UK Students Turn to Prostitution to Fund Studies

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**Mr Hyena**

I agree, students should not be funded by the tax payer

The idea of paying for education, in this day and age, is disgraceful. It proves that only those with money get to achieve; instead of deciding on the basis of intelligence.

ALL universities should be free.

**Brother-Captain Scotti**

Melissa wrote:

Brother-Captain Scotti wrote:
Should parents pay for school age children's education?

Not really relevant, university is for those who want to further the necessary education provided.

If you think taht university is "further than necessary", then you apparently haven't tried to get a job which pays more than minimum wage in the past ten years.

When I say necessary I mean the compulsory education provided e.g. primary and secondary school for us in the UK. Not sure how the US works. I do appreciate the fact that HE is now necessary and all the more for it but it isn't compulsory. I know most people my age i.e. 20ish will quite happily not give a damn about being any further qualified which is a shame, there are some clever peeps out there, christ I nearly did the same until I fell into accountancy.

**mattyrm**

Ruglud wrote:Sensaitionalist and lazy journalism here - says numbers have doubled on the helpline - so what 2 people called them this year as opposed to 1 last year?? Give us the facts, not headlines...

Hit the nail on the head. It isnt even a story. I mean, really is it a story? That a very small percentage of women would be willing to bang a stranger for money?

Think about it, what percentage of students that obtain a degree at a British university go out and turn tricks for cash? Ill be generous and say 1%.

Might not 1% of the general population of UK women be willing to shag a man for money? And university be damned?

Case Closed. The story should have gone like this....

Great numbers of women in the UK are willing to have sex with a stranger for money, new research claims.

The research also says some women are willing to take part in medical experiments for money.

It says increased living costs and fees, and a desire to own Ipod's and loads of bling and also go out to them dead nice cocktail bars 4 days a week play a part.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Breakfast programme, Estelle Hart, a woman, said..

"Modern women are more confident and sexually liberated than their parents and grandparents, and as a result a small percentage of them, perhaps 1%, are willing to get gorilla fethed by perfect strangers with cold dead eyes, as long as it allows them to party 5 days a week and shop at Waitrose"

**Kilkrazy**

I have to say, when you consider the following factors

University fees tripled
General recession
Inflation running at 5%
Record unemployment among young people

it does seem very unlikely that students would have any real problem with finance.

**Redbeard**

Mr Hyena wrote:
The idea of paying for education, in this day and age, is disgraceful. ...
ALL universities should be free.

All education that is necessary to be a productive member of society should be free. A degree in 15th century literature does not qualify as such. Grade school/High school education should be provided by the public. Beyond that, I don't believe that the public should be forced to pay someone to study interpretive dance.

OT: Prostitution is legal in the UK, right? I don't really see the problem with college students taking legal employment to pay their college bills. Especially if they're hot.

**Samus_aran115**

I know where I'm going this summer...

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Kilkrazy wrote:I have to say, when you consider the following factors

University fees tripled
General recession
Inflation running at 5%
Record unemployment among young people

it does seem very unlikely that students would have any real problem with finance.

Sounds like the best time to enlist!

**Albatross**

Mr Hyena wrote:
I agree, students should not be funded by the tax payer

The idea of paying for education, in this day and age, is disgraceful. It proves that only those with money get to achieve; instead of deciding on the basis of intelligence.

It is decided on the basis of intelligence, or rather, academic skill. That's the only real barrier to entry that prospective students face, as the state picks up a large percentage of the cost of educating university students - the other portion being paid for by the principal beneficiary of that education, the student. These costs are met via means of a combination of student loans and grants, depending on financial circumstances. This means that the less wealthy face no financial barriers to entry, and seems the fairest all-round solution.

The idea that the state should pick up the entire tab for specialised further education is completely risible. It would mean that far less young people would have access to further education, for one.

**Samus_aran115**

I can honestly say that High School has taught me nothing valuable besides a few classes. The root of our problem lies partially in the hands of High Schools, who teach almost nothing that assists the student in life.

