To be gobsmacked at how lucky we are in Scotland with our low tuition fees? Hats off to you lot elsewhere in the UK - and foreign students!

[49CremeEggs]

Completed my first degree in my teens to early twenties. Got it completely free thanks to SAAS.

I'm starting a second unrelated undergraduate degree in September for which i will have to fund the last two years myself (it's an allied health professional course, so SAAS will still pay the first two years). Each year costs approx £1,850, so I hope to save £4,000 by the time i'm due to start my third year.

However, for the rest of the UK, it's £9,000 a year! For foreign students coming here to study, it's £13,500 a year

Why on earth does it vary so greatly? It's completely unfair.

Makes me realise just how lucky i am to be in Scotland. And i hope SAAS is still around in twelve years' time when my dd will (hopefully) be starting to think about uni.

Not meaning to sound patronising, but hats off to all you non-Scottish students. How on earth can anyone afford to study elsewhere? Do you get loans?

I took out a loan for living expenses during my first degree. Think it totalled to under £3000 for the whole course.

Safe to say, if i wasn't living in Scotland, i'd have moved here in a jiffy if it meant no tuition fees.

[Toadinthehole]

My understanding is that Scotland is allocated more public funding per head through the Barnett Formula. So, it has more to spend and needn't cut anything (in fairness it should be pointed out that tax revenues currently generated in Scotland cover it).

[AgentProvocateur]

Moomin, not sure about the edu budget, but I know that as a consequence of free prescriptions, we have longer waiting times for hospital, for example.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Education wise we don't have SATS or anything similar that must save a fair whack. Also enrolling in schools is very simple - just rock up at your nearest school, that must save a fair whack too. Free prescriptions actually save money as far as I know - it costs more to administer paid for prescriptions and all the opt out so than to make it free for everyone. Council budgets are being massively slashed but I guess that is the same everywhere.

[MrsKeithRichards]

I have also never seen any of the much lauded 'English hating' that Scottish people are meant to peddle. I have however seen many vicious attacks against Scotland and her people on these debates.

[MrsKeithRichards]

There are lots of cuts, such as free cosmetic dental correction for children (braces etc) vanishing, albeit quietly.

[AgentProvocateur]

And things like free bus travel for pensioners causes less isolation etc, and delays the need for social care intervention. And free prescriptions, as well as being cheaper to administer as someone said, means that people are more likely to take the medication - again, meaning that health improves long term.

[mrsjay]

I have also never seen any of the much lauded 'English hating' that Scottish people are meant to peddle. I have however seen many vicious attacks against Scotland and her people on these debates.

it really is viscous sometimes

[MrsKeithRichards]

Exactly, Scotland has had serious issues with health inequality and poor engagement in services. Excuse us for trying to do something about it!

[49CremeEggs]

Hi there.

I've avoided coming back to this thread because i try not to get involved in fights. It was definitely not my intention to create one!

I'm not stupid - but i am totally clueless when it comes to politics. I don't even know who Salmond is

I also didn't mean to sound 'gloaty'. I was just pondering aloud why the fees are so different across the UK.

I totally appreciate how fortunate i am. I am genuinely interested in how Englanders pay their fees. The nature of my second degree may mean i have to relocate to England after i graduate in order to work. And i'd like to have an idea of how fees work down there before i ever moved because of my daughter's future - probably planning way too far ahead, but i like to be organised. And this would be a huge deciding factor about whether or not i moved from Scotland.

I'm quite horrified actually by a lot of the responses. I only imagine it's because - like me - you're annoyed by how unfair it is that the fees are so expensive in England. But it's nothing to do with us Scots - it's to do with the government. I think our anger should be directed at them, not each other.

[13Iggis]

Creameggs, who do you think the first minister is?
(Rethinks position of support for OP! )

[Toadinthehole]

I've lived in a number of countries but my experience was that Scotland was by far the worst in terms of the personal animosity I faced. Unsurprisingly, the people responsible thought they were being entirely reasonable- something bigots worldwide have in common. It is this minority who appear to be driving the independence agenda.

