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.

[Dozer]

Scotland (and wales and NI) have more money to spend per head than england, through the "barnett formula" which is really old but was intended to be temporary.

[MrsKeithRichards]

"Some of his mates don't even know I exist, they ignore me!"

[pollypandemonium]

"His Mum stays over for months every Summer and doesn't give us any money for food & bills"

:)

[LadyBeagleEyes]

I don't understand that last one polly, am I just being thick?

[pollypandemonium]

The Queen.

[FannyFifer]

"Mil also had a tea party that she makes me pay for but doesn't invite me"

[Geranium3]

49creme eggs, ok your tuition fees are lower but i bet your heating bills in freezing scotland must be 5times higher than ours in the much warmer south west so what i save in heating bills will be the differential in uni fees i reckon!!!
And we don't have to endure your ghastly mr salmond, god he gives me the creeps!

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Yes, it's a whole few degrees warmer on average, positively tropical

[13Iggis]

Temperatures in London and Edinburgh are exactly the same at the moment.

[Geranium3]

we are over 300miles west of london, why do so many people think london is the centre of the universe?!!!

[pollypandemonium]

Thanks to hefty EU subsidies forced on Scotland by the English they have well insulated homes and plenty of sustainable fuel to see them through. This will enable them to continue studying for their degree through the winter months.

Meanwhile I freeze in my rattly drafty English house.

[redlac]

Don't forget the the lovely water we have up here Polly! When the south has its hosepipe ban we have it falling out of the sky! Maybe we could export the water when the oil runs out :)

[49CremeEggs]

Oh dear, getting quite lost here.

Geranium - my heating is hardly on. I much prefer to put on an extra layer when chilly. But even if the heating was on 24/7, i doubt it would equate to £9,000 a year. This is a ghastly amount for a university to charge.

And from what i've learned on this thread, our 'ghastly' Mr Salmond is giving uni education to Scots for free or for £1,850 a year max.

[13Iggis]

Geranium if I were to google your exact location's temperature I would've needed to know where you live!

[redlac]

Hahaha at our heating bills being 5 times higher - we don't all live up a snow covered mountain you know

Yet more ill informed shite about Scotland

[LadyBeagleEyes]

That's the daftest thing I've ever read.
In my little corner of the NW Highlands we have had no snow this year.
And an amazing summer where we had practically no rain at all while the rest of the UK drowned in it.
I kept shouting at the weather forecast on the telly and to people on MN saying 'But it's nice here'.
Ok, it's not the norm, but our temperature differences in general, are negligible.

[Geranium3]

OP i did have my tongue rather firmly in my cheek with my previous remarks!
Years ago we lived in stonehaven and then near glasgow and really enjoyed it, though sorry alex salmond i can't take to!

[49CremeEggs]

Sorry, Geranium! Really hard to read people's tones on here sometimes.

Sorry again.

[redlac]

300 miles west of London? I'm guessing Cornwall which is currently -2c Edinburgh is current at 1c

Mmmm

[ubik]

Edinburgh is fucking freezing. Absolutely Baltic.

[49CremeEggs]

It's sad that i might actually turn down future work opportunities in England because of all this. I wouldn't want to risk my dd losing out on her potentially SAAS funded fees. So i could end up giving up a well paid NHS job opportunity in England to avoid my dd getting a massive debt. It's just so stupid.

I really hope that English fees will go back down by the time my dd goes to uni (if she decides to go of course that is - i'd never push it on her).

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Ladybeagle..DH is from NW Highlands..lovely part of the world

[13Iggis]

Bear in mind your dd may have her own ideas about where she wants to study - she may not want to stay in Scotland!
Also, if your work opportunities are significantly better in England, the extra money you can save might even out the cost of fees.

[Geranium3]

no worries OP, i'm actually jealous of your uni fees, that is how it should be for everyone in the UK, i am still angry with the liberal democrats that they broke their promise at the last election of no uni fees.

[Roseformeplease]

Drought here last summer. Hosepipe ban on the islands and the real danger of running out of water. No snow and glorious weather at the moment. What's not to love?

But....I am English and have been here a long time and I HATE sports yet still have to be ridiculed and insulted by a minority of wankers whenever there is any kind of England / Scotland football thing on. Rugby fans aren't bothered but I found the Anyone But England thing, frankly, insulting. Some of the comments, if you substituted another rqce, would be taken far more seriously. The English seem to be fair game, sadly.

My husband is Scottish, as are my children, and he finds the whole attitude rather embarrassing. (He went to University with Salmond who, he maintains, is racist and looks like a guppy).

I also have concerns that the free tuition is keeping students in Scotland (teacher - see it all the time) and so bringing up a generation who are increasingly insular, parochial and not prepared to compete. If you just pop down the road to the local Uni with your mates you are missing out on the chance to spread your wings. Large parts of Scotland are far from multi-cultural and I would love my own children to go to London, Dublin, Cardiff (anywhere) for University. Sadly, they will be restricted to Scotland by the desire to avoid paying fees. Not sure that the Tuition thing for English students isn't being challenged in the courts at the moment.