Statistics and basic algebra is what people use. Even a four year class of that would help students.

Budgeting would REALLY help a lot of people. I take accounting, but it doesn't really help much with budgeting and finance.

Oops. Out of time. I'll edit this later.I think we should teach more practical skills that people can use. Cooking, wood-shop, fundamentals of electrical wiring, things like. There are plenty of people to teach these things.

**Horst**

I turned to prostitution in college.

Ahhh, yes, I blew quite a bit of money on prostitutes.

Wait, thats what this is about, right?

**Orlanth**

Kilkrazy wrote:
mattyrm wrote: Yeah cry me a river, clearly you can get through uni without sucking people off. It's another fething sob story.

How is reverting to the tax payer footing the bill for everything fair on tax payers?

I'm not wealthy, if tax payers have to foot all the bills even though it's primarily benefiting the student Im going to start doing handjobs for cash then see if the NUS want to do a story about me.

This will change your mind.

People who go to university tend to become less religious.

Perhaps because going on the game conflicts with their old Sunday school teaching, something has to give and it wont be beer money.

**mattyrm**

Orlanth wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:
mattyrm wrote: Yeah cry me a river, clearly you can get through uni without sucking people off. It's another fething sob story.

How is reverting to the tax payer footing the bill for everything fair on tax payers?

I'm not wealthy, if tax payers have to foot all the bills even though it's primarily benefiting the student Im going to start doing handjobs for cash then see if the NUS want to do a story about me.

This will change your mind.

People who go to university tend to become less religious.

Perhaps because going on the game conflicts with their old Sunday school teaching, something has to give and it wont be beer money.

I don't care about British Religious people on the same level because they just don't wield the same power that their American chums do.. well.. except maybe on the Euthanasia issue, that still kinda boils my blood, but I can live with it. We don't have dry counties for example!

But shooting people over Abortions and Creationism sneaking into Science books is hugely an American problem, and most of my rage is on behalf of the missus. As I said, If everyone in the States acted more like the vast majority of Church of England Christians I speak to, then I wouldn't have anything to complain about. We just dont have the same issue over here, because unlike America, 40% of British citizens don't greatly disturb me.

**Lux_Lucis**

Kilkrazy wrote:I have to say, when you consider the following factors

University fees tripled
General recession
Inflation running at 5%
Record unemployment among young people

it does seem very unlikely that students would have any real problem with finance.

This.

From my point of view it isn't particularly easy to find jobs that will fit around uni, especially since I live in a relatively small town that supports two universities and a several colleges. Finding work that fits uni timetables in such a competitive environment is a serious problem. Add in that I live right down south (with the higher cost of living) and I can see why people struggle.

I'd also like to point out that the economy benefits from having a highly educated workforce, especially now the Government wants to move towards high-tech manufacturing to end our reliance on the financial sector.

**Melissia**

Redbeard wrote:All education that is necessary to be a productive member of society should be free. A degree in 15th century literature does not qualify as such. Grade school/High school education should be provided by the public. Beyond that, I don't believe that the public should be forced to pay someone to study interpretive dance.

What about, say, chemistry, or finance, or other more functional academics beyond high school? Those certainly aren't equivalent to "interpretive dance".

High school doesn't teach enough to get a job worth a damn; barring some extremely lucky entrepreneurship, you need SOME form of education afterwards unless you want to be stuck earning minimum rage the rest of your life. ANd even amongst entrepreneurs, the education (especially in finances and business) really helps.

**Mr Hyena**

A noble sentiment brother, but where do you suggest we get the billions from pray tell?

How about the current system? The primary beneficiary of going to university (the student) pays the majority, the other beneficiary (the country) help out a little bit?

Sensible yes?

And if you can't afford to pay your part of the deal, but you have the intelligence to pass well, what then? Then what do you do with debt and all the problems those cause from the loans? I'm just glad that Im in my final year without having accepted a single loan. I like the way my country is doing it. Its the proper way. No tuition fees, apart from some of the very high demand courses like Medicine, Dentistry etc. Concerns about budgeting is correct though; we'd need to alter the way universities make money.

