How many years is it going to take before 18 year olds realise that going to Uni is only worth it for about 20% of people

[Hammy02]

I went to an old poly and wish I hadn't as it didn't make much difference to my career prospects. DP went to a 'proper' Uni and earns about 60K so it was worth it for him. All I did was waste my time. Many students will now be racking up such huge debts that it will hugely impact their future. AIBU?

missmiss this is what I am so afraid will affect my DS in 4 years time

I am so hoping that employers catch on to the idea of aptitude tests for every applicant from the age of 16 or that vocational qualifications become available again.

My company turns over approx £30 million pa, so not huge but not tiny either.

It is office-based and anyone who can read properly, write coherent, concise (correctly spellt) English, calculate some easy equations (less than GCSE standard) can do the entry-level jobs.

When hiring school or University leavers we look for more or less in order of preference:

1 A recommendation from a family member or friend or some other person who knows our company. No apologies to those who think using connections is somehow immoral - we live in the real world. We put some value on people who have joined us by this route because we have found that they are more committed , not wanting to let the recommender down.
2 That they have played team sport in a committed way ie regularly but to any level
3 A bright and engaging personality, with a positive attitude (very important) and lacking a sense of entitlement ie that they accept that they are starting at the bottom - more of an issue with graduates
4 Can convince us that they will take our training program seriously - some candidates declare that they have finished learning and do not show enthusiasm for training
5 Show some evidence that they have tried to find out about our business - amazing how many applicants don't bother to even visit the website
6 To be able to use a computer at a basic level - but I can't recall ever having an applicant that failed on this issue

We find that we can filter down substantially using just the criteria of personality, attitude and literacy. Some of the worst applicants in this sense have been those with degrees, usually the 'Mickey Mouse' kind.........

Admittedly the entry -level jobs do not pay a fortune (about 13K) but if someone does well they are earning £25K+ in approx 2 years

The company has 5 Directors (1 female), only the MD has a degree. Of the next level of management, none have degrees. Of the rest of the company (90 employees) about half are graduates, but that doesn't indicate anything about their career progression, some of the 'high-flyers' left school at 16.......it's all about committment, attitude and desire to do well.

MY point ? You don't need a degree to get an entry level job in my company, it doesn't disqualify you either but possession of a degree does not trump the other qualities we find important.

I can appreciate that education for its own sake is the motivation for attending University for some people and respect that choice. However if the goal is a 'good' job that pays well then I am not convinced that doing a plastic degree from a plastic Uni , producing 2.1 awards for people who cant spell or punctuate, does too much more than create crippling debt for no good reason.

My company sounds similar to abbscross in terms of turnover.

We don't require a degree for any position. 2 of the Directors have degrees, 2 don't. A lot of staff do have degrees but that is happenstance - not a requirement.

If you come in at an entry level position (£15k) you can be earning £20k within a couple of years. You can easily work your way up to one of the £80k+ roles in under 10 years.

You can come in at any level (and we pay many people over £100k) without a degree. Degrees are so far down our list of requrements. Yes if you have a first from Cambridge we will notice that, but it really really won't make a shred of difference to our recruitment.

We won't touch recent (within 2 years) graduates with a bargepole.
We don't care if you have a degree, what it is in or where you took it.

We care about personality far more. For non-entry level jobs then relevant experience is worth far more than a degree

I have a degree but it is not relevant to my role and I would have got the role with or without it. I am now an additional rate tax payer and the degree has had no influence on this whatsoever.

But university was still worth every penny even though it hasn't specifically affected my career.

I agree abbs

I benefited from doing an arts degree, but my career choice to back up my art making practice was teaching at university so I needed to do post graduate degree. I start my first position in September.

I'd like a job in catgirl's company!

Laquiter- I didnt say that all non graduates fit that stereotype, just that the ones I know, who stayed in their small towns and never moved away to uni have missed out on life skills and experience that you cant put a price tag on.

I see these 'loans' as a graduate tax rebranded. It hasnt changed my commitment to wanting all my dcs to go to uni.