to feel like we were scammed into going to University?

@Schleep NO repayments are based on loan interest. You obviously don’t understand student finance. You pay according to what you earn, not what you owe. On the previous scheme, it’s written off when someone is 50. They are not paying for life. Also someone starting uni in 2009 had fees of around £3000 a year. Unbelievably cheap. DD has paid hers off. Her contract (2010) was not changed.

Also, why not think for yourself? Are you always a follower? Someone who is told what to do?

Most grads get an earnings premium. The better the uni, the better it is. Some degrees pay more. The IFS has done the sums. Medicine is near the top. Economics is good too but only from the top unis. Ditto law. Not all sciences are good. Some biomedical and environment science and animal welfare degrees are not so good overall. Arts degrees are the worst but we enjoy them! English doesn’t translate into high pay overall. However are these young people really going to be plumbers and electricians? Unlikely. What about media studies grads and all those 22,000 studying psychology and the same doing law? The majority don’t get a job in either field. What should they do instead?

We do need some unis to merge and 37% of 6th form going to uni is too high. They are money fodder for the less good unis. They need to revert to providing HE. Hopefully on a day release or pre degree course.

As for sandwich courses ! The unis do not have a bank of placements! Students have to apply to companies and it can take many applications to get anything. Many get nothing. It’s now an oversold dream. Another reason to cull unis.

@CantHoldMeDown

Currently working in HR in banking in an organisation with a heavy social mobility agenda. So that is far from the only way in.
Amazing. This is exactly what my dd wants to do. HR in a big corporate. Do you have tips on best ways to enter the industry? What she should do to make herself stand out and be employable?

I don’t know anyone who regrets their degree or whose kids don’t want to go to university. From this thread I am a minority.

It’s easy to say ‘it’s just common sense’ but 17 and 18 year olds, at least when I was in 6th form, are pushed to continue into further education, regardless of the uni or even the course.

And at that age not many of of us are too good at looking long term prospects and often go along with what is expected.

And how many kids are pushed into going to a prestigious university as it is seen as the only correct thing to do ? You only have to read the forums on here re higher education to have an idea of the mindset of some parents.

Oh how the 'Mickey Mouse' analogy makes me laugh, when he is the icon of THE MOST SUCCESSFUL homegrown media corporation in American history.

I agree.

i went to uni in the mid 90s at 18 because it was drummed into me by my parents and school that I MUST go. That was the end game and if I didn’t I wouldn’t have any hope in life.

so I did. I did a degree that was unsuitable, I didn’t like and I couldn’t cope. I got a 2:2 and never ever used it.

ive done dead end jobs since whilst raising a family, discovered that I was adhd and so have my dc.

now I look at things I’d like to do and now can’t do, I’ve had my funding and my loans and can’t get any more. I wish I could have done an apprenticeship, I wish I’d waited to go to uni but it wasn’t the done thing back then to do something else at least not in my family.

It all depends on what you study. There are many degrees with zero unemployment rate (STEM).
Now, if you go for a worthless Mickey Mouse degree from Stinkershire University, then you are definitely screwed. Naive students assume that university is some sort of a glorified job agency. Then reality kicks in their face.
It is important to carefully assess the employability of a degree before applying.
It is just common sense really.

YANBU at all OP. Well done for having the guts to drop out.

This is my story - it’s potentially triggering for me.

I only went to the Uni I went ‘cos I was afraid to stand up to my abusive, alcoholic mother who pressurised me to go - I only went ‘cos I thought she’d make my life hell if I didn’t. I felt she wanted me to go away to uni to get me away from my working class, uneducated boyfriend.

At the end of my second year at uni, around the time of my second year exams, I hated uni and was counting down the days ‘til I could leave. At second year exam time I had a massive nervous breakdown, a major depressive illness and was under the psychiatrists. I feel aggrieved that this is now on my medical records when it ultimately wasn’t my fault. I’d been driven to go totally against my natural inclinations by my abusive.alcoholic mother. Me and my boyfriend stayed together through it all btw.

I’d dropped out of A levels at 17 and my mum told me to leave school as I was getting bad results - then when I did leave she scolded me for leaving, fake crying etc.

I went back to sit A levels at a college aged 20 and got 3 As. I was a self proclaimed swot and enjoyed the A level course. However I asked my mum - if I’d left school at 16 and never done the first A level course in the first place - would she have accepted it ? Was it the fact I dropped out she objected to? My mum said something to the effect of “No I felt you HAD to do A Levels”. Several decades later I have a MASSIVE problem with my mum’s attitude. Surely she should be a bit more open minded than this ? People can still be successful if they don’t do A levels and go to uni, ffs!!!