As for duff courses? well, we could make those pay to generate revenue for people who still really want those courses. Or we could scrap them.

Part of the problem of society in the current era is the lack of a drive for many people to educate themselves. Making proper education easier will improve society and therefore everyone.

**SilverMK2**

mattyrm wrote:except maybe on the Euthanasia issue... but I can live with it.

The irony

**mattyrm**

Melissia wrote:

High school doesn't teach enough to get a job worth a damn, barring some extremely lucky entrepreneurship, you need SOME form of education afterwards unless you want to be stuck earning minimum rage the rest of your life. And even amongst entrepreneurs, the education (especially in finances and business) really helps.

Melissa, that simply isn't true, and its also extremely elitist and offensive to anyone who hasn't been to university.

Firemen join stright out of high school, as do paramedics, or what about soldiers, sailors, joiners, tailors, bus drivers, cabbies, cooks, cleaners, plasterers, painters, gardeners and bakers, they have jobs not "worth a damn"

What about the enormous amount of people who leave high school and get an apprenticeship? Or do you count that as "some form of education"?

If that's the case, how broad is your brush? Does joining the Royal Marines and doing 32 weeks at boot count as "some form of education"? (It shouldn't by the way..

) and most people do "some" form of training or education, it doesn't have to be a degree. gak, I bet the bloke's who work in Subway do "some form of education" to learn how to make the awesome sarnies with meatballs in them.

I know about 6 guys who did apprenticeships straight out of high school, and they are now electrical and mechanical engineers.

My brother works for a billionaire, he started out at one of his stores, went onto store manager, went onto manager of three stores, went onto manage 15 stores, sits on the board, makes $200,000 a year.

He did a 12 month college course and got into pub management, but the money sucked and a few years later he started looking for something else, got a job offer to work for his current company. He could (and many of his equally ranked colleagues) did, do it straight out of high school.

I know that some of you high flying college chicks look down on the salt of the earth, the uneducated pugs that drive your buses and lay your bricks and work in the stores you by your tofu from, but they get outta bed 5 or 6 days a week and they feed their kids and they live their lives. I think you are doing an immense disservice to them with your hauty tauty "Im going to actually matter to the world" attitude, and I also doubt that most of them wind up "stuck on minimum wage all of their lives" because funny thing, even if you only graduate high school, if you work hard and you try hard, and you turn up on time and your dressed how your supposed to be, people notice and you can go places.

Please note, I have since left the Royal Marines, I earn far above the minimum wage, and I am (here's hoping!) not even close to the end of my life.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Mr Hyena wrote:

And if you can't afford to pay your part of the deal, but you have the intelligence to pass well, what then?

Then you get a loan as Albatross has, and you pay it back when you earn a decent amount of money.

And if you cant get a really good job, you don't pay it back!

Automatically Appended Next Post:

SilverMK2 wrote:
mattyrm wrote:except maybe on the Euthanasia issue... but I can live with it.

The irony

Well I can, because I have an iron will, and If I get terminally ill I don't need to worry about assistance from the doctor, because im dressing up as Ronald McDonald and running into Islam4UK's headquarters with 50lbs of explosive wired onto my back and my excessively large clown shoes and pockets filled with rat poison.

Just to see how they like it for a change.

**Jihadin**

Well I can, because I have an iron will, and If I get terminally ill I don't need to worry about assistance from the doctor, because im dressing up as Ronald McDonald and running into Islam4UK's headquarters with 50lbs of explosive wired onto my back and my excessively large clown shoes and pockets filled with rat poison. Holding a bible in one hand with a pot belly pig on a leash in the other

Just to see how they like it for a change.

Fixed

**Melissia**

mattyrm wrote: Firemen join stright out of high school, as do paramedics, or what about soldiers, sailors, joiners, tailors, bus drivers, cabbies, cooks, cleaners, plasterers, painters, gardeners and bakers, they have jobs not "worth a damn"

Lulz.

