It is something that we’ve been questioning for a while and it now appears that many people of student age are having the same thought process – is a university education really worth the cash?
According to figures from the latest student experience research hub, more students than ever before have said that they don’t think university education has given them the start in the workplace that they anticipated and many added that they were disappointed with what university had opened up for them – many believed their expectations of the ‘university life’ were also too high.
Nearly 15,000 undergraduates studying a range of courses were quizzed on their thoughts and experiences of university and the figures showed that many were feeling that for the money that they had to pay annually, they were not getting the advantages and top-notch education that they were promised.
Students are currently paying over £9,000 per year with this figure set to rise under another Conservative government.
The findings will startle a lot of people and will beg the question, yet again, is the debt really worth it?
Almost a third of students still believe their course is worth the tuition fees but this is a far cry from the figure in 2012 – which was nearly 50 percent.
When looking into the research still further, it became apparent that there were numerous reasons why students were left feeling disheartened and somewhat disappointed with their university education. A lot of students cited that they found the financial strains of uni too much of a struggle and found themselves constantly going back to mum and dad for help getting them through the education process. A lot of students also said that they thought the course would be better than it turned out to be, with almost all of the same people questioned saying that their degree didn’t really help them get the job that they wanted. When you think about the latter point, it is incomprehensible to think that nearly £30,000 still cannot get people the job that they are qualified to do and the job that they want to do.
The same number of students, whilst disparaging to the course content and the chances it has given them in the workplace, did comment that university was helpful in making them much more independent and had aided them when it came to living an independent lifestyle. Budgeting, in their opinion, was one of the biggest things that improved as was time management. You have to say though, £30,000 over a three-year period is a lot of money to simply be taught these basic life habits…