If you went to uni do you regret it ?

[ShrunkInTheWashAgain]

Or are you glad you did ?

Yes I really regret going, and I especially regret my subject choice which was absolutely pointless and trying to make use of it has left me stuck on an endless training pathway in a career I just can't seem to break out of to follow what I actually enjoy. I'm really trying to discourage my kids from uni.

I do not regret the university experience in the slightest. I met great people and learnt an enormous amount. I’ve continued to study and learn and also have a masters and teaching qualification. Frustratingly now I’m struggling to get leadership jobs because of the specialist niche subject I teach, which is annoying. Part of me wishes I’d done a different, more transferable degree, as that would have potentially helped now, but it’s 25 years too late! BUT the experience shaped me as a person and the best bit of my job now is supporting students with their post 18 options.

No. It was my escape from a family and community that channelled working class girls down traditional paths. Opened my eyes, opened my world.

No regrets.
I did my degree 40 years ago when all the fees were paid and grants were available to disadvantaged students, whose parents couldn’t afford the living expenses, which were means tested.
It’s opened a lot of doors and given me opportunities that I wouldn’t have had without it.
Far fewer people had degrees back then .

Absolutely not. Uni days were wild, I met some great people including my partner and best friends, and despite all the drunken nights, it did help to mature me and I got a degree which I needed for my chosen career. I don’t know anyone who regrets uni. My oldest is at uni now and is having a great time.

I regret it. I didn’t enjoy it all that much, was a bit older so didn’t have the proper uni experience, didn’t really make friends as I also had to work a lot of hours to pay the rent.

I’ll be paying my student loan back until I retire. And my career is nothing to do with what I studied, and I could have had the same career without my degree.

Yes and no. I wish I’d had the confidence to change uni. At times I was really unhappy and lonely and it knocked my confidence for years after.

I didn’t really enjoy university all that much if I’m honest, but I loved my year abroad. I met and lived with my best friend there and we are still a big part of each other’s lives now. She’s seen me through all my good and bad times and I couldn’t be without her, so for that reason alone, uni was a blessing.

I couldn’t do the job I do now without my degree and I really enjoy it, and it gives me lots of opportunities.

However, I started uni in 2000 and I’m still repaying my student loan 😂(although I’ll finally pay it off this year! I’ll divert my student loans to my pension finally).

All of that said, I advised my own children not to go to university unless they really need a degree for their jobs as there are other, cheaper options.

Yes and no. Went to Lancaster university and was miserable (but know lots of people who loved it, nowt wrong with that, it just wasn't my place). Then went to Leicester. Got an ok degree, built a life, friendships and career here. Degree wasn't that relevant to my eventual career but going to university here changed my life in a positive way.

No. I loved university but I went when I was mid 50s and doing a subject I was interested in. Do regret the fees but they'll never be fully paid back. I had an absolute ball and realised how much I loved learning.

I’m from that very cliched sort of working class family, rural, small world, keep to themselves, will be positive if you do something they understand but negative otherwise. (Not everyone is like that.) University was my escape and I’m truly grateful I got the chance before fees came in. I loved my subject and use it often. I was so happy to move to the city and spread my wings. People were immediately nicer to me than my family ever has been and it was a huge part of me realising how insular my home town was. Made very good friends and learned so much. It was the right thing for me.

Never regretted it

Largely it was a positive experience, but I wish I did it when I wAs 18-21. i spent my late teens to mid twenties either on JSA or doing dead end jobs. When I was 25, I did an Access course (in the late 2000s) and started my actual degree aged 28. I was 31 when I graduated. I got a 2:2 (I was too ashamed to go to the graduation ceremony). After a few months I realised I couldn't really compete against 21 year old graduates with 2:1s and 1sts (as well as A levels). I have struggled with dead end poorly paid retail jobs, now I am a cleaner at the council. I admit I am bitter, and wish someone discouraged me being a mature student as it hasn't really done much for me job wise. I'm just grateful that I left in 2012, before they really hiked the prices up.

I have 2 degrees and a postgraduate diploma and I don’t regret any of them, but then they didn’t put me into debt. My 1st degree was “free” back in the early 2000s in Ireland? We only had to pay about 800 for our registration fees and then our accommodation which my parents paid for. And then did a postgraduate diploma in teaching in the UK and that was paid for through bursary.
And then left teaching altogether and a degree apprenticeship so I was paid all the way through.
I reckon I would feel differently if I had debt after all that

I needed a degree for my job. 20 years down the line I earn 45K if I was full time for a job with a lot of responsibility so not great. It was NHS course though so free at the time

I had undiagnosed depression though at the time so didn't make any mates.

