to wonder fis we should encourage people to do their degrees later in life?

[NordicPrincess]

I have always found a bit silly to expect children of 18 to choose to a degree at such a young age. People change so much between 18-25, it can be expensive and difficult to retrain especiallly when you have got a loan for your first degree.

what do you think?

law and medicine, fair enough.

I'm nto sure about science and engineering, though. we had a guy on our course, doing Polymers, who had worked for years in the industry, and came to do the degree cos his job was made redundant.
he got a 1st, and was soooo much better at the theory than the rest of us greenies.

Some people are almost born knowing what they want to do - my younger brother was a case in point, knew by the time he was 11, never wavered (I've just been told today he's got another platinum disk). DH is another. DD has known since she was about 4 and at 11 is more determined than ever. No point in putting people like this off until they're 'older', they are never going to be more sure than they are/were.

Me though, I had no idea. Bumped around doing all sorts and only finally decided when I was in my 30s. People like me should certainly be encouraged to go to Uni later, which sadly, doesn't seem to be happening so much any more.

Big fan of Life Long Learning. Spent every Friday night from the age of 19 to 33 (when I went to Uni) studying something, got O and A levels coming out of my ears as a result!

Madam - agreed.

What we need is less pressure for 18 year olds to go to Uni (at present many go because it is the expected thing) and full funding for those who have a clear idea of what they want to do/will be good at at any age.

Totally ridiculous that 80% of school leavers go to Uni. Send less and fund them properly, and I include OU courses which can cost a medium size fortune to complete.

Doing your degree later would probably encourage women to have their children later though. Many career women put off having a baby until they are fairly well established for many sensible reasons. I had my two at 30 and 32; for a professional that was considered young. Fertility drops off very sharply at 35. Effectively encouraging women to put off having children even later would mean even more women suffering from the pain of infertility / miscarriage.

What thefurryone said.

And also, yy to Stewies. Very common in N. America for people to do degrees, including law and medicine, much later in life. Even in the 40s and 50s.

mumwithadragontatto alternatively they could have them pre-uni.

Personally I went to uni at 18, started again with OU at 28, did a masters in a brick uni at 31 and am now doing a PhD whilst expecting my first child, basically there is no right or wrong time for everyone just a right time for the individual.

Liked doing my degree at 18 but also love being a student in my 30s. Just because you've done a degree as a teenager it doesn't mean you can't study later in life. I think I gained different things from both times.

Most of my student friends are doing second degrees. I think it would be good to encourage life-long learning, so that people can continue to study whatever else they're doing in life.

I was sure what I wanted to do from the age of 4 - and didn't deviate at all until it came to apply for University - where I ended up applying for something totally different.

I'm now pursuing something totally different again (and actually wavering slightly on that though am ploughing on with my degree in the current chosen subject regardless for the time being)

what's your chosen subject now, baroq?

oh I'm not sure - I'm still dithering, so going to look into it some more while carrying on with my current degree (which I'm still very interested in). I'm kind of split down the middle right now and not sure if some of it would be out of my ability range as some involves a practical skill which I've never had. Although there may be options that don't require such great skills in that area

I liked my degree, I'm glad I did it and glad I took part in the collective experience at the same age as everyone else BUT I'm pursuing a completely different and much more fascinating pathway with the OU which I probably wouldn't have thought of at 18 because I needed life experience to make me realise that's what I wanted (and I wasn't even aware that you could do degrees in it).

Re: having children later I think society as a whole should be less judgy about people who marry straight out of uni and decide to have DCs before having a 'proper' career. Shock horror.

Well I need a PhD first and because my first degree is irrelevant I've picked up some undergrad credits in a related field and am doing a Masters first. That's going to take me years but thankfully the OU and other distance learning institutions exist so I can combine studying and having a family and have my career later.

Well, I knew what I wanted to do at age 15 and would not have been impressed by being encouraged to wait. I did take a gap year to get away from exams and work as a zoo keeper ('lifetime' ambition since age 9) but then just wanted to (and did) get on with it.

It is not necessarily a bad idea to wait but some teenagers can be v. focused.

No one solution suits all, some know what they want and go for it and get a great career. Others graduate then change their mind or simply dont work at all. Some do proper degrees and can transfer between jobs, other take specialised degrees that dont transfer in industries without many jobs.

I dont think the debt from loans should be cleared though if you dont earn enough to pay it back, it should be compulsory to pay it back like any other debt. Perhaps then places would only be taken by those intending to use the degree for their career.

Uni is more fun when younger though as more socialising, less home commitments and some have no financial worries other than the loans/grants as no mortgage etc yet.

"I dont think the debt from loans should be cleared though if you dont earn enough to pay it back, it should be compulsory to pay it back like any other debt. Perhaps then places would only be taken by those intending to use the degree for their career.
"

- have you actually thought that through?

I would support this idea - not for everyone, but it should certainly be an option. Many of my very best students are the ones who left school at 17/18 having messed up their final school exams (I'm in Ireland, so the Leaving Cert, which is hardly conducive to original or creative thinking). They often then spend 4-5 years in low-skilled and/or lowly paid jobs and realise that they have more to offer. They are counted as 'mature students' at 23: most of my very best students have been of this type, but the point is well made about those with family obligations, or who don't want to interrupt a career/established job (although a small number of my 'young' students have small children too). It has to be made much easier to study: flexible, part-time, off-site etc etc - the problem with all of this is that university lecturers also have children and families, and don't necessarily want to do (for example) evening work. Although in my experience it's not those with family obligations that kick up about out of hours work if it's in a good cause

Just goes to show how swings and roundabouts it is Madam .

At least with what you said about lab tech, that was all I meant with work experience - you get to see the industry, rather than do a difficult job - so, yes, you're right, you could only be a lab tech without the degree, but the experience would mean that you saw how the industry works, and would give you that extra bit of money to start off with.

It's definitely a good idea to have that option avaialble for school leavers. Quite often, theese days, i thi they feel like they're rather left on their own if they don't go to uni.

I think it depends. I went to a good university, got a 2:1 and a good job on graduation. By the time I was 25 I was earning around £50k. This would never have been possible without a decree, and it would be very difficult for me to do one now as I would have to pay for childcare costs.

Another consideration especially for girls is that it was good for me to get my career etc sorted before I had children.

That all being said no point in getting into debt for a degree that isn't worth much to future employers.

I have worked for 3 big graduate employers and have been involved in graduate (finance) recruitment. They will not even look at application forms unless at least 3Bs at a-level and & 2:1 from Russell Group university. Would occasionally consider degree from less respected university if it was in respected subject AND decent A levels AND 1st (maybe 2:1) AND candidate had done loads of good extra-curricular stuff.

I think people should do their degrees at whatever age suits them.

However I wouldn't actively encourage young uns not to go at 18/19.
This is when they'll have plenty of energy to study and work and socialise.
They won't have financial commitments to worry about so can live as cheaply as possible.
Also, it will be a rare job that you can just leave uni and walk into. Lots require internships, training, a second degree etc.

Also, let's be honest, a lot of us would perfer to see our children through it both financially and emotionally...before we're in our dotage and no use to anyone.

surely if we want to see them through it financially we need to wait until we're about to pop our clogs -after all they'll leave University with masses of debt