[49CremeEggs]

I thought there was only one minister - the Prime minister Cameron.

That's why i didn't understand the fees being so varied across the UK. I always thought the UK was ruled by the same government, but now i realise Scotland has its own. So we have two governments... I think...

[13Iggis]

There are similar-but-different arrangements in Wales and NI too CreamEgg.
Not meaning to be patronising, just surprised a university-educated Scottish resident (presumably owning a tv) would not know that!

[mrsjay]

do you live here at all creme what do you think the scottish parliment is all about then,

[deste]

My DD was the only one on her university course to not get her fees paid from Scotland, she was the only Scot on the course. The rest were Irish. She did eventually get them paid through England, after a struggle. Her problem, she went to study in England.

[LadyBeagleEyes]

You don't know who Salmond is and you live in Scotland Op .
Toadinthehole, I'm Scottish and apart from many years living abroad, I've spent most of my life here.
My ex is English, the tiny Highland village I live in is probably half English, there are a hell of a lot of English living in Scotland.
If it was as bad as you say, why would they not get the next bus home?
My DB lives in the SE, he's been totally accepted too, apart from the odd remark from some arsehole. Both England and Scotland have an equal share of them.
And FWIW, I haven't decided what I'm going to vote yet, I'm quite happy with the union, just not the Tories. And also, like I and others have said, I've never seen a Scottish poster issue such vitriol against the English on MN as the English do about us.

[mrsjay]

I've never seen a Scottish poster issue such vitriol against the English on MN as the English do about us.

and get away with it

[49CremeEggs]

Politics had nothing to with my previous degree, nor anything to do with my future one. It's just something i've never been interested in.

I thought the Scottish parliment was just Cameron's people keeping an eye on things this side of the border (can't believe i'm admitting that!).

I understand better now, i think. Still think it's really unfair though. My mum is English. However, she moved up here twenty-odd years ago when she married my dad. So would she get free funding if she ever decided to go to uni, or would she still be considered English and have to pay?

Not meaning to sound offensive, but if SAAS is still around by the time my daughter's considering uni, i'd move back here in order to get her the SAAS-funded fees. But i don't know if she'd be entitled to it if we had been living in England throughout her high school years.

[mrsjay]

I thought the Scottish parliment was just Cameron's people keeping an eye on things this side of the border (can't believe i'm admitting that!).

we have had devolution for years how can you not know that do you not vote

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

You get the funding if you have been ordinarily resident in Scotland for at least three years prior to applying, it's nothing to do with being Scottish.

[Saltire]

There is animosity on both sides of the Border, I have been on the receiving end of it in the far south of England. However, I didn't hear any nasty remarks in other places I lived in England - except for one which was nasty. A few jokey comments (banter if you like) which I can deal with but no downright nasty comments really.

[redlac]

See the usual shite about Scotland is being spouted on this thread

I can't be arsed getting involved however I would happily donate to anyone who offered to run up millions of leaflets to post through every door in England to enlighten then that they do not fucking subsidise Scotland

[49CremeEggs]

Yes, i'm really embarrased. I'm just not interested in politics. As stupid as it sounds, i've always thought of the UK as one giant country rather than 4 individual ones. Which is why i posted this thread. I was confused why fees were so different. Had no idea Scotland has two parties of power - Tory and Scottish parliment (if that's even right.)

I don't read papers. I don't watch the news. I read online papers such as the Guardian every now and then, but it mainly talks about English events.

I suppose i ought to start looking for Scottish papers! My sister is fascinted with politics (has a degree in it). Many a time i found myself zoning out as a teen when her and my dad would talk about politics over dinner. Kind of wish i'd tuned in just a little bit more now though.

Please don't take the mick. My mum is the same as me. Not got the foggiest who's who in the world of politics.

[13Iggis]

Yes the elections are a bit of a clue!
Afaik eligibility is to do with residency not nationality.

[MissAnnersley]

The opening of the Scottish Parliament .