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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To consider moving to Wales, to avoid tuition fees?

56 replies

serin · 25/08/2011 23:04

We live very close to the Welsh border (crossing it most days), and it just seems so unfair that my kids will have to pay uni tuition fees yet if we moved few miles away they might not have to. Although I am aware that this situation may change in the future.

Anyone know how long one has to be resident there to qualify?

OP posts:
chopchopbusybusy · 26/08/2011 00:02

Flubbabubba, English students at Scottish universities do pay. It's the country of domicile that counts.

PricklyThistle · 26/08/2011 00:03

If you want to move to another country to have DC educated at a lower cost to you personally, and you and they are then prepared to stay and reinvest back into the country that has supported them, then yanbu.
However, not everyone in England is going to be able to do that. Maybe English inhabitants need to look at sorting out their country's priorities.

Whatmeworry · 26/08/2011 00:05

Of course it is real money, but it would be a crying shame if this policy put poorer students off HE altogether

And thus it is a crying shame....

I'd reckon its probably a wash with 1 kid (stamp duty, cost of move etc etc) but costs in with 2+

You just have to hope Wales doesn't put theirs up later.

creamola · 26/08/2011 00:08

all free in Scotland ..........you even get a bursary ....

which essentially means the government gives you £2495 per year

I do feel for the English kids though it must be scary to be faced with huge tution fees?

PricklyThistle · 26/08/2011 00:10

I feel for English kids too. But it's about government priorities....wars, nuclear weapons etc v education, health and social services?

MyGoldfishIsEvil · 26/08/2011 00:21

yanbu. If all the other factors in your life (like schools, work etc) fit in with a move over the border, then I would consider it.

I'm in the SE, so I wouldn't actually do it myself, but if I was a few miles from the Welsh border I would.

It breaks my heart to think how much my children will have to pay to go to uni - I had a full grant when I went. They brought student top-up loans in while I was actually there, and that felt bad enough at the time :(

creamola · 26/08/2011 00:24

pricklythistle thats is why Wales and Scotland always went againest the grain of England ........

maypole1 · 26/08/2011 01:08

chopchopbusybusy and thats the whole point we as parents shouldn't be encouraging our children to do pointless studies

Is ok to do that when its free but times have changed we need maths teachers,engineers doctors and nurses to be honest

Hopefully this wil
Make parens really focus on wether
A their Childs should be going to uni
B what uni their child is going to eg value for money as all degrees are no equal

C can you get a bloody job out of what yu want to do

And I think your of their going to be a doctor or somthing of that ilk then 9% in the grand scheam of things is not to bad

maypole1 · 26/08/2011 01:10

PricklyThistle
Lets not for get labour brought fees in not torys you got your grant when tories were in power its labour that stopped it.

AtheGoddessOfAtheism · 26/08/2011 01:11

YANBU at all. I'm planning on moving to Switzerland next year so that I can take a PhD. The difference is about £8000 / year!

EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 26/08/2011 01:24

Is ok to do that when its free but times have changed we need maths teachers,engineers doctors and nurses to be honest

And extra debt is going to encourage a lot of people to become teachers. Because we pay them so well.

Cocoflower · 26/08/2011 01:28

Would you as parents have to be living in Wales though? I dont see why

As long as you dc live there at time of studying that's all that matters surely?

midlandsmumof4 · 26/08/2011 01:47

I'd consider moving to Wales to avoid paying for presciptions......Grin

MaMattoo · 26/08/2011 02:01

There is no guarantee that fees won't change by the time your kids are ready to go to Univ. Also no guarantee that they would want to.
Debt is debt, low interest or no interest and so it is avoidable. This govt has sold the fee idea based on the 'but you won't pay blah blah till blah blah' err I would rather not have debt.
A good Univ and a good course makes education worthwhile, whether it is English or art history..the idea is to learn to think, to learn, explore and grow. I find this whole maths and English this very bothersome!
Tory or labour - education should be accessible to all who want it!

Move if it's not too much of an effort! And educated child is an investment!