Paramedics generally don't join straight out of high school here in the US-- eight or so months of eduction is the shortest I've seen. You need education after (eight months at a trade school was the minimum I saw) high school to qualify.

Firemen do, but firemen are also not paid very much and are suffering huge amounts of pay cuts and budgetary cutbacks because of the current economy, as are policemen and other public servants. Similarly, soldiers, sailors, and the like DO get their education paid for by the state, both their training AND post-military, so your mentioning them just makes me laugh (I mean really, imagine if the US government made its soldiers pay for their own boot camp and other training out of pocket?).

Cooks need to go to college if they want a job that's better than fast food, and bakers aren't that much better-- and for either of them, if you want to be an entrepreneur in that industry then good luck actually staying in business for more than five years. It's a highly competitive industry which is not easy to start up in when you're facing competition from so many major food chains, both fast food and otherwise. Again, as I said (in case you didn't read past the first sentence), education in business and finances usually separates the winners from the losers here.

I've been a gardener (or more accurately, a groundskeeper, of which gardening is part of one's duties) and it sucks and barely pays over minimum wage. Plasterers, painters, cleaners, bus drivers, and other unskilled laborers also often get paid very little as well. Here, there's no demand for bus drivers, but rather truck drivers instead, and that's a hard life where the companies are constantly trying to screw you out of your hours, your overtime, and your time in general, as my brother in law has found out. It wasn't exactly easy on his marriage, especially given their two kids (my nephews).

So again, without either luck or a college education of some kind (or at least trade school), you're really suck with unskilled, low paying jobs. I have nothing against people who have gotten lucky and managed to succeed despite not having an education (and screw you for suggesting that I do), but not everyone is so lucky.

**Samus_aran115**

Well, honestly, you get a lot of priority in the military if you have degrees relating to your military profession. I've heard of car mechanics joining the navy and fixing up helicopters until they hit chief, and now they have a lump sum to go to college with, plus benefits and maybe even a pension. If someone just out of high school went in and did the same job with less prior hands-on training than the car mechanic, it might take a lot longer to make rank...

I still think trade schools are a great idea. Especially for prior military. You can take your MOS or rating and learn how it relates to a civilian job, and potentially make a living off it.

**Medium of Death**

mattyrm wrote:f you work hard and you try hard, and you turn up on time and your dressed how your supposed to be, people notice and you can go places.

Just to contrast that for something a bit more downbeat.

It's about three things; (over)confidence, who you know and how much arse you're willing to sip.

**mattyrm**

Melissia wrote: I have nothing against people who have gotten lucky and managed to succeed despite not having an education (and screw you for suggesting that I do)

Sure you don't.

That you felt the urge to desperately try and backpeddle by naming each individual job and then go through the relevant hoops you need to jump through to do them..

Just admit you are shallow and self important (or wrong) or shall we continue this merry dance all night, with me naming the literally hundreds of jobs you can do right out of highschool and you attempting to say how difficult it is to do them? As I said, you can shift your statement endlessly if that's your game.

Subway staff that make sandwiches for a living have to go on a "course"

But then, you probably have more important things to be getting on with.. with all your important friends. Dont forget to demand that the filthy bus driver kneels for you when you enter the vehicle, and if he fails to show you your due courtesy as a highborn maiden, I suggest that you have the insolent peasant whipped.

**chaos0xomega**

Well I've certainly enjoyed some videos of fine British lasses in the past few months that were in need of extra money ;P

Orlanth wrote:Its the students fault not the government. This is not like higher education in the US. Every student is entitled to a loan for fees plus living expenses, that loan repayment is deferred entirely until you match a certain earning power. Yes the fees are up front but the debt is interest free and if you never match the earning threshold is never paid.

The system is in fact very fair, just try telling that to a student or left wing nincompoop. Now admittedly Scots get free education, but that is due to devolution and the extra funding mostly from central government that the rest of us cannot do anything about.

I'd say so, I wish I had that deal going. I'm graduating in a week, still no job, 60k USD in debt, and I have 6 months to find a job and start making payments. Thats plenty of time, yes, but I still worry.

