poor students

[Mellow-]

Originally posted by furofknight
so it now seems my l33t public school education does me more harm than good! great!

http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityaccess/story/0,10670,802020,00.html

I hate this country...

Yeah I saw that in the paper as well. Bit odd that.

Thanks Scoob, your lack of support shows me just how much you care My original point was pretty much "20k is a stupidly large amount of debt"

 

[old.ignus]

I've never been to university in my life but when I was younger I was a different kind of student, it was one of those crappy apprentice things that involved me working in a vehicle repair workshop or garage if you like, fixing everything from lawn mowers to 12 ton HGVs it was fun sometimes and good experience for my up and coming driving future but unfortunately 40 quid a week didn't really work for me, plus travel expenses to college and back so I left. I really don't reccomend them, they treat you like shit and in my case it was dangerous, sat underneath a 12 ton HGV that was being held up by a ramp with an 8 ton SWL was very scary. So I started work as a full time barman to pay off debts and get my life back on track, then I became a technician for a large local leisure company, I don't earn a hell of a lot but compared to my Uni mates I'm loaded.
Now you might say, well when we're quailified we'll get some really high paid jobs and we'll be better than you, but I have to stop you before you do for 2 reasons, 1 you'll be a long time before you find a job thats "suitable" for you, and 2 Im soon joining the royal airforce and after about 27 weeks of basic training and another few months to settle into my chosen trade I'll be pissing on you all from a great height, literally!

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Depending on what side of them you are, apprenticeships are a good or bad thing. Certinaly in my trade a 2 year + apprenticeship is usual, if only to weed out those who have the aptitude for the job.

However, a lot of jobs seem to require a lengthy apprenticeship simply because the bosses went through it as well.

Pisser if you're young and looking for a job really.

 

[WPKenny]

Originally posted by Mellow-


How does that make me a twat? You know nothing about me.


.......


hahahahahahahahaha! Gutted. A lot of people just don't understand how to spend and save their cash these days. I've never been in debt and I love it.

I think that said a shit load about you.

Until you've been a student you really can't comment on these things. Opinions are opinions but when you laugh in someone's face, especially my girlfriend's, about something you honestly know fuck all about, you make yourself out to be an absolute.....you guessed it.... twat.

 

[prime1]

Well I went to uni for year, but the course was dull (computer science), wasnt gona get me anywhere and i saw the debts mounting, so dropped it.

I came back with £2700 worth of debt. I shouldnt have, but i wasted a ton of cash (£600 on mobile phone bills!??!?!?! how the fuck i managed that i still dont know). For many cases the "whoa is me" student line is utter crap. In some cases, where support from parents is limited and a grant is not forthcoming, or its a particularly expensive course, it can be hard. I went to Hull university and out of the lets say 20 people i knew well, only 1 was having trouble with finance, cause she had quite rich parents who refused to finance her - so minimum loan, no grant and very little parental support.

20 grands worth of debt is franly obscene, my brother came out of uni (before tuition fees were paid for yourself) with £3000 debt, 3 year course, some help from parents. add £3000 worth of tuition fees so now itd be £6000.

Its expensive, but lets be hoenst, financially if u r prepared to do "some" work youve never had it so good - large interest free overdraughts (free loans), minimial interest loans with light repayment requirements, low rate credit cards, financial support, cheap living arrangements, cheap travel, tons of cheap nightlife etc

Stop moaning and pretending or trying to convince others its a hard life! It may not be amazingly easy for all, but you cant seriosuyl tell me its all hard grind, hard work, no money and that you arnt enjoying it.

Theres not much sympathy for students because everyone knows that half the reason they are there is to have a good time ;p

 

[~YuckFou~]

I've seen a few peeps here telling us how they have just got their loan/grant, and its time to buy those 50 dvd's or similar.
For those I have fuck all sympathy. The money loaned/granted is to live on, pay rent, buy food etc. It's not for silly purchases or beer.
I went to uni when I was 30 at John Moores in Liverpool. I had a mortgage/car and all the associated bills. I got some money but not enough to cover all the "grown up" bills
So I got 2 part time jobs, hard work but sorted.

If you want it you have to work for it, simple.

 

[dysfunction]

Originally posted by ~YuckFou~
If you want it you have to work for it, simple.

Or get your parents to pay for you!!

 

[WPKenny]

I'm not saying Damini's great with money but from your own figures Prime1 where you came out of uni with nearly 3 grand's worth of debt after one year.

Damini's course is 4 years long. So for starters that's 4 x 3 grand = 12 grand.

If you were at uni for just one year then that's really only about 8 or 9 months (or even less).

And you're professing to be pretty good with money despite the large phone bill.

Damini works at Safeways and does any overtime they'll give her during term time and out of it.

When I was at Uni, I had a part time bar job working all weekends so I rarely saw my mates and spent even less on booze then I do now.

