To think that if you are university educated then give up your career...

[KingRolo]

...you should have to pay back the university fees?

I know several SAHMs who have degrees and professional qualifications but have no intention of returning to their old jobs. Some of them only worked for a couple of years before giving it all up.

I know two men who trained to become doctors and then soon after qualifying left to backpack round Australia.

That's fine, it's a free world, but the tax payer paid for these people to spend years in full time education. And for what?

So is it fair that 18 year olds (or their parents) have to pay huge tutition fees when people who were lucky enough to benefit from free education then decide not to use it?

Maybe I'm being U but it does annoy me a bit!

Why do you resent someone's choosing to go to university?

People study for all sorts of reasons, not just for a career. I did a Philosophy degree and I can proudly say that it's never come in useful in any of my jobs, ever.

It is not at all improbable that you might study, pass all your exams and then find that the career you chose just isn't for you - I found that after completing my PGCE.

So, yes, you are being unreasonable. Learning has inherent value beyond the salary you might earn as a result of it.

YABU.

a) Presumably they paid some sort of fees? Or at the very least, took out loans to support themselves through uni?

b) How could they have known at 18 how they'd want to live their lives once they had children? What's the alternative? All 18 yr olds who think they may want to have children and stay at home with them should forfeit their education?

c) They may well return to work one day. Most SAHMs/Ds don't stay at home forever.

d) The taxpayer has far more pressing issues than this one!

YABVU.

I never wentto uni but I was aprofessional.

I gave up work because I wanted to be at home with my children. As it happens I am now a carer - which is the lowest paid and least rewards yet essential job on the planet.

It is my choice and none of your business.
So bite me

YABVU.

And I agree with trellism.

You could equally sat that they've wasted their A levels. So how about they pay back the cost of them staying on at school after they could have been down the pit earning a living?

I read history at uni and have never used it as such and am a SAHM at the moment. However, having a degree has come in useful many a time- and I can see that in the future it will stand me in good stead.

How about making people who got a free state education and then go on to be lazy feckers pay back the tax cost of their education too? Let's be inclusive in this.

I think you're right.

Girls just shouldn't go to school at all, and then we won't have this problem.

Just being home for a while is not the same as never paying abck you know!

I'm at home after graduating year before last, duing teh degree it became apaprent that ds1 and ds3 were autistic enough to need a carer, which is what I am; should I have packed in the degree?

No.

I have full intention of paying it off, and am doing a PT MA to work towards that, but not yet.

DH started Uni this week as well becuase it's ar more proactive than post=-redundancy gloom. Ie xpect he'll pay back starting within a few weeks ofgraduationm but who knows waht's around the corner.

Basically,IMO intention is everything when t comes to student loans- if you intend to pay back one day (and what you do jobwise to do that is nobodies business) then fine.

there were a few students I met who have already emigrated to non-treaceable destinations (China, India) to aovid it but I think they're rare- did make me though

Btw, this thing will kick off, I'm going to hide this thread before all the "dumping your kids on strangers", and "missing out on precious moments" stuff starts.

lol!@GirlsAreLoud

I wholeheartedly agree. If only girls wouldn't insist on all this 'book learning' stuff. It doesn't have any relevance to their real purpose in life, which is to breed and look pretty.

why do you think they got it free? they would have still paid fees like everyone else.
i went to uni, and never had a career after graduating at all. i've never even applied for any kind of full time job, but I don't see what that has to do with you or anyone else so yabu

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVU.

I'm a SAHM most of the year because I live in the Arse end of Europe where there is no childcare.

Was I supposed to not have a child then because I went to uni?

Did you get rejecred for uni KingRolo ? Not clever enough ?

'Sassybeast goes off to polish her framed degree and MA certificates and then apply fresh lippy for when hubby comes home - simper'

ah yes, let's make 18-year-olds even more panicky about choosing the right career at such a young age

Ooh yes quite agree, and while we're at it can I have some of my tax back please because it goes to funding hospitals and care homes and I've hardly ever been in hospital and never in a care home. Perhaps I can have some of my NI back too cos I've never signed on. Oh and I'll have some of my council tax back too cos I don't use all my local council's services.

KingRolo, I dont know if you were just being controversial with this thread? Maybe it doesn't really reflect what you think? I don't know...I hope so. But it does sound slightly like you are jealous of friends with better options and more money than you...

Gah! YABVVVVVVU!

Reminds me of something some chap from the CBI bleating on on Radio 4 about how industry were universities "customers". Made me irrationally . Students are customers. Employers (unless directly funding courses) are stakeholders. There's a difference and to claim that universities are there primarily to benefit industry, imo, an eff-off great example of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Have I gone OT?

YABU

You can't decide who will be the beneficiary of your tax !

What about all those foreign trained professionals who have come over to the UK and filled vacancies to the detriment of their home country???

Are you suggesting that SAHMs don't serve a useful function in society? That's pretty ignorant. Future workforce and all that.

It cost me £6000 to train to be a teacher, not as much debt as some now but took me well over 5 years to pay it back. You could also say that in return for getting a university education, I got a higher paid job and have therefore paid more tax. I plan to return one day but have been unsuccessful so far in anything which would have been workable around my family.

But I believe that there is research which says that the level of a mother's education contributes to greater success for their children at school, so even if I am not doing the job my university education meant for, I am contributing towards society.

YABU

I think OP is being hugely reasonable, and rather forward-looking. I would like to suggest some further ideas:

1. don't educate girls at all - they fail to return on the investment made by the state. Total waste of time.

1. Children who pass 11+ should have the majority of secondary school funding. This will pay for a personal mentor - from a government department - who will check monthly on the student's progress and ensure they are going into a profession which will serve the state.

1. Boys who are less able, should receive a cursory education good enough to fit their status.

1. Once in university, the mentees should not be allowed out at night, or to pursue anything which might detract from their studies - such as mountain climbing, socializing or playing musical instruments.

1. Once they have chosen their vocation at 18 they must sign a contract agreeing to work in said profession for the rest of their lives. Failure to keep to this contract should result in a death penalty.