**Orlanth**

chaos0xomega wrote:
I'd say so, I wish I had that deal going. I'm graduating in a week, still no job, 60k USD in debt, and I have 6 months to find a job and start making payments. Thats plenty of time, yes, but I still worry.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/RepayingStudentLoansCoursesStartingFrom1998/DG_10034866

This is the current legislation for the UK. Not completely interest free as first claimed but near enough. For the most part loans increment for inflation (so the loan giver is not losing out), the extra 3% during study is an incentive to complete the study process in the event that someone masquerades as a student and can raise no higher than 3% plus inflation rate. The repayment rates are very generous also.

**Redbeard**

Melissia wrote:
Firemen do, but firemen are also not paid very much

I think that firefighters make a reasonable middle-class living. My wife's cousin's husband is a firefighter, she doesn't work, and they've got three kids and are doing okay.

Are they upper-class? No. But they're not lower class either. Of course, the squeezing of the middle class is a larger problem, and one that exists, but being middle-class does not revolve around a college degree. Union jobs are largely not dependent upon college. Most go through a trade-school, which is covered by the apprenticeship program for the union. The public doesn't bear these costs. I know electricians and plumbers who are also making a comfortable middle class living and never had student loans or a college education. They served as apprentices.

A lot of college costs for those degrees that lead to higher wages (engineering, medicine, finance) don't need public financing, because the fields that they lead into pay quite well. I'm an engineer. Why should Joe Plumber pay for me to go to college when the result is that I'll make more than him? Why should the check-out person at the local supermarket pay for my education, that I'm gaining the benefit from?

The people who are screwed are those who are paying for a college degree that doesn't yield a good job. Seriously, how many English majors does the world need? How many people with degrees in interior design, or art history, can the world benefit from? What's worse, go to an expensive private university for one of these degrees, and the return on your investment is horrendous. Maybe if more people thought about what they were going to study before going to college, we wouldn't have these issues. But in High School, the emphasis seems to be on getting people to college for something, and not about what happens after.

My wife returned to school in 2005. Before she did, we discussed, what was she doing, and why. What were the career opportunities for the degree she pursued (Human Nutrition). We live in one of the largest cities in the US, and there are at least ten colleges and universities that she could have attended while still living at home. We looked at the costs for each of them, compared with the benefits, and she attended the public state school, at a reasonable price that we could afford, rather than one of the private ones that would have required loans. She graduated, passed her national licencing exam, and was hired in her field within three months. We're already seeing the return on the financial investment of her going to school.

This is the sort of thing that everyone planning to go to college should do. Just because you're in the drama club in high school doesn't make spending $30k/year on a theater degree a good idea. And, if the degree you're pursuing doesn't lead to an increased wage, perhaps you're making the wrong choice, either in terms of major, or where you're planning to go.

BTW: this is not to say there is no value in art history, or similar things. The humanities are part of what make us human. I happen to like art history. I go to museums, and read books on it. That doesn't mean that you should spend $120,000 to do the same. If you like drama, you can be part of a local community theater without paying tuition.

**Lux_Lucis**

Orlanth wrote:
chaos0xomega wrote:
I'd say so, I wish I had that deal going. I'm graduating in a week, still no job, 60k USD in debt, and I have 6 months to find a job and start making payments. Thats plenty of time, yes, but I still worry.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/RepayingStudentLoansCoursesStartingFrom1998/DG_10034866

This is the current legislation for the UK. Not completely interest free as first claimed but near enough. For the most part loans increment for inflation (so the loan giver is not losing out), the extra 3% during study is an incentive to complete the study process in the event that someone masquerades as a student and can raise no higher than 3% plus inflation rate. The repayment rates are very generous also.

As a student I have no problem with the tuition loan, nor even the idea of the £9,000 one, although it will put potential students off if they take it at face value. I do have a problem with the way the fee rise has been spun to mask the fact that there will be a cut in the university budget, as the government moves the cost of university to the student but doesn't allow the university to charge enough to cover the cost of the amount the government is actually cutting (hopefully that makes sense).

