to think that 'so you get really rich' is not a good reason to go to university?

[secondstoryteller]

....MIL's card to DS, nice to wish him luck, but....this is not someone who has struggled all her life, either...and evidence from DPs life is that university does NOT make you really rich anyway!

Would it not have been tongue in cheek. For society to function we need to be motivated by different things.

this is someone who somehow manages to hint at the cost of every gift she gives.

i think it's the best idea to go to university going, tbh, IF it actually were true.

but it's not.

as long as he can support himself, would rather he were not motivated by money- my aspiration for my kids is that they can earn a living in a job that they are either passionate about OR is socially useful, ideally both...maybe IABU.

"so you can get wasted and make a tit of yourself every night" is what she should have put...

well, i've been nothing but poor for most of my adult life, entirely my own fault and the result of a catalogue of incompetence that would rival the thickness of a NYC phonebook.

if my kids want to pursue richness as a goal, i'm all for it, so long as it involves going about it honestly.

I think if it were a very likely thing, getting really rich would be the best reason on Earth to go to university, and as people with degrees earn significantly more than people who leave at 16 to work in Morrisons, all she is doing is simplifying a known socioeconomic trend.

Has she not heard of student debt?

it's not a sure thing nowadays, unfortunately, SC.

and then there are the Duncan Ballantyne's of this world, who are many among the super rich, who never set foot in a university or who, like Bill Gates, dropped out.

ditto expat - I have successfully scuppered any chance I ever had to be rich - I'd have been better off going to university. If I get a degree in later life, I will be motivated by the money!

it hasnt made me rich

but i thought that was the reason that the government give for going so you cvan earn an extra 150k in your lifetime compared with a non graduate

There's people working in supermarkets with degrees too. I think its also the best reason to go to uni tbh, rather that than like puppymonkey says to get wasted every night. I didn't go, had no intention of going, much to my parents dismay. I would not encourage my daughter to go either.

on average thosee who atend uni earn more than those who dont.so whilst there are examples of millionaires who didnt go, you are likely to earm more as graduate

Uni is fun,get drunk,meet,mates,study hard,play hard.chose a course you enjoy and are stimulated by

Money cannot buy happiness, and most people know this.

What many comfortably off people don't realise is that money can buy a great deal of misery alleviation.

It's one thing to not own a car because your ethics won't allow this. It's quite another to never see how you could EVER run a car even though you really need one, because you just don't have the money.

The working poor in this country are teetering on the brink of utter ruin. Yes, some of them have degrees, but proportionately, most don't. Most people who work in supermarkets, cheese factories, card shops, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers don't have degrees. Most people who work as doctors, surgeons, consultants, financial advisers, and solicitors do. We all know which group earns more.

Of course there's the plumbers and electricians versus the nurses and teachers, but plumbers and electricians have a great deal of vocational training.

You really need to pick the right course if you want to ensure your degree helps you get rich.

Some do.

Lots don't.

I would like DS to pick a course that will ensure he gets a high earning job out of it, if he ever wants to go to uni.

I must have missed that course when I was at university then!

Undoubtedly you can make better choices if you have good qualifications, but then it's up to you to make the most of those choices. And not all the choices that people want to make are about money or material reward.

Going to university no longer seems to be about 'bettering' yourself in the sense of enjoyment of learning and personal development.

I agree with that last post of yours colditz.

Money helps in life, and makes things easier, that's for sure.

I have teo degrees (a BSc Honours and a PGCE) as well as vocational traiing (chef) and yet I am still living on the poverty line

The 'bettering yourself' courses tend to be the ones where, three years later, you're working in a spice factory in Nantwich wondering where it all went wrong.

The course that lead to high paying jobs lead to a good wage, a life lower in financial stress, and a lack of working 50 hours a week in a post office corner shop with diabetes and a prolapsed womb.

ambi surprised at your post you would not encourage DD to go to uni?i would encourage my LO do what want but not discourage uni

if i am being honest yes i do want LO to attend Uni. i was 1st (and only) person in my family to go and i really value education. i am saving for my lo uni expenses

Not sure about that Colditz.

Depends what you mean by bettering yourself courses! My degree is 'useless' in the sense that it doesn't automatically lead to employment in a specific job/industry. But it did automatically entitle me to apply for jobs in a wide range of industries/types of jobs, simply because I had a degree.

wish I'd thought of that!

i think if you get a degree you have tp work equally hard after to find a job that uses /values it and then pursue further jobs that do and not get diverted into bringing up kids and giving up work

Hm, I am about to start UNiversity as a mature student...and the reason why I do it, is, so, that I can get a good Job that pays reasonably well as a 2. wage and that I will truely enjoy!
And in a way teh enjoy is one of the main factors....because I could just return into Nursing, earn similarly to what I will earn after I have done this course, but be utterly miserable.
I do hope that my children will be inspired by me...but who knows

my dd1 applied for 200 jobs

she graduated last summer and got the first graduate job..in march this year

she had lots of interviews eventually she took one as a political lobbyist and was then offered a similar role for tesco..but she stuck with the first..she is earning about 25k

degree in spanish and international relations but she also did a lot of unpaid high powered work experience as she was totally focused on making her cv excellent

she is very determined and that is the crucial factor

Come on though, be honest, you mainly to go University because you have aspirations of getting a high paid, high flying job. It might not have worked out that way, but that's why most of us went.

And I wouldn't read too much into whatever MIL writes in a card. My father is obsessed with money too, because he's never had any, was always in debt etc. Now his favourite topic is money and he likes to think that we will one day all be high earners so that we can pay him an allowance once a week! Half of that is tongue in cheek but I know that if we all offered he wouldn't turn us down!