chairdriver Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I'm the same. I always listened and always learned and did very well in class...but by looking at my grades, you would have thought I dossed about but nevertheless, I am proud. As you said, most of the kids who had grades are either with children doing nothing with their lives, acting like complete twats to everyone because they're in university or doing nothing but taking drugs and drinking and whatever. So in comparison, I'd rather have shit grades and be the guy I am today rather than having good grades and being an arse. So yeah, I will join Wolfy and shout "Screw. Them!" Yeah, but you aren't going to get a well-paid job without a uni degree (without a stroke of luck), especially now that so many people go to uni, and you have to have a better and better CV to get employed. Of course, getting a well-paid job is by no means the only thing to look forward to in life, but having money just makes everything easier. And more smooth. Also, it's really flawed to assume everyone takes drugs at university (especially when here at Oxford they have an absolute-zero tolerance policy when it comes to drugs - if they find you with drugs in your possession you get kicked out). To be fair, everyone gets completely plastered most nights, but it's a valuable life-skill to be learned to be able to recover from a hangover quickly and get on with your life, so it's fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Yeah, but you aren't going to get a well-paid job without a uni degree (without a stroke of luck) This is not true. Also, it's really flawed to assume everyone takes drugs at university This is. I never took drugs while at uni. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 (edited) dudedazz; that's a rather harsh view of students at uni :P I'm quickly realising that I'm losing the will to argue on these forums because I'm far too aware that everything is connected, thus everything is complicated. I dislike generalisations, and more and more it is clear that nearly everything everyone says is a generalisation. Even this, I suppose. Generalisations just signify ignorance. hehehe, sorry I should have explained, there's like five people who used to be my friends and now they treat me and other people like they're stupid because they're doing courses in university and we were in college. And the whole drugs/drinking thing wasn't about University students, I meant students in my year in school who got brilliant GCSEs didn't do anything but booze and drugs and stuff. I can see why you got confused so my apologies. I'd love to tell them that I was offered to go to an American University to study Computer Science last year...unfortunately, the costs were phenomenal. I can't remember how much it was but my family offered to pay but I wouldn't let them. The price was way too high. I'm still proud of myself. I got Graphic Design and Web Design qualifications (Graphic Design is the best for me. Web Design I'm average at though I need one more level and Birmingham aren't doing it no more ) and a BTEC in IT Practitioners. I need to brush up on my Graphic Design, haha. So yeah, they can shove that in their pipes and smoke it! Edited November 26, 2009 by Animal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwolf Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Confession: If I could go round shooting my neighbours and not go to prison - I totally would. I'm sure alot of people have thought about what its like to kill somebody, I sure have! I think university is incredibly expensive, I'm on the lower side I'll probably leave with about 15k worth of debt in a year and a half. But some have amount debt up to 20k already because of years they didn't like and dropped out etc. If I didn't have such phonomenal support from my family I wouldn't have been able to go to university, I owe them way too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I think I'm on about 18K. I dunno. I'm sure they'll let me know soon enough. But I probably won't start paying back in April (I think its usually April the following year you're supposed to start) because I'm not earning enough. Woo, recession! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Odwin Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I loved uni life - going to the cinema, buying clothes, eating nice food, all when you couldn't actually afford to. But all these years later I am still paying for it and it slightly niggles at me. I'm at about 11 grand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sec Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I don't know what a tracker mortgage is! .. sorry had to say that. I quite enjoy reality T.V shows.. Oh the shame the Shame THE SHAME of it all!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwolf Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I think I'm on about 18K. I dunno. I'm sure they'll let me know soon enough. But I probably won't start paying back in April (I think its usually April the following year you're supposed to start) because I'm not earning enough. Woo, recession! You just start whenever you can actually afford it. It wipes after 25 years apprently, so hold on people. Not that its a good idea to leave 10k + debt around for 25years or anything.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raining_again Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 (edited) You just start whenever you can actually afford it. It wipes after 25 years apprently, so hold on people. Not that its a good idea to leave 10k + debt around for 25years or anything.. Agreed, it never does a lot for your credit score (maybe in the past but not these days) and just having it there would be in the back of my mind constantly. --- And you can get a decent job without a university degree. I'm in a 15k job at the mo, could be looking at jumping into my bosses job when he goes (which is 18/19k) and you can jump up and up with more experience. Yeah you might have to do a few qualifications on the way, but there's usually (read: mostly) an opportunity for people with experience. (and a drivers licence!) I know a lot of jobs in the nhs have options for say a band 5 at 22k; a degree plus 1 years relevant experience, 3 a levels and 2 years relevant experience or 3 years relevant experience. University is NOT the be all and end all. (i've learned a lot more in work than i ever would do in a "school" or "lecture" environment.) Edited November 26, 2009 by Raining_again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Agreed, it never does a lot for your credit score (maybe in the past but not these days) and just having it there would be in the back of my mind constantly. --- And you can get a decent job without a university degree. I'm in a 15k job at the mo, could be looking at jumping into my bosses job when he goes (which is 18/19k) and you can jump up and up with more experience. Yeah you might have to do a few qualifications on the way, but there's usually (read: mostly) an opportunity for people with experience. (and a drivers licence!) I know a lot of jobs in the nhs have options for say a band 5 at 22k; a degree plus 1 years relevant experience, 3 a levels and 2 years relevant experience or 3 years relevant experience. University is NOT the be all and end all. (i've learned a lot more in work than i ever would do in a "school" or "lecture" environment.) Yeah, I