My Dad was also very OTT about having to go to uni. He thinks EVERYONE should go to uni if they have the opportunity. I mean this is so narrow minded I can’t even !!!!!!

Both my parents were graduates from good unis but came from rather humble backgrounds, realistically.

I feel very bitter about this decades later and I’m trying to cope by focusing on the positive things/people in my life

My attitude overall is that Uni is a great thing OBJECTIVELY - of course it is, I doubt whether anyone would argue with that. However ABSOLUTELY NOT at the extent of anyone’s mental health !

All my life I felt I wasn’t loved for myself - just for my (especially academic) achievements.

BOTH my parents died of the effects of alcoholism, btw

This is appalling

I left school in 1994 when there was still the option to join the financial services industry straight from school and work your way up.

However, that isn't the case now and it changed shortly after 1997. So although I would say on a societal level this is wrong, on an individual level I would tell my son to look very closely at jobs and if you are most interested in those that ask for degrees well then you're going to have to get a degree (or find a degree-equivalent apprenticeship).

I use my post-graduate degree all the time. Everybody I work with is degree-educated (usually to postgraduate level). Obviously we don't have the level of debt this would incur today but for me it would still be worth it for the degree alone, nevermind the life/world experience that I gained by leaving my small working-class community.

Most univeristy degrees offfer a 'sandwich' course option (now called a professional placement year). Or at least, it's easy to choose a university/ degree that offers that option

Well clearly not if you think that it was 'propaganda' that 'forced' you to go to university

@CantHoldMeDown

I was 20 when I was given a finance job and £5bn to manage. I had an HNC in Business and Finance
I'm not sure of your age now but I think your opportunity at 20 is not something that would be offered ti young people now

It's all graduate schemes and you aren't getting on one of those without an internship in your second year at uni

Like what? Not trades because they have their own training system. What jobs are well paid that hire with no degree

YANBU.
It depends on the degree and University as to whether it is worth it.
We also need more trained trades people, plumbers, electricians etc.

@vickylou78

I'm a science graduate and although you don't need a degree to do the job I do in the Environment Agency, most of the workforce here has a degree or equivalent.
Dint need a degree but the chances someone would even get an interview without one is sadly very small. I think it's crazy. Most degrees are not related to the jobs people end up doing

@JudgeJ

Far too many courses are a waste of time and would be far better being something akin to the old sandwich courses or apprenticeships. I have quoted this before but I recall my old Headteacher asking me if I believed that his son was wanting to 'study' golf course design at University!
I think that degree has a really high employment rate ironically enough.

I'm very glad I went. I did a humanities subject and read lots of things that shaped the way I understand the world. Writing essays and doing secondary reading also equips you to assess arguments critically, a skill I use every day in both work and the rest of my life.

Or are on a train prepping like some of us. Apologies for popping on here for a break.

I think it depends on the degree, if you have a degree in a Stem subject then having a degree opens a lot of doors that would otherwise be closed to you. Obviously plenty of science and medical jobs where a degree specialism is essential.

I'm a science graduate and although you don't need a degree to do the job I do in the Environment Agency, most of the workforce here has a degree or equivalent.

I went to uni when it was a lot cheaper. Never had a job that needed a degree, buy on balance I think I came out of it better than if I hadn't gone. It did more teaching me to think, which hadn't happened with school rote learning.

I would not encourage my kids to go to university, unless it was an obvious career path. The one that is into computing will be more likely to need a degree to get a job so that makes more sense. The one that likes plants would be much better off trying for an apprenticeship at 16. The amount of fees these days are eye-watering, so really not something to sign up to without a clear path to earnings. Which is a shame really.

I actually find the opposite. Those who I get as 16 yo apprentices are way more mature by 20 than those who have been to uni. They have a better work ethic, call in sick less and don't have an entitled attitude. I appreciate that is a huge generalisation but being in the workplace at 16 or 18 is what makes people grow up. A huge number of Uni students are funded by their parents, they don't even have a part time job.

I often find my graduates expect more money and more glamorous jobs when they have literally no experience of the job.

YANBU certain jobs you definitely need a uni degree but there are plenty of well paying jobs out there that don’t need any kind of degree.