I can see where you are coming from but perhaps if these individuals all had the help/support they needed here before reaching that point they wouldnt need paying for later.

Yep, I always say no thanks and they always smile and say thanks.

Because that is going to leave a lot of people here without any option of ever reaching university or even college level education in a rich, developed country that actually CAN afford to fund that. That can afford to help someone reach a good career and education level and more than pay thier fees back in tax.

and here there are people who are lucky to get only 5 or 6 more years than that due to financial and social cirumstances, whilst living in a wealthy country.....

Born free from what?

How about a referendum on whether we want the bankers to have a bonus, more like.

Well he needs to speak to the social again because everything that African foster kid is getting, that you have mentioned, the British kid is entitled to too. The social do provide them with laptops as they have the ability to screen sites etc....they all get a certain amount of pocket money, clothing allowances, certain stuff etc you cant say british foster kids get nothing and pay for it all themselves, its simply not true.

I went to University and studied for an HND in Photojournalism as I wanted to gain a more technical knowledge considering medical photography as an option - it was a waste of time, and I funded it myself, 6 grand, for nothing. Degrees which don't lead anywhere could be studied at distance, no need to fund 3 years - only one person who was on that course in the last 3 years has a related job, and several of them went on to study for an MA, and were advised to apply to work in Tesco.....

I'm at a different University now studying BSc Medical Sciences, and I hope to do graduate medicine or work in the healthcare industry - my fees are over 3 thousand pounds a year, I have funded it entirely myself as I am not entitled to funding. If people truely want to better themselves they will take the loans and pay them back. I have been to every lecture, even when I was poorly, I've re-arranged hospital appointments so that I don't miss a single session, yet there are others on the course who are often missing, due to hangovers, freshers flu, childcare, funnily enough, they all have their degree paid for.....

Having to fund it yourself makes you decide if it is something you truly want, or if you're just going to buy yourself some extra time, having been on both sides of that fence I'd say that making Uni something that you have to seriously consider can only be a benefit to you and the country.

Rape is endemic in some cultures one of the ladies I work with says it is why she wears the burka to hide her body and would never go out alone in her country.

Some people here simply do NOT have the option of being able to do that.

You are very lucky then.

3000 a year =£60 per week.

so if you have a house or flat you will have to be earning a lot more than that to live. All the bills have to be paid etc etc unless someone else is paying them ...not everybody is so lucky.

Where i live a basci one bed flat would be £500 a month so add that to the £240 per month fees.........i would need to earn £740 per month just to cover fees and rent.........so how on earth would i pay the rest...

and how would i earn £740 a month if i were in a full time course.

One thing you have to remember here Lorna, is the fact that IF these university graduates don't end up getting a job in their chosen sphere and earn less than £40K a year as a result, then they DON'T have to pay those fees back! I know that coz it came out of the mouth of a politician and you can always trust those can't you

See in my day, you had to earn your place in Uni, and when you came out, you had a degree which would get you a job just about anywhere and earn good money toboot. Perhaps it's a case that there are too many courses in too many spheres now, just so that we can send more and more people into higher education on courses which have less clout shall we say in the outside world, leaving them unemployed, or, like you say, getting a job in Tesco! I don't know, it just all seems so very different from when I was offered a place that's all, but then I had to EARN that place I couldn't just "go" there like you can today, and maybe, just maybe, that's why there's too many people coming out looking for too fewer jobs!

When you said in your last paragraph about "buying yourself some extra time" for what???? Are you saying they pay you to be there, and you'd rather be studying for fear of being unemployed then or something? I don't understand what you are buying the extra time for that's all?

I dont understand, even to go to do the college course I want (because its needed to go onto Uni...)I will have to have certain grades in certain subjects etc, then have to do Higher education, then more Higher Ed etc, then apply to Uni, get in dependning on grades, credits, experience and interview etc, so I'm not so sure I wouldnt be 'earning' my place there?

I don't know about these modern times, I thought anybody could take up a course at University nowadays without having the necessary qualifications? don't they then???

All I know is, in my day, very, very few people actually got a place at University, whereas nowadays it seems to be more the "norm"??? Maybe they're a lot smarter nowadays perhaps??!!!

No, you still need to 'cut it' and they will still interview etc but I think you can do an Access Course for a year or two at college to get what you need for Uni in some fields but even then you need certain qualifications to get on that.

Sometimes you can go straight there and do a introduction to.. then you do the next, then the next, then you go on to further etc but actually your still having to put the same study in as those courses cover what you would have needed to do to get on the course anyway and if they cant complete/pass all that then they still wont go on to be able to study for a degree. So they may be a student but it does not mean they will walk out with a degree, if you see what I mean, so still earning their way there. Maybe thats why you thought people could go straight there - but then it still wont guarantee a degree, unless they are able.

I think that is 15,000 net here you start paying back.

Everyone has this option as the loans are paid after they graduate, people just don't want the debt hanging over them.....

I own my house, I am married, my wife works full time and studies part time with the Open University, but prior to getting married I lived in a £525 a month apartment, paid my bills, car, expenses etc and studied full time, I worked part time and used my savings from the years I worked full time to fund my tuition. People can still get loans maintenance etc, interest free overdrafts, its just the fact that we have to pay it back. The current rate for paying back a student loan is dependent on your yearly income and if you're earning 30k, then £300 a month isn't a lot.....

Its 15k at the moment I believe H for repayment, and it had better be because I'm paying back mine as at one point I earned over the bracket but I've never earned 40k lol!

I went to Uni when I was 18, left because my mother died in my second year. STUPID decision, it was a wonderful University with a fantastic reputation. I worked full time until I went to Uni to study photography, I wanted technical knowledge so that I could start a successful wedding photography business part time in order to be able to work part time to fund my desire to further my education to follow a career I really wanted, I was buying time to see if I could get to where I am now, and ultimately where I want to be, but I funded it, I didn't get any help from anyone or the government. I know a lot of people who have gone to Uni, particularly the old tech colleges that are now unis like the one I did photography at, who are there to avoid working full time for 3 years and have a good time, I don't think that it what Uni is for, and why I was so annoyed when I realised that it was the general mentality there.

A levels used to be prestigious years ago, now they're standard, BA, BSc etc used to be prestigious, now they're common place, soon we're all going to need a PhD! Something has to give.......