Canterbury is an expensive place to live. Student shit holes cost around 70 quid a week ON AVERAGE (including halls of residence). The shops and restaurants and bars charge nearly London prices. The bars on campus charge fuck all difference to the bars in town. The campus night club puts its prices up after 11pm to an even more student unfriendly price, plus it can cost up to a fiver or more on some nights to just get in the door.

Some people ARE good with money and others ARE NOT. It's not some inherent crapness or anything like that. Some people have no choice in what they need to spend their money on if they're going to do their degree.

I'm most certainly NOT crap with money and it fucking gaulled me to to see mates swanning about in their rooms all day supported by well off parents while my debts mounted up. They didn't even have to think about getting jobs. It's these fuckers most of you are thinking about.

Are there no recent graduates or soon to be graduates reading this thread who can testify to this?

 

[Testin da Cable]

I can. When I was doing photography some of the peeps there [not all, but a good percentage] were blessed with well endowed fams etc. Some worked parttime, some didn't. I do know that if I bought a packet of photopaper [250pcs Illford 8x10"] I'd have to eat bread and work overtime that week because I refused to go for a full student loan. The packet would last about two weeks. It did gall indeed...

 

[Will]

I'm with Kenny on this one. Longer courses, taking into account all the money you now borrow to go to Uni, living in an expensive town without the London Living Allowance (does that even exist anymore?), it can all add up. £20,000 is above average, but it's not unheard of. I'm just glad I got to go to Uni when grants still existed and tuition fees didn't.

 

[Mellow-]

Originally posted by WPKenny
I think that said a shit load about you.

Until you've been a student you really can't comment on these things. Opinions are opinions but when you laugh in someone's face, especially my girlfriend's, about something you honestly know fuck all about, you make yourself out to be an absolute.....you guessed it.... twat.

I don't need to know anything about it to be honest i've had a lot of friends go through uni and they've only come out with £5k debt at a maximum. When you say your girlfriends going to come out with over £20k I can't help but laugh. I mean what could she possibly be spending all that money on??? To be honest I don't give a fuck, it's her problem, and it'll be your problem when she comes out with all that money over her head.

You have my sympathys.

 

[Will]

Mellow by name, Mellow by...

...that doesn't work, does it?

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Originally posted by Itcheh
I'm with Kenny on this one. Longer courses, taking into account all the money you now borrow to go to Uni, living in an expensive town without the London Living Allowance (does that even exist anymore?), it can all add up. £20,000 is above average, but it's not unheard of. I'm just glad I got to go to Uni when grants still existed and tuition fees didn't.

The London allowance is something stupid like 2/300 quid more. Luckily I've got the backup of a job for uni, so I shouldn't come out of it with any debts bar the loan.

However, I've got friends here in London on courses without parental support that have got way less than 20K of debt, and I don't think there's any way you can possibly compare the price of living in Canterbury to that in London. I know most people would kill to find digs for 70 quid a week.

 

[bodhi]

Good to see the number of clueless people hasn't diminished since I've been away.

Anyway I reckon I'll prolly be in a similar situation to Damini when I get out. 6 years student loan, 2k overdraft and prolly 2k on a credit card. Thats what you get for changing courses after 3 years, but at least this way I should be able to get a better job and stand a better chance of paying it off (I hear Management Consultancy pays a lot better than a PhD in Astrophysics).

The main "whinging sponging students" thing comes from jealousy. Uni is the best way you can spend 3-4 years of your life, they can't help it if they were too fucking retarded to get in.

 

[Testin da Cable]

heya bods. hows things?

 

[bodhi]

I'd be fine if some pikey cunt hadn't decided to nick my indicators. Apparently there is a huge black market in St Andrews for Golf GTi-spec side indicator repeaters.

 

[Testin da Cable]

no shit? cunts :/
got your housing sorted then? I seem to remember something regarding that...

 

[Xtro]

Originally posted by bodhi

The main "whinging sponging students" thing comes from jealousy. Uni is the best way you can spend 3-4 years of your life, they can't help it if they were too fucking retarded to get in.

roughly agree with first sentence there but rest is bollocks, any fucker can get into uni now and do "worthwhile" degrees like communication studies. Leads to a fine job photocopying.

 

[Nos-]

Depends on the uni and depends on the course Xtro. Granted there are some unis that will take literally anybody, but decent unis tend to have far higher entry criteria.

Take Oxford for example, my ex had 3 A's and 1 B at A level, with 7 A*'s, 2 A's and 2 B's at GCSE level.

Still didn't get in.

 

[.Cask]

Originally posted by Nos-

Take Oxford for example, my ex had 3 A's and 1 B at A level, with 7 A*'s, 2 A's and 2 B's at GCSE level.

Had a friend with similar grades and wasn't accepted into Cambridge, although he did say the interview didn't go too well. Apparently it isn't just about grades, they're looking for a particular type of mind - although I'm sure others know more about their entry procedures.

Sounds a bit like a cop-out, but I never found grades to be a true test of ability - more of a capacity for work. Pretty much anyone with enough time and decent lecturers could pull out straight A's at A-level. Just the same way a genius could end up failing the courses for other reasons.

