As University Fees Rocket, Potential Students Wonder If It’s Worth It
Government Ministers will parrot the line that higher tution fees won’t stop people from applying to go to University. However common sense would suggest that prospective students, facing £60,000 debt before their working lives have even begun are inevitably going to be considering their options.
With economic times uncertain, university graduates are unlikely to face a buoyant jobs market for some time. The hirers’ market will be reflected in the depressed salaries on offer, and thousands of graduates will be hitting the dole queue. Many will be saddled with astronomical debt and with scant prospect of extricating themselves.
With the outlook for gradutes so bleak, the usefulness of a university education will inevitably be questioned. Students and their parents will begin to examine the ‘necessity’ of undergraduate study, wondering whether it might be deferred or passed up altogether. Applications for vocational courses are sure to rise, with arts and humanities squeezed as they have fewer practical applications. And many students will be forced to remain in the family home in order to trim costs.
With job insecurity now an accepted part of working life, young people will be apt to view the classic ‘school-university-job for life’ progression as being unrealistic and so will look to hedge their bets, perhaps by first amassing savings and experience in a career.
Getting real-world skills and business knowledge whilst studying a relevant qualification such as a business HND, may be seen not only as a sensible choice but also a better means to get to where one ultimately wants to go.
In addition, with the development of courses online, study through distance learning is increasingly liberating. Students are not tied to a time and a place of study, but can study when and when they wish.
The distance option also informs the student that study is not merely university then ‘stop’. E-learning, by consigning the classroom to history, may also be calling ‘time’ on the rigid and inconvenient period of ‘timeout’ devoted simply to study.
With debt and uncertainty waiting, the young are going to take a more fluid and open-ended approach to the business of study. However difficult the initial transition, the change will bring practical benefit to their futures.