AtheGoddessOfAtheism · 26/08/2011 03:04

Tory or labour - education should be accessible to all who want it!

This.

And that should include postgraduate education as far as I am concerned. Getting a first degree "merely" gets you into debt. After that it's a question of where to make debts for many.

A colleague is currently considering abandoning his PhD. He's on a scholarship and used to teach at uni part-time and work two extra part-time jobs in order to afford living in London. Due to cuts made at the dept he has lost the teaching job. And the university is now saying that they may withdraw his scholarship too due to him taking too much time for his PhD. Well, yes. Might be because he's also working.

I hate the idea of education basically being the privilege of those who have.

chopchopbusybusy · 26/08/2011 07:40

Maypole, a graduate with a pointless degree is less likely to ever earn much over £21000, so therefore less likely to have to pay off the debt. So their pointless degree will be free to them, but considerable cost to the government.
Will peo

chopchopbusybusy · 26/08/2011 07:42

Will people still want to become teachers and nurses if they have to get into huge debt to do so? Or will all our nurses be Scottish and welsh?

Collaborate · 26/08/2011 07:54

OP. Would your children still be able to attend the same schools if you move? If so, I'd do it. A government minister said on radio last week graduates earn £100k more over their careers.

Of course they pay tax on that, and get it on the drip. Ask any financial advisor or actuary and they'll tell you it's a crap investment to get £60k in debt (that's what it'll be with subsistence on top - NUS figures) in order to get back £100k over the next 45 years.

MaMattoo · 26/08/2011 07:56

I teach at a Univ and got my PhD a while ago. It's sad to hear them speak about the 'Market evening out demand and supply' it is sad to think that they want to run it as a profit making business. Whoever can pay top dollar can have the front seat in a lecture. They are also cutting all research money so teaching quality will eventually decline too. It's a gloomy future right now. I would say move if it makes life look a little better and increase some chances.. I would save (am starting to save) to send DS to a good Univ wherever in the world it may be.

Strawbezza · 26/08/2011 08:02

The graduates who earn £100K extra over their careers are the ones who graduated in the 70's and before - i.e. those that have already had careers. I suspect it will be very different in forty years' time. Also, don't forget that there are hardly any £30K entry-level salary 'graduate jobs'. The great majority of current graduates end up in jobs that don't require a degree.

sleepevader · 26/08/2011 08:05

Weirdly enough I was thinking this yesterday. Wondered if if would be worth my sister doing it.

Started off thinking about free hospital parking and prescriptions.

Then uni fees.

Sister lives v close to border. Is in rented. I would move if I wasn't so far away and had issues with it affecting access issues.

travailtotravel · 26/08/2011 08:06

I wouldn't move. There are already legal cases going ahead about Scotland charging £xyz to English students which is MORE than they charge students from other European countries, and the same as they charge other overseas students. I can't imagine that is going to be the first case.

I'd wait for the outcomes of that before deciding where to live, because I don't believe the inequality and unfairness can continue. I'd hope that a lot of people will see sense shortly -everyone, Scottish, Welsh, English should all pay the same, irrespective of where we live.

travailtotravel · 26/08/2011 08:09

And Hopefully, deploy the Scottish model Grin - hopeful emoticon!

SheCutOffTheirTails · 26/08/2011 08:14

A University sector that just trains people to do the jobs that need to be done right now will not give us the kind of flexible, creative, innovative workforce we need.

The "it's not really a debt" fails because interest accrues even while your salary is below the threshold. A mounting debt is a real debt. The marginal tax rate for people who are about to reach the threshold will be a disincentive to take on better paid work.

Runlolarun · 26/08/2011 08:28

I would move too! I think if it was only a few miles you could keep your children in their current schools. fees will be based on residency NOT where they went to school. The current amount of residency should be 2 years? I am also planning this. I am temporarily out of the country. I STILL PAY TAX (even though I don't currently use healthcare, education or anything else!) but I am planning on returning so my children can have a first class education at a price that is still slightly more affordable. I am one who believes that education should be open to all.