I would however like to see a better cost of living loan, and since it is a loan the 'taxpayer' can have their money back, with interest. It would just make life much easier, and mean I wouldn't have to decide between food or textbooks.

**Stormfather**

I don't feel sorry for, or shocked by, anyone who claims to have to go into prostitution to pay for a $14k tuition bill. Give me a

break. It'd be like if I started selling weed in Washington Square Park, and afterwards claimed to have done 'to pay for my warhammers!' Nobody forces them to go to college, and nobody forces them to not get a real job while they're in school / on summer vacation. Nobody forces them to not take a year or three off to work, to fund future schooling. It's a choice they're making, not something that the UK government is forcing upon them. I grew up poor, and my education was largely funded by scholarships, my own contributions, and loans, and I find it insulting that this article is correlating poor university students with prostitution and crime without providing any information backing these claims up. What's the sample size we're looking at? 2? And nobody has to go to college. Among my friends from high school, many didn't go to college, and became (after an apprenticeship, on the job training, or certification): construction worker, member of the US Armed Forces, auto mechanic, elevator mechanic, and electrician. And, FWIW, the elevator mechanic made more money per year than I did during the three years that I was a teacher. Two other friends got associates degrees at a part-time community college program, and became, after attending a training program offered through the institutions in which they are employed, a professional firefighter and a corrections officer. All of them are living comfortably, some have started their families already. All of them have been successful, without ever 'going off to college.'

to Redbeard and Mattrym for standing up for the blue collars out there.

I did go to college. A lot of college. During undergrad, I worked everything from McDonalds to a Rat Farm. After undergrad, I took three years off to teach in an inner city high school to save money for more education. And you know what? It was worth it (to me). A master's degree later, I was broke, and finally turned to... not prostitution... not distribution... but student loans. I've had some really tight months, and I've eaten more than my fair share of store brand food in my day. I've fixed cars and tutored suspended kids, proctored tests and postdated rent checks. But I've never had to compromise my integrity or resort to illegal activity to pay my rent and tuition. This article is acting as though people are being forced to do so, to cover tuition and cost of living. I call BS. They're doing it so they can live comfortably while they're students. They're doing it so they don't have to work 10 hours on a Saturday tutoring kids on superintendent's suspension. They're doing it so they don't have to eat Goya brand rice that one week when the paycheck didn't get mailed. They're doing it so they can have a car, rather than take the bus, and so they can live in a decent apartment near school, rather than a studio in a seedy neighborhood in a different borough. None of these things are necessities, they're luxuries.

And give me a

break. £9000 a year? That's $14k American. I wish schools here in America cost $14k a year.
My BS cost me ~$10k a year, for four years.
My MS cost me $32k a year, for one and a half years.
My DDS costs me $69k a year, for four years (in progress).
Thats about $400,000 (£260,000) for nine and half years of education. $14k a year would be a godsend.

TLDR?
You don't need to go to college to be successful. If you do go to college, you don't need to whore yourself out to pay for it. £9000 a year is not an unreasonable price for college.

And sorry if this ticks anyone off, but this article sort of struck a nerve with me.

**Lux_Lucis**

Stormfather wrote:

I don't feel sorry for, or shocked by, anyone who claims to have to go into prostitution to pay for a $14k tuition bill. Give me a break. It'd be like if I started selling weed in Washington Square Park, and afterwards claimed to have done 'to pay for my warhammers!' Nobody forces them to go to college, and nobody forces them to not get a real job while they're in school / on summer vacation. Nobody forces them to not take a year or three off to work, to fund future schooling. It's a choice they're making, not something that the UK government is forcing upon them. I grew up poor, and my education was largely funded by scholarships, my own contributions, and loans, and I find it insulting that this article is correlating poor university students with prostitution and crime without providing any information backing these claims up. What's the sample size we're looking at? 2? And nobody has to go to college. Among my friends from high school, many didn't go to college, and became (after an apprenticeship, on the job training, or certification): construction worker, member of the US Armed Forces, auto mechanic, elevator mechanic, and electrician. And, FWIW, the elevator mechanic made more money per year than I did during the three years that I was a teacher. Two other friends got associates degrees at a part-time community college program, and became, after attending a training program offered through the institutions in which they are employed, a professional firefighter and a corrections officer. All of them are living comfortably, some have started their families already. All of them have been successful, without ever 'going off to college.' to Redbeard and Mattrym for standing up for the blue collars out there.