think people seem to put far to much empashis on going to University nowadays, especially with so many graduates ending up working in Spar when they graduate. Not that i'm saying going to uni is a bad thing but so many people seem to go now just for the student lifestyle and not the actual learning. For me it just seemed illogical to go back to school and be left with a big debt for the joy of it. I've definitely learned a lot in the last few years that I wouldn't have done had I went to higher education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwolf Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Its only a good thing if you want to be dedicated to learn things that you may not otherwise. For me I find it abit of a waste because alot of my classes tell me to sit on youtube tutorials, but thats a personally thing, alot of people from uni do end up going to brighter and better things! If I had the chance to quit uni and not have to pay any money back, I'd quit right now. Heh, heh! Probably re-do it with huddersfield instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 You just start whenever you can actually afford it. It wipes after 25 years apprently, so hold on people. Not that its a good idea to leave 10k + debt around for 25years or anything.. Yeah I think they start when you are earning at least 15K (and then they take off £5/month or something) but I won't be earning that for at least two years if I go back into education :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 It's more like £7 a week, I think. £5 a month would mean it'd take like 50 years to pay off my debt, which clearly isn't going to happen. Even £28 a month is ridiculously low so I'm sure it's probably not that either, as that would still take forever to pay off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 It's more like £7 a week, I think. £5 a month would mean it'd take like 50 years to pay off my debt, which clearly isn't going to happen. Even £28 a month is ridiculously low so I'm sure it's probably not that either, as that would still take forever to pay off. Just checked. Once you earn over £1,250/month (or £288/week) you repay 9% of the difference above £1,250 (so if you earn £1,500/month it would be £500). So if you earned just above the minimum (£1292 is £15,500/year for example) you would pay back £3.78 a month. So it depends what you're earning but I could be right :p (if you earn £15,666/year you'd be paying £5 back a month). But if you did that it would take you 300 years to pay off £18,000 worth of debt :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Wow. What a ridiculous system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iun Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Just checked. Once you earn over £1,250/month (or £288/week) you repay 9% of the difference above £1,250 (so if you earn £1,500/month it would be £500). So if you earned just above the minimum (£1292 is £15,500/year for example) you would pay back £3.78 a month. So it depends what you're earning but I could be right :p (if you earn £15,666/year you'd be paying £5 back a month). But if you did that it would take you 300 years to pay off £18,000 worth of debt :p And the best part is, when my graduating class took out our loans, we were guaranteed that the interest would stay in line with inflation and we would only ever pay back the equivalent of what we borrowed in the first place. Then of course, a year later, the SLC decided to change things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The fish Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Because I'm on a 5 year course, I'll finish with over £25k of debt. That said, I'll have a degree that should make it very easy to find a job, and in my sector, you're unlucky to start at less that £25K... Oh, and before anyone says "yeah, I thought that too, but since then the need for psychology (or whatever) grads has gone down loads", I'm a Civil Engineer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I've definitely learned a lot in the last few years that I wouldn't have done had I went to higher education. Had I gone into higher education. Real life fail Confession (although I'm sure I ranted about this before). I hate that I share a lot of DNA with my brother (and to a lesser extend other flustercluck failures within my family tree) because even though I know we're different people it leaves this lingering fear over what I could become. Ah well, I deal with it through being awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Wow. What a ridiculous system. It's a great asystem. Especially as the intrest is currently 0%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuD Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Is it actually zero? I heard on the news a while back that they were planning on shafting students and still make them pay some interest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReZourceman Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Because I'm on a 5 year course, I'll finish with over £25k of debt. That said, I'll have a degree that should make it very easy to find a job, and in my sector, you're unlucky to start at less that £25K... Yeah but tbf, recently the need for computer grads has gone down loads, so you'll be lucky to find anything 20k plus tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Odwin Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 (edited) Is it actually zero? I heard on the news a while back that they were planning on shafting students and still make them pay some interest? Post '97 loans are getting shafted because our interest rate is 0%, and it should be negative. Ashley is right, you pay 9% of everything you earn over 15k. Your employer takes it straight out of your paypacket, along with tax and NI - whether you can afford it or not has nothing to do with it. Prospects is normally quite good for job descriptions, starting wages, work conditions, etc. You can work out how much you are likely to be paying back when you get a job! Yay! Edited November 27, 2009 by Mr_Odwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightwolf Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Really for games design is not really needed to go to university, but it helps with contacts, my friends will be the people who I rely on in 10 or so years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh64 Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I watch Jeremy Kyle, it makes me feel better about myself. I really don't like the people in my class at college, they are annoying and immature but they really like me, so I feel like a dick. I grin and bare it but I often feel like shooting my brains out when I'm with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaggis Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I watch Jeremy Kyle, it makes me feel better about myself. My best friend and I do the same but with Maury. It never fails to raise our self-esteem by gigantic amounts after watching. I mean, finding out 15 year old Shanequa sold herself for a cheeseburger just makes me feel amazing about myself. -- I name things. I write "Mr or Mrs so and so" on objects. Now I can't stop, because I feel said object would feel left out if I didn't. My beloved Mr. Fan broke today. Worst day ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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