University Tuition Fees

[Julesley]

I just feel that we should all be letting our MP's know what we feel about this - whether you agree with me that a £9000 fine per year for having averagely successful parents is a disgrace or whether you dont.
In key marginal seats a Lib Dem MP may end up thinking twice how he votes if he gets 200 emails of protest.

[edam]

I object to the tripling of tuition fees as a clear breach of a manifesto pledge. But let's leave the 'fine for averagely successful parents' out of it. People who earn average wages (£25k) or less aren't unsuccessful and there's no need to be snide. Society would fall apart pretty darn quickly without the low paid - bin men, cleaners, carers, shop assistants, factory workers and so on - let alone people on average wages such as nurses and coppers.

[amothersplaceisinthewrong]

Fund less students, fund them fully. Univeristy should NOT and should never have been for 50% of the population.

[Julesley]

You are right Edam it comes across in an awful way and not at all how I meant it.Had myself in a stew and didnt express myself properly. Is it possible to edit a post?

[edam]

Sorry Jules, didn't mean to have a pop, was just concerned about the angle.

[violincello]

I think it is immoral that politicians are condoning universities to charge such huge fees and allowing our young people to accumulate such huge debt. I agree that fewer people should go to uni and it should be funded by the tax payer -after all everyone will gain as these young people will give their skills back to society.

[violincello]

Can we not do something? Mums are a powerful force. Can we not set up petition or something?

[StayingDavidTennantsGirl]

Ds1 is already worrying about whether he will be able to go to university - dh is well paid, but we don't have savings, and there's no way we'll be able to find £9K plus living expenses per year for him, as well as for the other two when they get to that stage. We have a big mortgage, and just manage to live within our means.

He says he's learned that, because his dad is well paid, the level of student loan he will be entitled to will be capped - and he won't be able to afford the fees etc to go to University.

We could remortgage the house, and he will have to work to support himself through uni - and so will the other boys. It actually feels as if dh is both too well paid and not well enough paid - his salary will limit the loan ds1 can take out, and yet he can't afford to pay for his sons to go to university.

I know we are better off than a lot of people - but I am still worrying - especially when ds1 talks about not going to university.

[mrswoodentop]

DavidTennants girl we are in the same situation I think,I feel sick just thinking about it,we have worked hard all these years and encouraged our ds's to work hard tow the line and not get into trouble and now they and we are being punished .

I am not against the reform wholesale but this is an impossible situation.How I wish we could turn the clock back to when fewer people went to university and those that did were funded however I don't think we can

[dotnet]

Violincello - I'd be more than happy to sign a petition and also if possible go on a march about this. I'm less than 2hrs from London by train.
I agree (and this point was made on another thread) that getting the majority of schcol leavers into university doesn't make a lot of sense. We have a lot of rubbish builders, substandard carpenters and bad plumbers around, for instance, and providing proper training for more of those kind of jobs would be helpful all round.
On a different thread, someone pointed out that the bar had unnecessarily been raised for entry to many different kinds of work. This person had wanted to retrain as a radiographer, but found that this now requires a university degree, and as she already has one, she couldn't possibly fund herself through such a long and expensive course for the radiography qualification.

I had a similar experience. I'd taken a one-month, intensive TEFL (English as a foreign language) course, years ago, and decided recently that I would try to obtain TEFL teaching work.
The woman I saw in this connection had entered that career via the certificate holder route herself, - but she said I couldn't. Apparently I'd now need to complete a (I think)two-year course if I wanted to obtain TEFL work now. This is insane.
Raising the bar on qualifications for jobs in this way is preventing people from entering the workplace and bettering themselves and paying more tax. I currently work part time in an unskilled job and earn so little that I'm a non taxpayer.
Stupidly, I did the one-month TEFL certificate course all those years ago in order to have another string to my bow in career terms!