I did my degree at a Poly, and needed to do it to get the job that was my career. So no, I absolutely don't regret it. Though I didn't have fees to pay and come from an era where, being one of only around 10% of people who got degrees, meant that having a degree was obviously uncommon, and they were more valued.

However, my (now adult) dc have all gone off and got their degrees in more recent times. One is still studying and the other two are doing jobs they didn't need a degree for, but none of them regret it either.

Yes.
forced to go to uni by my overbearing parents at 18 and I was too scared of my mum to say no.

i did shit at A Level, I wanted to leave at that point and find a job especially working in a stables but my mother was disgusted and I had to go through clearing, ended up in a mediocre uni doing a degree in the only thing I was told I was good at (I really wasn’t, as my A Levels showed.

ended up with a 2:2 in useless degree, that I never used and didn’t want to. Went back to my hometown, got a factory job and got pregnant, had four kids over the years, 3 with SEN and did fuck all with my life. Years later I was diagnosed with ADHD and Asd.

id love to go back now and do a degree for the first time, there’s so much that interests me, conservation, Animal care, forestry but back then I didn’t have a clue. Too late now, I’ve had my funding, can’t get anymore student loans and now I’m stuck in a crap job.

Ive never forced any of my kids to go to uni, one did and did really well but regrets her choice of degree and cannot find a job and the others have chosen other paths and are successful with good jobs.

don’t get me wrong I loved the social side and living away from home, but going to uni so early wrecked my career prospects.

I regret it. I now realise I probably didn't need a degree for my current position in a decent job and I never really fitted into the whole university lifestyle anyway. Nearly paid off my student debt woohoo but I'll be strongly advising my son to go down the apprenticeship route.

I have four degrees (BA, MA, MSt, DPhil) — that’s how much I enjoyed it! But I had scholarships all the way through, so it never cost me a penny. And the degrees were necessary for my job.

No regrets. I met DH in my first week, enjoyed my degree (mostly) and did a PhD, which lead to the job I’ve been in for nearly 40 years.

My first degree was the best time of my life. I loved it.

I'm glad I went...met close friends in the first week, and DH halfway through first year.
Enjoyed it so much I did 2 different masters degrees.
I don't particularly earn a lot but I have a job that is reasonably interesting, I can do mainly from home, and is flexible.

Unless they have really set ideas of what they want to do, and it doesn't need uni, I'd encourage both DC to go. The more education you have, the more options imo.

Going was the right choice for me as I needed the degree for my career and it opened up a high enough paying job that I was able to pay off the loans within 10 years.

If I was going now I'd look at degree apprenticeships instead as you can get the same degree in twice as long but you're paid and build up work experience at the same time. That gets you to a better point a few years after the degree than uni would.

I don’t regret it on the whole. I do regret not even looking at any other options, it was just always assumed I would go. I also regret choosing the “best” uni (RG) because I got the grades to go there, when actually, the ex-poly in the same city was much better suited in terms of the culture and the way the course was run. I see so many people on MN pushing for the best uni in terms of prestige and grade requirements but it really isn’t what’s important.

This is very different to everyone else's experience, but tbh yes I do regret going to university.

I didn't think too much on what career I would have afterwards or that I would need a masters or PhD (which I cannot afford) in order to properly pursue this as a career. I was pushed into doing a degree by my parents who never had the opportunity to. I chose to do Geology which I LOVED and achieved a 1st class with honours and the highest grade amongst all of my peers. I landed a great job out of uni, then covid happened, the company laid off all the staff and I am now 6 years post uni in an environmental role barely paying 30k and living in London 💀 no prospect of ever owning a home. I am married and have a daughter now and just feel even though I loved what I did as a degree I was just so nieve and ill prepared. My husband and I do not have enough money to allow me to train and further my career, and honestly I have hated going back to work and witness my daughter screaming for me as i drop her off at nursery. I honestly would have been better off staying in my home town, I had an apprenticeship to do accounting I would have been 10 years into that profession with a house in an area I could afford and would have family nearby to help with childcare.

The push to go to uni from family and school can be really strong and often feel like its the only option. There are so many paths you can take in life and sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Good luck and hope you are happy with whatever you choose x