to be shocked by uni fee's for 2012

[katedan]

After alot of thought and a need to make a positive step to improve my life I have decided to train to be a social worker. I have applied to do a access course from this Sept with the hope of geting a uni place locally from Sept 2012. I as feeling really good that I as taking steps to aim for a career I really want to do but have now realised how much it will cost to do a uni degree from 2012 ( the fee's seem to be between 7 and 8k a year). I don't want this to put me off but it has made me think again. My husband is in full time work so we would not get any help. So should I just forget my plan to go to uni or take out a student loan and pray I can make it through the course and earn enough as a social worker to repay it.

The average is over £8K per year. Ours is £9K. Maybe look at a course which provides a bursary.

YANBU to be shocked. I work as a uni lecturer and I am shocked. It will change the face of higher education forever, in ways that probably the government don't expect.

For all that I am against the new fees regime, I would still advise going to uni if that is the only way to be able to get into your chosen career. There is a repayment threshold, so that you don't start paying back the student loan until you earn over a certain amount. However, do make sure you have looked into all possibilities for getting into social work in case there are any 'train on the job' schemes or FE courses.

I believe the OU do a degree in social work. they used to at least. Have you looked into that? A friend of mine trained through the OU and he has been successful in his career.

good luck.

you wouldn't need to do an access course either.

we will very likely drop one of our undergraguate programmes as we can see low uptakes due to the fee rise

Second the OU thing - 8 thousand a year leaves you with debts of 24 grand before you have even started. My partner retrained as a teacher and the pressure it put on our relationship was phenomenal. I dont think you should let it put you off but I definitely think you should seek other options first. YANBU, btw - good social workers are absolutely essential in this country and a 24 grand cost of becoming one is only going to make a job that is already hard, that much harder to recruit into.

Another option which might be open to you is to skip the Access course and do a degree with a foundation year. A friend did this and the foundation year was similar to the Access course but it was classified as part of the degree, so you'd be starting your degree in 2011 not 2012. Or, there are two-year Foundation degrees in some places which won't require an Access degree (then you can do another year to top it up to an honours degree). My friend's degree is in another subject so no idea if it's possible with social work, but it might be worth looking into it.

I think that courses like social work, which have a career path could be worth paying for. The courses which will struggle to recruit students for are some academic courses at "new" universities.

Many arts courses only have about 5 hours contact time. I think that students are not going to want to put up with that any longer. If people have to pay for courses, then they are going to expect value for their money, both in terms of contact time, and future career prospects.

I was under the impression that a social work degree incurs no fees as they are funded?

My apologies it has changed since I looked at doing it, it used to be a funded course. There is a NHS bursary available to you though. Good luck in whatever career path you choose.

YANBU

Some people are able to get a bursary re: the social work course. Do you already meet the requirements to get in, or will you be taking an access course (or similar) beforehand?

Our uni is chargin 9k a year from 2012. Which is depressing. DS has already decided he wants to go to uni (might change his mind in... ooh... 15 years) but I dread to think how much it's cost by then.

Good luck, OP. It's a worthwhile degree.

Sorry, missed where yoou said you've signed up for the access course. I loved that course... Met my best friend, there.