Why are so many YP going to uni, when uni isn't right for so many YP? AIBU to think fewer YP should go to uni as it's only giving them a huge debt?

Oh well, if you personally believe that then it must be true! 🙄

No jobs, no hope, going to uni kicks the can down the road at least.

Dd24 - gap year, 3 years STEM degree, 1 year PGCE. Now teaching after kicking the "don't know what to do", and "no jobs anyhow" can for 5 years.

Dd25 - covid year, gap year, 3 years degree, 2 years part time masters, (full time for a perfectionist), looking to keep on kicking that can with a doctorate.

They may as well have their rent money paid at this end of life rather than wait for us to pop our clogs.

Totally agree. We live in a time of incredible change and massive problems, we need more education not less!

I know people have legitimate concerns about uni but I do raise an eyebrow at the steady stream of voices discouraging young people from uni, it's the kind of thing you'd push if you want to weaken a country.

This 100%

I blame Blair

Ds also applied for degree apprenticeships with every appropriate engineering company who ran a scheme.

For 2026, all had reduced their number of places, and the grades they wanted were three As up to 3 A stars.

I saw an article on a student who turned down a place at Cambridge to take an apprenticeship at Dyson.

Competition is fierce, level 6 apprenticeship places are very few. It is not the easy route some think.

Maybe the problem isn't that so many people want an education the problem is that education costs too much?

Because it’s one of the only ways their parents or the government will help them with money to move out and fly the nest… and when they do it’s then expected and approved of that they’ll be going out and having fun all the time.

Less would go if commuting from home was more common

Precisely.

I really wonder why some people want the UK workforce to be less skilled/trained/educated than other nations.

Of course it's fine for other people to advise their own kids not to go if they are happy to shut those doors, but as a nation it is a high risk strategy not to have a population educated to the same extent as comparable nations.

I think many young people have been given appalling career advice and shoved down the university route despite achieving well below average qualifications when they probably would have been better served going straight into vocational training. It is not snobby to recognise that enrolling on a soft course that requires fewer then 50 UCAS points, has limited accreditation or industry recognition, has low employment prospects post graduation and lumps the student with enormous debt is probably not a great start in life. And just to be clear, not being academically minded does not mean 'thick' or 'stupid', it just means academia is not for them and pursuing something more vocational or technical would serve them better in the long run. The only snobbery that has been going on for the last few decades is the looking down on a career in the trades as something beneath you and to be avoided.

Now it's a masters very often. The global trend is for more education, not less, so I find one country firstly breaking itself away from the EU and then secondly fostering a less educated population quite risky.

Agree

I haven't job hunted for years but the last time I did, so many jobs asked for a degree. When I was young and job hunting, the standard was to ask for Maths and English qualifications, now it is a degree.

This is factually inaccurate, incredibly negative and encourages a young person to close off routes to future satisfying and well paid careers.

I agree to an extent. However if someone had told me, as a nervous 18yo that I'd end up with a debt of more money than I could imagine, I wouldn't have gone.

I was first generation to go to university, from a FSM family and my dm was terrified of debt and had taught us to be so.

My ds is at uni because I promised him I would help him clear the debt. He needed that reassurance. Having said that, he is hardworking and sensible and we'll clear it together.

His f was trying to dissuade him, right up to the week before freshers, because he doesn't have a degree, and thinks it's a waste of money. He isn't contributing at all.

This. The rest of the world is not going to stop getting higher education.

Thinking about it further, I quite like the professionals in society (medics, engineers, architects, teachers, scientists etc) being qualified. And most careers need some sort of education and training? If not university, how would that happen? On the job might be fine in hr but less ideal if you're a dentist.

There are many jobs/careers available for those that don't want to go to uni, it is a choice.

Definitely lack of alternatives these days.
Yes there's the debt but 3 yrs on and sadly my DD can't find work to start paying it off anyway.
The experience and personal achievement has been good for mental health. Good friends acquired but sadly the job market is crap.
Many young adults move back home.
Kinda back where she started but to her she feels it was worth doing.
I get what your saying op.

A C is not a low grade and I also don't personally believe a C in the 80s is the same as a C now.

No. But in fairness they were very open minded. They just knew they wanted to work, so considered a wide range of options. The two things that helped most were that they were able to demonstrate a good work ethic by referencing part time jobs they'd had while at school and saying that they wanted to start work rather than study, which went down well with the employers, who respected that in an 18 year old.

What's wrong is the debt. Those young people should be going through tertiary education, to keep our society's skill levels in line with other nations and in line with society's needs.

Because we, as a society, have spent the past couple of decades telling them it's the only way to succeed?

Who do you think should decide whether university is, or isn't, the right choice if not the young person themselves?