The one-upmanship that exists by comparing what nature gave us is probably one of the characteristics of humanity that I despise the most. Those fortunates who brag about their gifts are almost as deplorable as those unfortunates who wallow in self-pity. Having said that, I suppose I shouldn't be judging how other people think, though

 

[Damini]

Well, since I'm being analysed I think I'll chip in. Yeah, I freely admit I'm shitty with money. Lots of things have gone a bit awry at uni, and its ended up with me being in a fair bit of debt. Student loan is £3,390 a year, so on a four year course thats £13,560. Add to that I had a barclaycard I could afford before coming to uni, and that I've simply being paying off since coming to uni, thats another grand and a half, so £15,000. Add to that my three grand over draft, and voila, £18,000. I don't own, unlike the majority of my mates, signed Buffy wankey merchandise, nor do I drink £30 bottles of wine nor chomp through 6 pills and a ounce of coke most weekends. My biggest indulgence is going to carboot sales. My bike is older than the cast of S Club Juniors put together. In my first year I had all my stuff smashed up by a complete mysogonist wanker, which I then had to replace, and then had my leg broken in a fight in a club, so I couldn't work for the whole of the summer to recoup my debts, and since then its been hard to battle back the overdraft.

Yeah, I could (like my chain smoking, expensive wine drinking, never working, 24/7 stoned ex housemates) just claim hardship loans, but I don't feel entitled to. I work to get what extra money I can. Maybe I will be some horrible chain around Kenny's neck, dragging him into poverty, but I hold my own now with bills, or if I can't then I pay him back as soon as I can. My parents are unlucky enough to be in the lower earning bracket, and have three children who decided not to churn out babies or steal cars like the rest of their year, but instead go to uni. So maybe I am a total retard for getting in this much debt, but hey, thats the way it goes. One day I hope I'll earn a shite load more than I ever would have festering in Bognor, and if I don't then at least I tried.

 

[*charlton_thd*]

I've got my uni fees all saved up for now, its the living expenses that are gonna cripple me.

Which is why i'm working for £3:60 an hour part time at burger king.


University better be worth it...

 

[Will]

Damini, just ignore them.

I had guessed it was like that, there is no grant at all now, so if you include your loan in your debt, it adds up to a scarey sum.

 

[Testin da Cable]

don't try D. do. make your future.

and charley...aye. it is worth it

 

[Nos-]

Originally posted by .Cask
The one-upmanship that exists by comparing what nature gave us is probably one of the characteristics of humanity that I despise the most. Those fortunates who brag about their gifts are almost as deplorable as those unfortunates who wallow in self-pity.

Thats some deep shit tbh.

 

[Xtro]

Originally posted by Nos-
Depends on the uni and depends on the course Xtro. Granted there are some unis that will take literally anybody, but decent unis tend to have far higher entry criteria.

Take Oxford for example, my ex had 3 A's and 1 B at A level, with 7 A*'s, 2 A's and 2 B's at GCSE level.

Still didn't get in.

Oh aye I agree with you np m8, the decent Uni's still want decent grades - but shitholes like Barnsley (cough) are full to the rafters as they offer degrees to people with an E in Pastrymaking or something.

 

[Sar]

With this access course I'm doing, the majority of Universities, including Queens fgs, only look for a final score of 55% from me in order to do both of my bloody Degrees.

That's equivalent to 3 C's at A-level, which tbh is ridiculously low. I'm working to get the equivalent of 3 A's - 75% or higher. Which tbh is gonna be fairly easy to attain as well.

 

[Xtro]

gl Sar m8



you fucking student leech!

 

[Sar]

Hehe, cheers.

To give you an example of the stunning difficulty of the stuff we're doing atm: Tonight we were introduced to working out the Nth term in a series of numbers.

The first piece of coursework we were given is GCSE standard material:

The council wish to create 100 flower-beds and surround them with hexagonal paving slabs in a pattern (diagram shows 4 flower beds side by side in a line, with 18 slabs surrounding 4 flower-beds). How many slabs will the council need?* Find a formula that the council can use to determine the number of slabs needed for any particular number of flower-beds.

Took one look at the diagram for literally 5 seconds and came up with the formula: 4N+2, where N=the number of flowerbeds.

That's worth 30% of our overall maths module mark - obviously I'll have to fluff it out a bit, and show the long-winded method that can be used to determine the formula. The other half of the module is IT, which is basic word-processing.

It's called a Diploma in Foundation Studies, which is apt. Don't care though, as long as I'm in Uni this time in 2004 I'll be happy


*Answer = 402

 

[old.ignus]

one of my friends is studying politics at hull uni, but he's now doing his work experience with Virginia Bottemly down in london. In many ways I have a lot of respect for him as during his time away from uni he was working 90 hours a week, working for the same company as me, I work 50 hours a week. He didn't complain he just got on with it and as a result of careful planning and cutting down on luxuries he seems to be doing quite well in his financial situation. The lucky bastard also shares a house with some very fit women.