Blair survives

[SilverHood]

General tax payer (i.e me) sub these kids to go living it up at uni and keep them in a lifestyle that allows them to go out twice a week? Fuck right off (pardon me, this really gets under my skin).

G

Hardly, it's borrwed money they are spending, not yours - these days you can get a credit card easily, as a student, as well as a 1000 quid overdraft. (Can't get a loan without geting a credit card these days either)

Most people use these as extra money, to fund their going outs, which is why some people have debts of over £12k when finished with a 3 year course.
They are, of course, fools, but they don't tend to realise this until the bank want their money.

And your taxes aren't going to go lower because uni's can charge more Big G... only the prospective students will suffer.

 

[RedVenom]

As Tom says there seems to be too much emphasis on qualifications rather than actual skills.

But you have neither?

 

[Daf]

thanks for rubbing it in

 

[old.user4556]

Hardly, it's borrwed money they are spending, not yours - these days you can get a credit card easily, as a student, as well as a 1000 quid overdraft. (Can't get a loan without geting a credit card these days either)

I'm talking about in future, at this current moment in time yes they borrow it - i'm well aware of that and thanks for stating the obvious. You haven't addressed the borrowed money to fund cars, mobiles, £40 a week on booze?

Most people use these as extra money, to fund their going outs, which is why some people have debts of over £12k when finished with a 3 year course. They are, of course, fools, but they don't tend to realise this until the bank want their money.

Tough titty i'm afraid. You're correct that they're fools.

And your taxes aren't going to go lower because uni's can charge more Big G... only the prospective students will suffer.

:touch: who said anything about lowering tax? It just riles me that students pile onto news night and whine that the tax payers should foot the bill for their education; particularly the arrogant, trumped up medical student who said "if the binman who has a heart attack in the street, who's gonna be there for him?! me !" blah blah etc blah.

G

 

[Tom]

The trouble with society today is that everyone wants to better themselves by having jobs that don't involve any hard graft. Whereas most people require the services of people who can do hard graft.

Thats celebrity for you.

 

[dysfunction]

It just riles me that students pile onto news night and whine that the tax payers should foot the bill for their education; particularly the arrogant, trumped up medical student who said "if the binman who has a heart attack in the street, who's gonna be there for him?! me !" blah blah etc blah.

G

I completely agree. I thought that student was a very short sighted, narrow minded fool! If Blair wasnt on TV and in the media spotlight I'm sure he would have ripped her a new one.

Using her argument against her....If it wasnt for the binmen, builders etc etc she would be walking to work and wading through piles of garbage...and she would not have a house to live in either....

 

[SilverHood]

£40 a week is 8 hours work if you got a semi decent job. Not impossible for a student to earn - I know many of my mates spend this kind of money a week, and they have to job to be able to afford it.

I don't want to work while at uni, so I obviously have less money to spend on going out than them, but it suits me fine.

Student loan pays for rent, food and tution fees (just, and not always). If you can get help to pay these from parrents, or if you have money saved to pay for one of those 3, then you suddenly have a big chunk of money lying about, which could be spent on booze, if that's the type of person you are.
I currently spend 20 quid a week on food - if I was to go "cheap", as some of my mates are doing, I could probably live on around a tenner a week. That would give me an extra tenner a week to spend on booze.
Regardless of what happens, I'd still be in debt at the end, it's just the amount that matters. I don't see any major problems in getting a decent job when I graduate, so the £9k isn't really too worrying.

Not sure how someone can afford to have a car at uni, unless it's already paid for before they came, and then it's just petrol (To uni, and to the supermarket, I imagine) - which can't really amount to much a week. Especially if the person has a job to augment their income.

On the binman note - I agree, she went a bit over the top, and her views aren' that of every student, but still - she has to spend what? 7 years on a course to be able to provide the public with a much needed service. Does a bin man have to go to Uni to get a degree in Waste Disposal management to remove bins? Hardly, but I'm not slagging bin men - they have a job, and they do it well (atleast where I lived), and bin man isn't "the worst" type of job you could get.

Currently, most students have £3k per year worths of debt (atleast) when they finish Uni - unless they got rich parrents.
When top up fees arrive, you're gonna see this figure rise by £2-3k per year - a daunting prospect to say the least, especially for longer courses.

