The costs of University...

[Joy Division]

My daughter has just started Uni, studying English as well as Scottish language, she done well at school gaining a few advanced highers and for her efforts and we are very proud of her 🙂 But her Uni accommodation alone costs around£150 per week, and she needs to buy her own food..

I had no idea it cost quite as much as this! I thought maybe around £90-100 per week but I'm obviously well out of touch!

I'm beggining to realise that students after all were not exaggerating the costs of being a student , we are lucky here in Scotland in that Scots get free Uni , no fees ..thank goodness as it will be difficult enough for my daughter just to pay Uni accommodation costs and coursework material.

She will no doubt need to find a part time job where she is as she is a good worker and already had a couple of weekend jobs while in her final school year and we as her parents will help her where we can too financially, but students south of the border must find it really tough financially as they have to pay their own tuition fees , this has seen a big rise in the number of English & Welsh applications for Scottish Universities.

Thank goodness for the Scottish government, but then again we pay billions of pounds to the UK treasury in annually in duties for whisky and other exports.

I'll never doubt a student again when they say it's financially very tough being a student!

 

[John]

I can't speak much about how it is across the world, but the US is having the same problem.

It's just becoming borderline insane for university costs in the US. Really what these universities need to do is consolidate. Why does LaGrange College need to offer an Art History degree? There are, in addition, ten other schools within three hours that offer exactly the same degree. Why do we need to do that? Until we start removing some of the pretty worthless degrees from small schools and require them to actually break close to even, they'll continue to throw away money with worthless degrees, a very large and overbearing bureaucracy, and a "social life" for students.

 

[Joy Division]

Hi belt, yeah ten or so other schools within only a couple of hours offering up exactly the same is a waste of resources, that really does need looking into.

I know what you mean about those lesser degrees ( no disrespect to anyone) as its happening here to an extent now, college courses and let's be honest..come worthless qualifications are had to had in many UK colleges too, when funds can be better spent.

If nearly every subject has a qualification or degree up for grabs , it may well come to the point of why bother then if so many people can easily achieve such worthless degrees?..a bit like when leafs were once used as currency , lol.

 

[Page]

Same in Derby and Oxford, they are both leading university in the country other then London and Yeah Students have to rent out property like over £500 a month maybe luck to get £450 a month. But if you think about it rented is an cheaper option since they can hold up to 5 to 6 students living at once that they all can chip in the rent, so £500 and split in into 6 , what does that make up to? allot cheaper then accommodation,

Also consider that all accommodation and rented property's are 50% higher then elsewhere, they also but the price high since they know that it will get sold/ for let. If you are smart then I would find an cheap to let home about 30 or more miles away and just have to take an train or bus or car and get used to the long rides back and forth.

When I was at Uni I was luck that my home was like 15mins away and so saved big time

 

[Allenafaith]

I want to go to college next year but I don't think my dad will pay for it whenever he finds out how much it costs. He's really cheap. :/ Oh well, I'll get a job and save for it myself.

 

[Deleted member 29780]

College/University will be free for Canadians in my province in 2017 😛

 

[Kino]

The cost of education is ridiculous. I'm $40,000 in debt and I can't even find a job....

 

[Hissae2]

College/University will be free for Canadians in my province in 2017

This isn't entirely accurate actually.

This is only for students from low income families, and even then, the new system still won't cover students in programs with high tuition costs. The new grants will be based on average tuition fees of 6160 per year, and grants for the lowest income students will be capped at 9000. However, tuition for the average engineering program is actually about 12000.

Also, right now our loan repayment is capped at $7500 per year, so anything above that we don't have to pay back. This is being raised to $10,000 under the new system. And we're also losing the education tax credit as well, because it disproportionately benefits the rich.

So in effect, while it's great for those with cheaper tuition costs, it won't make as much difference to many in programs such as engineering/math/CS. I personally am in CS, and my tuition is a little over 12000. So for me, assuming I get the maximum $9000, I'll still be short over $3000.

I do support the changes, it will genuinely help a lot of low income students. But it's not even close to free tuition.

(I'm also from Ontario btw)

 

[Deleted member 29780]

College/University will be free for Canadians in my province in 2017

This isn't entirely accurate actually.

I wasn't stating it as an informational fact, I was mentioning out of excitement. Because I can get into my program with little stress.

 

[Varlot]

Situation is pretty good in Norway. The universities are free and students get a whole lot of privileges. We only pay 10% the price of dental care, minor medical fees over $40 are covered (major medical procedures are free for everyone), free kindergarten for students that have kids etc. We also get $470/month that we won't have to pay back as long as we graduate, and an additional $500 we can get as a student loan. That money covers pretty much all living expenses, as well as everything you need as a student.

 

[Hissae2]

College/University will be free for Canadians in my province in 2017

This isn't entirely accurate actually.

I wasn't stating it as an informational fact, I was mentioning out of excitement. Because I can get into my program with little stress.

Well if it helps you then that's great 🙂

 

[Deleted member 7467]

There's a LOT of aid out there available to help you with college. The problem is that the poverty line is way too low for the FAFSA here in the US. Many people don't qualify for aid even though they actually need it incredibly. The federal government needs to work on their FAFSA formula to incorporate today's economy.

IN the meantime, if you go to UNI, I HIGHLY suggest becoming an RA. It helps cut down the costs tremendously. @Geoffry can attest to this as well. It's also an amazing leadership opportunity which opens a lot of doors for further help.

 

[James Viker]

I study at a medicine university in Vietnam. It's not expensive , only $ 2500 / year ...

 

[Shannon Apple]

I've actually got a BA, Honours BA, a Masters and now doing a Postgrad diploma in programming and no student debt because of free third level education for first time undergrads. I didn't pay for my Masters because I got in there before the postgrad fees were returned. We pay a hell of a lot of taxes, so a good chunk of it goes into education. I worked my butt off to pay my own uni accommodation for all those years I spent at school lol. My parents would have killed me if I thought I could do otherwise. XD.

I have worked as a graphic designer for a few years and now taking a slightly different career path. If I did have to pay for the Postgrad, it would cost €15,000 at this particular uni. There's a huge skills deficit in IT, so they are basically paying people to go and learn to program.

 

[Jordan]

but the US is having the same problem.

It's just becoming borderline insane for university costs in the US

It's a shame. The US has some of the worlds highest education costs. Sad really 🙁

 

[MasterA]

It is so much easier financially in Scotland because you don't have to pay University fees. In England, you have to pay £9,000 (around $11,000) University fees per year and this doesn't include any of the living costs. In London, things are very expensive and it costs around £400 ($500) per month for a shared room and around £800 ($100) per month for room all for yourself. This is assuming you live in central London and of course it will be cheaper in other areas. If you are in a low income family then you can get some grants and bursaries but you will still be in so much debt. If you don't get any grants or bursaries you can easily go into £50,000 ($60,000) debt after 3 years of University.

At the end of the day, you are paying so much for University and they even start putting interest on your loan before you graduate from University. You also need to pay a fixed rate from your salary based on income and you end up paying so much more than you borrowed because of the interest.