Universities

[munkee]

makes me wonder if its really worth going to uni! running up a 20k debt is not good! i might just do as much as i can in college(like going onto doing a hnd or something) then maybe go to uni? but im also thinking of starting up a bicyle repair workshop with some money i have saved, but thats gunna gunna take a while to get running properly i guess.

this is hard to decide! and i need to do it quick

Whoever told you your gonna get 20k debt forgot to mention the person that did it was a f**king retard. Dont bother with a student loan unless you have no other choice of funding. Just because your at uni doesnt mean you have to spend money constantly.. its really not that hard to not spend money. Its like people who get in debt.. then get a loan.. then go and buy a new tv with the money. Then get another loan to pay off the last. Seriously.. how hard is it to just cut back on the things which are classed as "wants" and not "needs". I spend hardly any money at uni in comparison with some of my mates. They find it a need to waste that £1500 loan in their bank on shite that they dont need. The loan is there to help you get through uni.. not for you to spend on booze and dvd's. Just think logically and you will be fine its no where near as bad as people make out.

Edited December 15, 2005 by Spacemunkee

[Michael Hardman]

It was used as an examplke of how not to manage your money.

I yook my student loans and put them into an isa now Im 20k to the good and ill pay some of it back at a time but i have the money for a desposit on a house, clever thinking and planning for the future I call it.

[ken_nic]

Im on a first year civil engineering course and seem to have loads of work to do . I have lectures at 9 every day and lots of work to do in the evening, unlike some of my house mates which just seem to do a bit of work now and then. So really it depends on what course you are doing. I dont want to get a job because im often away at the weekends with sports clubs so im going to be working of quite olot os dept in the holidays.

[Tomm]

Whoever told you your gonna get 20k debt forgot to mention the person that did it was a f**king retard. Dont bother with a student loan unless you have no other choice of funding. Just because your at uni doesnt mean you have to spend money constantly.. its really not that hard to not spend money. Its like people who get in debt.. then get a loan.. then go and buy a new tv with the money. Then get another loan to pay off the last. Seriously.. how hard is it to just cut back on the things which are classed as "wants" and not "needs". I spend hardly any money at uni in comparison with some of my mates. They find it a need to waste that £1500 loan in their bank on shite that they dont need. The loan is there to help you get through uni.. not for you to spend on booze and dvd's. Just think logically and you will be fine its no where near as bad as people make out.

My theory would be to f**k it and live for now. I'm not particularly arsed about being in debt (And I will be in at least £12 k debt when I'm finished), and it's more fun to buy stuff, than to not buy stuff. Although I do agree about people that moan about debt and go out every night of the week. I don't go out much, but I do waste my money on other crap.

But yeah, as Mike said, if you don't need your loan, just stick it in an ISA

[N.Wood]

For me, £3k a year is better than £3.5k a term!

Yay for private schooling.

I'm not at uni yet, my bro has hours to doss around though

He's doing Education at Exeter uni.

[Bionic Balls]

just finished my first term doing materials engineering...

i'll admit some of it has been pretty tiring...9.00 every morning, ~21 hrs a week.

Courseworks and tests too...but i've been having a great time, and the social life is worth it

make the most of whatever you do...and do choose carefully

adam

[MikeSmith]

Also a quick question to the topic starter: What sort of field are you expecting to go in to with sports science ( is that what the equivalent here is in lboro?), Not having a go just curious because loads of people seem to take it here and i didnt think p.e. teachers needed a degree or owt... so where do you all go?

Within Sport Science i hope to move into Sports Therapy/Physiotherapy, and hopefully at Loughborough University, although it seems so popular. I know the course is not exact to what i want to do although it seems good and worthwhile, i will probably take another course after uni.

Thanks

Mike

[Michael Hardman]

I suggest you take another course that might have some relevance to your future career. I dont see the point in doing Sports whatever it is if you dont opaln to go into the sporting area.

[poopipe]

don't fanny about with proper subjects, do a degree like i did - software systems for the arts and media.

