this to the attention of DC and David Willets before, but without luck. I'm guessing that, sadly, they probably won't respond today either...
Paine, get a copy of Guerilla Tactics in the Job Market, by Tom Jackson (used copies on Amazon from £0.49!). Old, but still relevant today.
It attempts to put you in a postive frame of mind and not worrying about rejection. When you get as far as an interview this is a important factor and definitely comes through.
Ithink the most oft quoted from it is 'It doesn't matter how many No's you get, you only need one Yes'.