Atleast some uni's are trying to solve the problem of massive fees for longer courses: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3436961.stm

 

[old.user4556]

Exactly!

My dad said something similar. He shouted at the TV: "yeah! and what about the engineers that design the equipment you use in your job? and the scientists that do all their research that you study? and the binmen and janitors and the people that keep basic sanitation services running? all the people that *you* are going to need love".

The list is endless. She was living in her own classist little bubble.

I admit though, I have £3k of student loan to pay back from my first year at uni. I will stand up and admit that I didn't spend one penny on it on books, rent, food. I blew it all getting pissed, clothes and PC bits. I had to stop and basically be mega skint for the following years .

G

 

[SilverHood]

If you hadn't spent it on booze, would you stil have that £3k debt?

 

[old.user4556]

Nope, i would have saved myself a fortune. It's payed back now, I made my mistake and I don't raj on and point the finger at the government for my own financial mismanagement.

Think about it. If that bloke above spent £40 a week on booze, that's nearly £8000 on booze over a four year term. Hello debt.

G

 

[xane]

well, it obviously wasn't _all_ booze ! Some of it was Pot Noodle.

 

[SilverHood]

£8000 is a bit much - only 22 weeks of teaching at my uni, so that's £880 a year.

Still £3500 at the end of a 4 year degree course, which is quite a bit.

Which would still leave him with around £7500 pounds of debt. (With the current system)
He'd better be having a bloody good time for that £3500!
With the new system, he'd be £13500 in debt if he didn't spend any money on booze.
And lets face it, I don't think it's not possible to go boozing once a while as a student.... I know people who live of beans on toast, and they still manage to save enough money for a pint at lunchtime.

 

[Krazeh]

Regardless of what happens, I'd still be in debt at the end, it's just the amount that matters. I don't see any major problems in getting a decent job when I graduate, so the £9k isn't really too worrying.

Well that all depends on the degree you're studying and what industry sector you're planning to enter, it's quite possible to end up in a not so great job even if you have a degree. And 9k debt is still a lot of money with or without a decent job.

The really worrying thing is with the government stupidly insisting at least 50% of school leavers should be going throught university degrees are going to lose their value, so people are gonna leave uni with big debts and the degree they have will be a lot less valued in the job market than it is now.

 

[00dave]

I know someone who went to uni and studied media and phsycology, he spent most of his time and money on drugs, beer and his hippy/stoner taste in music. As a result he's now working as a key cutter at Butlin's.

Only one person, I thought it may have just been him but: visited a friend at uni who was studying to be a nurse, been there a few weeks and we were told tales of her new friends drinking abilities, how much a person could consume in one go, who could last longest throughout the night. Even on a cheap night the rounds would have come to a ridiculous amount, and this had been nearly every night since she started, then they sat on the grass outside playing guitars and "chillin" all night.

Now to anyone who says that they need this kind of stress relief I say fuck off, people who work 50+ hours a week to keep payments up need stress relief. Most students I've known are a waste of time and are just putting off getting a job for as long as possible.

But there are some who are responsible. A good friend of mine is studying to be a politician (He's ok though really, I have photo's of him in a communist uniform which maybe handy for blackmail one day) over the summer in 2001 he worked for the same company as me to earn some cash for his return, he worked 90 hours a week with about 4 days off the entire time. As a result he worked for Virginia Bottomly (remember her from spitting image, thats where I remember her from) at the houses of parliment throughout 2002.

Anyway I'm joining the airforce on wednesday so it'll be like a very strict uni with guns and you lot have to pay for my training and my wages

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Anyway I'm joining the airforce on wednesday so it'll be like a very strict uni with guns and you lot have to pay for my training and my wages

Truck drivers get guns?

 

[00dave]

Truck drivers get guns?

Actually my job description gives me the responibility of a fleet of vehicles with different specialties, I'll be like Jayce and the wheel warrior.

Anyway in answer to you question, do you expect me to defend myself and my cargo (which could be anything from bombs to VIPs) from armed terrorists with the wheel brace. I think I also get escape and evasion training.