4 hours of lectures per term and nothing to do for homework except play/make computer games and draw pictures. On top of that everyone thinks you're clever cos you get a Bsc at the end.

to pay for it all just sell drugs - its easier than working at asda and you come out of uni in the black. In my day you could get away with selling the minor drugs - to cope with the tuition fees these days you probably want to look at crack or heroin..

[joker]

poopipe is quite the comedian

[Michael Hardman]

don't fanny about with proper subjects, do a degree like i did - software systems for the arts and media.

4 hours of lectures per term and nothing to do for homework except play/make computer games and draw pictures. On top of that everyone thinks you're clever cos you get a Bsc at the end.

to pay for it all just sell drugs - its easier than working at asda and you come out of uni in the black. In my day you could get away with selling the minor drugs - to cope with the tuition fees these days you probably want to look at crack or heroin..

I held down a job throughout uni and I came iout i nthe black.

[manuel]

i did electronic engineering and outside of lectures I did pretty much zero work until a week before exams / thesis .... and still got a 2:1 easy. uni is a doss.....

but... in the first year we had a shit load of lectures so i couldnt really have a job as well and same really for the other years - just enough lectures to stop me having a decent part time job that would have made a worthwhile impression on living costs... so the debts stack up as £4000 a year on student loans (bear in mind bristol is b*****d expensive to live in eg around £3000 in rent for a year, plus a grand tuition fees leaving almost zero to live on - subsidised by working hols) so for a 4 year course - you do the maths . . .. . .

oh well - its deffinately worth doing if you want to.

[tank_rider]

if your doing a degree that is challenging then uni is by no means a doss. I'm in my final year of a mech eng degree and whilst i do have to work damn hard at certain times of the year (read end of term/semester), there is still time to have a good time. I had pretty much the same amount of lecutures as Chris (spacemonkey) with the addition of about 15 hour in the 3rd year (had to do an individual project worth a third of the year) and my final/masters year where i currently have between 8 and 18 depending on labs etc (have a group project to do too worth a quarter of the year).

I only get the min student loan and that all goes on rent, my parents pay for my other living expenses (food, bills, books etc) and i have to get the money together for a social life and anything else i want. Working over the hols has just about managed to keep me afloat, with the addition of a paid placement year. I tried a job in my 2nd year and even though it was only two evenings a week i couldnt keep it up.

One of my housemates last year was a sport science finalist at loughborough and basically did virtually nothing throughout the year yet still came out with a 2:1. If it's that easy then your selling yourself short IMO.

As for increasing the tuition fees, i'm all for it, if you really want to go to uni then you'll sort out the money, and remember it doesn't get added until you finish, so its not like the current tuition fees for those who have to pay them where they are payable every year (I had to personally pay those )

[Royaltrials]

There's no point going to Uni to do a shit degree basically. Stick to standard subjects - fair enough, if you are an arty person you will have less lectures. As long as you are not doing, say, David Beckham studies, you will still get a respectable degree. Don't go to a shit uni and get a 2:2.

Ways to make it worthwhile:

- Get the best A-levels you can.

- Apply to good universities.

- Do a "proper" course.

- Work hard.

- Play harder.

I'm studying chemistry at Bristol Uni. It's 17 hours a week which is quite high in terms of workload. I have three tutorials a week to do work for, and a lab write up also. I am also playing rugby for my hall and rowing for the university. Needless to say I am always pretty busy, it's never really too much though. The only thing that has waned a bit since I got here has been trials riding... not really the end of the world. I have had such a good term, basically all money spent this year so far was on going out and having fun. Do it. You don't have to spend ludicrous amounts to have a reet good laugh... though I have spent shitloads in the final fortnight of term, I went out 12/14 nights. It's all about having fun and still fitting the work in somewhere.

Arts students generally don't do much, it is true. However, to do politics here you need 3 As. It's not a pisstake subject, everyone's very intelligent. They'll get jobs when it's all over.

I think the divide between worthwhile/"wishy-washy degree = debt" courses will split pretty quick, which is all good, people will value their education more.