I did go to college. A lot of college. During undergrad, I worked everything from McDonalds to a Rat Farm. After undergrad, I took three years off to teach in an inner city high school to save money for more education. And you know what? It was worth it (to me). A master's degree later, I was broke, and finally turned to... not prostitution... not distribution... but student loans. I've had some really tight months, and I've eaten more than my fair share of store brand food in my day. I've fixed cars and tutored suspended kids, proctored tests and postdated rent checks. But I've never had to compromise my integrity or resort to illegal activity to pay my rent and tuition. This article is acting as though people are being forced to do so, to cover tuition and cost of living. I call BS. They're doing it so they can live comfortably while they're students. They're doing it so they don't have to work 10 hours on a Saturday tutoring kids on superintendent's suspension. They're doing it so they don't have to eat Goya brand rice that one week when the paycheck didn't get mailed. They're doing it so they can have a car, rather than take the bus, and so they can live in a decent apartment near school, rather than a studio in a seedy neighborhood in a different borough. None of these things are necessities, they're luxuries.

And give me a break. £9000 a year? That's $14k American. I wish schools here in America cost $14k a year.
My BS cost me ~$10k a year, for four years.
My MS cost me $32k a year, for one and a half years.
My DDS costs me $69k a year, for four years (in progress).
Thats about $400,000 (£260,000) for nine and half years of education. Tuition only, room and board, expenses, etc. are on top of that. $14k a year would be a godsend.

TLDR?
You don't need to go to college to be successful. If you do go to college, you don't need to whore yourself out to pay for it. £9000 a year is not an unreasonable price for college.

And sorry if this ticks anyone off, but this article sort of struck a nerve with me.

I can understand why you'd be peed off. One of the worries of the NUS is that this signals a move towards a more US style of funding. First it was free (that's a bugbear, a lot of the people in government went to uni completely on grants), then they introduced fees, now they're increasing those fees. Etc.
Then again you said that you paid $10,000 a year for your BS, while the new British fees are $14,000 a year (using your figures, haven't checked myself). Government assistance for anything higher than a Bachelor's is much harder to get than it is for a Bachelor's itself, and I think the provision for living is less, although post-grads are paid by the uni for teaching (I think that's a pretty universal practice anyway).

Half the problem is that there is a generation who HAVE been told that they need to go to uni to be successful.

**SilverMK2**

Lux_Lucis wrote:Half the problem is that there is a generation who HAVE been told that they need to go to uni to be successful.

And part of the problem combining with larger numbers of graduates, especially in a potential employee rich time that we are currently "enjoying", is that the requirements for many jobs have shifted upwards - jobs that you used to be able to walk in to out of high school are now requiring degrees, or significant numbers of years of experience working in that area.

**Melissia**

mattyrm wrote: Sure you don't [and other pointless crap]

Believe whatever you want about my beliefs, even if you have to lie to yourself to do so. Which you are.

**Lux_Lucis**

SilverMK2 wrote:
Lux_Lucis wrote:Half the problem is that there is a generation who HAVE been told that they need to go to uni to be successful.

And part of the problem combining with larger numbers of graduates, especially in a potential employee rich time that we are currently "enjoying", is that the requirements for many jobs have shifted upwards - jobs that you used to be able to walk in to out of high school are now requiring degrees, or significant numbers of years of experience working in that area.

Exactly. There's qualification inflation.
I know the government are giving preferable treatment to apprenticeships and vocational courses these days, but there's also going to have to be a cultural shift as well. Plus, compared to say thirty years ago, even manufacturing jobs require more technical expertise than they have before.
It's going to take a long time for everything to shift.