To think DD should pick a different degree/do something else?

[Shivers11]

DD has an A level in maths at grade C. She is starting uni in September which is a degree with foundation year for wildlife conservation... AIBU to think she should waste 37k odd on it?!

I say support her in her passions and interests because they are a wonderful and precious thing. If that's leading her to this course, then brilliant. No reason to try and turn her into a money making robot.

People worry about student loans way too much. You don't pay them off until you can afford them, they don't impact your ability to get a mortgage and nobody will ever come banging on your door to repossess your house! I've been paying mine off for my entire working life and barring if I get a bonus and a big chunk comes out then (which is annoying, but not a hardship), I've never even noticed.

Whether this is the right course for your DD or not, who knows - but student loans alone shouldn't be enough to put anyone off going to university if they really want to.

My concern would be that the uni has accepted her with only one A-level (and a C at that.) To me, that shows that it's not a prestigious or respected course, and probably something that shouldn't be taught at a university - I.e. An academic environment. It sounds like she would be better at a technical college or similar (others mentioned agricultural college above.) Is she straight out of school? It may be that she just doesn't know what options are available to her.

If it's what she wants to do she should do it! As simple as.

DS wanted to do environmental studies with an interest in conservation and planning infrastructure, basically how to build in a way that helps to conserve the area. He researched and found that civil engineering would give him the degree that would alow him to persue both so he's in the middle of a 2 year foundation degree which should lead to starting in the 2nd year of uni. However, there is the potential for a paid job where the employer will pay for the degree so he would get paid while studying part time and accumulate experience as well.

If she's really interested then encourage her to do her research and see if there are different avenues to achieve her goal. I will admit that I'm relieved that DS has chosen something that will give him more options in the future, because he'll always have engineering and construction to fall back on.

Btw, DS had already been offered places on environmental science courses before he decided to do the foundation degree instead, so he went back to tech rather than uni, although the course is accredited by the local university and ties in with their engineering and architecture degrees

most people who studied non-specific degrees such as English, History, Social, (basically all humanities) are all retraining as trades

Bollocks.

OP if she gets a shit minimum wage job at the end of it she won't be paying back her loan at all so does it really matter? I'm not sure you can really tell her what she can and can't do.

Others - it's a degree with a foundation year, not a foundation degree, they are two different things.

if she doesn't earn a decent salary she'll never have to pay it back!

it's not as simple as £37k debt

YABU let her do the course she wants to.
We helped all 3 of our DDs research the degrees they wanted to do and gave them advise but the decision was theirs. All 3 of them enjoyed there degree and worked hard.
An acquaintance of mine refused to let their daughter to a Drama degree and pushed her into doing a science one with a foundation year. The result was she hated it and ended up failing. She now works as a care worker in a care home for the minimum wage

most people who studied non-specific degrees such as English, History, Social, (basically all humanities) are all retraining as trades

^ This is total crap. Although most of them won't become English professors/historians/whatever, most will work in professional roles that require the transferrable skills a degree imparts.

It does depend on what university you go to though - an English degree from, e.g. Bangor, won't be as helpful or as highly regarded by employers as one from Oxbridge.

I would add that even though the university itself may be towards the bottom of the list that that doesn't mean that all its programs are. Wildlife Conservation Biology may in itself be quite specialized but may actually lend itself to a variety of roles and also the fieldwork required will help her build a level of self sufficiency etc that she may not get in other courses. Not many place do that particular course and as a result you may find that there is not so much competition for related posts after graduation.

My concern would be that the uni has accepted her with only one A-level (and a C at that.) To me, that shows that it's not a prestigious or respected course, and probably something that shouldn't be taught at a university

Isn't that the point of foundation degrees though? You don't have enough qualifications to apply for the normal degree so you have an additional year which prepares you.

Cardiff University offers a foundation year for the degree I did. It's in the Russell Group and is well respected.

I've found a degree has helped me get a job in a field completely unrelated to the subject. Some employers like it. At the end of the day a student loan doesn't actually affect you until you start earning over £21,000 and then it's only proportional to what you earn.

Totally agree with Hazeydays... that is the whole point of a foundation year... the Wildlife Conservation Biology course has quite high entry requirements and would need substantially more than a single A-level to get into the 1st year (think more like 3 As and Bs) but the foundation year recognizes that not everyone either has A levels or for what ever reason messed up... it also tends to have some more mature students... and by the time they go into the main 1st year they are more focused and for the most part tend to do much better in their degree courses after.

It's all well and good to say she'll never pay the loans back if she only works in minimum wage jobs but the other thing to consider is her expectations. If she's unable to get one of the few jobs in the area, will she be ok with that or will she wake up in five years fed up of her minimum wage job and wishing she'd studied something else? Fees are so expensive, university is a one shot thing for the majority of people.

I think if she's genuinely passionate about it, and isn't a materialistic / likes the finer things in life type person she should go for it.

If she's not hugely passionate and would like to be able to have a certain lifestyle / spending power, maybe she could look into courses for HR/finance/IT, build up some volunteer work in wildlife/environment type stuff and aim to finally get a job for a charity or organisation like the RSPCA / Wildlife trust / WWF in a support role? This would give her more options and security while still allowing her to be working as part of the general cause.

It's so hard as a teen to make a decision regarding a career I think. Particularly trying to work out if you'll genuinely be happy earning very little but doing something you think you'll enjoy. Its easy to think money doesn't matter at all as a teen, hard to understand the reality of what it actually means to live on a relatively low wage in the long term. And hard to know how much you'll really enjoy the job and whether it will be genuinely worth the financial sacrifice or not.