Student fees

[Lorry thompson]

What annoyed me was the parents of one thug complaining about heavy handed police tactics! what a joke!! If you attack the police you deserve everything you get!!

 

Being on the receiving end of a rioting mob is one of the scariest experiences i have had. At times its a fight to stay alive. what do they expect police to do take a beating? Wesure as hell didnt in Basra, I bashed them with my stick till my arm ached!!

 

I haven't watched the footage and I don't agree with the students at all but I have seen the police act like nothing more than thugs themselves, I've seen them in gyms, cage fighting gyms and heard them talk about what steroids they are using! They are at times as bad as the thugs they are supposed to be sorting out, I don't know if this is the case here but it winds me up when you see these bullies throwing women around etc and getting away with it

[Ian C]

I m a child of the 60's left school in the 70's aged 16 older people of the time use to say National Service made men of boys ,but as a youngster I thought they were talking *&%$. We no longer have any industry left in this country ,where youngsters were paired up with older wiser staff , and had the courtesy to shut up ,do as they were told and learned by their experiences .Young people seem to think that getting a degree is the answer to all ills, but i think that they should get work experince for at least two years before going to the holiday camp (university).oh and study something useful that might put the 'Great' back into Britain and lets move back to a nation of 'do-ers' not waisters. And to the question yes they should pay it back when earning enough .

 

Spot on, well put.

[Mesterh]

I think education should be free and available to all.

 

I cant see students working harder because they will have to pay fees back an issue tbh. They will take the piss no matter, possibly even more thinking "Ahwell if I dont get a decent job I wont have to pay the fees/loans back" Actually I know that to be the case as I heard it quite a few times when my missus was in uni.

 

Plus what about those few sensible ones that dont like the idea of being in debt but want the education.

 

What needs to happen is that uni's and colleges need to only have students that are willing to work and kick out at an early stage those that arent.

[RobRainford]

Plus what about those few sensible ones that dont like the idea of being in debt but want the education.

 

I fall into that group.

[animatedpomegranate]

Just a thought to throw into this one. My wife is a college lecturer and everyday comes home with complaints about how the students fail to turn up to lectures, fail to hand in course work, don't show up cos they were drunk the night before then want the work handed to them on a plate.

 

She says the standard of student now to ten to 15 years ago is shockingly low, quality has gone out of the window with increased numbers. I bite my tung but do feel that when a person wants something badly enough and they value it highly, they will move heaven and earth to get it. We've all done that here I imagine, investing in kit and skills and time with very little help.

 

I'm not a huge political animal but I feel the government should be allowed to get on with putting a new value on education. Nowt is for nowt as they say. Quality does not come cheap and the colleges seem these days just somewhere to put many (but not all) youngsters who have no other motivation in life other than the weekend bender......I for one cant afford to sponsor that!

[PeteB]

On a recent visit to University, we (myself and their staff) agreed that Universities are no longer a seat of education - but a business. The more students the bigger the revenue. The value of some of the courses is so low as not worth measuring. But the uni would not survive if it was not for these "dead head" courses.

 

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly in education to the "Nth" degree, I object to having to subsidise the useless courses or students who are studying a subject that is going to be irrelevant to their future.

 

The amount that they "borrow" is only repaid when they are starting to earn decent money and a rate that is perfectly manageable. What is the harm in that? Are they too thick to realise this?

 

The utter lack of respect shown by some of these people at recent events is frankly despicable. If my child informed me that he was going to protest about the future he is investing in - then I would pull them home by the earhole and remind him that he does not have to go to further education and that it is their future earnings that are at stake not mine!

 

It sickens me to see this "protest" happening and that their parents and the press say that the Police are to blame.

[APC]

To become a ranger nowadays, if you can beat the recruitment freezes and fierce competition for the shortest term seasonal contracts, you generally require a degree. Most often on the criteria, it is regarded as "essential", sometimes "desirable". To rise through the ranks to senior ranger, you certainly have to have one. Problem is, if you come out with upto £30k of debt to clear after finishing uni, and the paying back threshold is £21k, and the average salary is perhaps circa £14-15k, you are not going to pay that loan back for a long time.

 

I did my degree when the tuition fees were a grand and I took out a total of less than £10k in loans. I graduated around 8 years ago and have paid back perhaps £2k tops. The raising of the paying back threshold from £15k to £21k will put me under the threshold again which is a bit

 

The problem as I see it, is that the fees are going right up and the chance of getting a decent wage in a lot of careers is going right down. Wiping the requirement for a degree for at least entry level jobs is the way forward. Nursing is another career that pays extremely poorly but requires a degree. We need nurses more than we need countryside rangers, but it makes it really difficult to justify raising tuition fees for degrees in subjects where the potential to earn much is poor.

 

Something someone said on another forum:

 

I just think it's pathetic how this Coalition of c***s have swung the public debate away from the banks who caused this crisis, and now people who I otherwise consider to be of sound mind are baying for University students to start their adult lives saddled with 40k of debt while the banks walk away laughing, back to bonus bonanzas as usual

 

I don't actually begrudge paying fees. It's just that they are pricing people out of lower paid, but necessary careers.