It has been my wish for many years that when both my children are at secondary school (in 2 years time) I was going to do a degree in Chinese Medicine, i have loved acupuncture and knew it would be my dream to study this amazing art.
I come from a poor council estate in Scotland and "our sort" never dreamed of having aspirations.
I have been harbouring this dream and belived one day that I would be the first one ever in my family to go to University, and thought that would set a good example for my children and hope they too would get to university.
I feel so sad this morning, I feel my dream as been well and trully removed from my reach. I could just about manage £3000+ a year tuition fees but now Mr Cameron andd his crew have decided we will now need to find 3 times that £ 9000 + per year !
We are not on the breadline and out household income is not considered minimum, but it is "avarage" I dont have family money or a rich daddy to help me out.
I now know that I cannot afford to follow my dream, I feel dismayed and very very sad.
Thank you mr Cameron!:mad:
Thank you mr Cameron!:mad:
Maybe you should be thanking the last government for nearly bankrupting the country.:(
Trina, hang on in there. It's not a done deal yet and anyway, the way I'm reading it, it's only going to be the elite universities that will be charging that much. So if you're not planning on going to Oxford or Cambridge, you may still be OK. Please don't start despairing in advance or you will defeat yourself and your aspirations. Just wait and be positive. A dream as strong as yours will surely come to pass....
xxx
Trina, governments love to make big statements and then they concede a little, and everyone says, phew that's OK then. Typical politian(sp) con trick. So as Sunanda suggests it might not be as it seems. Anycase the university sector is a huge competitive industry, market forces will keep the prices down.
Best Wishes
RP
[COLOR="Indigo"]Hope all turns out okay for you, hang in there 🙂
Barbara x
Well, my fees to start with were £6000+ per year. During my 3rd year our college became attached to a university, and the price dropped to about £1500 per year. So you never know what's going to happen.
All governments blame forces beyond their control for things that go badly and take credit for things that go well. My view is that this is simply the return of the Thatcherite agenda, blaming the last rotten government is very convenient but is little more than an pretext for going the whole hog. Even before the arrival of the current government, Britain was still reeling from the Thatcher legacy, Thatcher was a reaction to an earlier Labour government that failed to get a grip. This kind of analysis can go back to the beginnning of time - Cameron does what Cameron does, I'm afraid.
In a way it was heartwarming to see a poster on the side of an Oxford college the other day calling students to protest. When I was at University, an 'issue' meant getting kicked out of a night club - it was worrying what had happened to the minds of a whole generation. If the current government achieves nothing else, at least waking up our students and putting politics back in people's thoughts would be something.
How about sending a copy of your post to both Mr Cameron and Mr Brown? The last government has left an appalling financial legacy which unfortunately needs to be sorted somehow. I think they both need to know how it affects the ordinary person.
Thatcher was a reaction to an earlier Labour government that failed to get a grip. This kind of analysis can go back to the beginnning of time - Cameron does what Cameron does, I'm afraid.
Unfortunately this is what Labour Governments do. Borrow up to the hilt and then leave the country in an appalling mess.
I doubt many of you will remember - but at the end of the Callaghan Government higher rate earners were paying 98p in the Pound income tax.:mad: My dad will attest to that.
It is going to tough and my daughter is still paying off her student loan which that nice Mr Blair bought in - 6 years after leaving Uni -and it is not showing much sign of being paid off.
Britain was still reeling from the Thatcher legacy
YOU ARE KIDDING AREN'T YOU!!!!? She only left office 20 years ago!
Do remember Gordon Brown when he was C of E telling us 'You've never had it so good'. I wonder if he cringes now when he hears that'.
I havn't found out yet what the last government's irresponsible borrowing means for my career or future but I certainly won't be blaming the current government for the failings of the last.
I also believe that Labour were saying things during the election to try and get another term in office but if successful would have to have made the same cuts that the coalition governent have to stop us from going the way of Greece. Some people need to wake up!
I could just about manage £3000+ a year tuition fees but now Mr Cameron andd his crew have decided we will now need to find 3 times that £ 9000 + per year.
Most fees will stay the same. They are just raising the roof of what Universities can charge. Those with a high demand can choose what to charge within a higher band. Universities struggle financially and the money they are receiving from the government has reduced in real terms in the last 15 years. Universities welcome the opportunity to charge more, when needed. In my own programme our fees have gone up from £1750 four years ago, to £3500. We've not seen a drop in the number of applicants. Of course we (the teaching team) don't see any of this extra money.
I doubt Chinese Medicine would be affected as it won't be being offered at a red-brick University (most complementary programmes are affiliated with the smaller vocational type institutions... i.e. those which before the mergers were colleges).
Personally I'm pro-fees. I work at a University and I have seen a huge positive change in undergraduate student attendance and attitude since fees were introduced. The people who get into University now treat it seriously and put in their best efforts. Plus the drop-out rate has gone down significantly from 25% to less than 10%. Those drop-outs cost the University a huge amount of money... and is a terrible waste of resources.
I'm not a Tory, though. But the Tories didn't introduce fees, so that's not really relevant.
The main message is not to worry - this probably won't affect you. If you were wishing to study Medicine, or Biochemistry, or Molecular Biology, or Biosciences at a prestigious university I'd me more worried. Those programmes have huge overheads and cost a lot to deliver.
Ava x
Do remember Gordon Brown when he was C of E telling us 'You've never had it so good'. I wonder if he cringes now when he hears that'.
Just to be pedantic, this quote goes back all the way to 1957 and it was Harold MacMillan, Conservative Prime Minister, who said it in a speech in Bedford. So I would say that kvdp is broadly right: it was ever thus!
Just to be pedantic, this quote goes back all the way to 1957 and it was Harold MacMillan, Conservative Prime Minister, who said it in a speech in Bedford. So I would say that kvdp is broadly right: it was ever thus!
Gordon Brown said it at a Labour conference in 1999. He couldn't even say anything original!
Gordon Brown said it at a Labour conference in 1999. He couldn't even say anything original!
Meanwhile Gordon Brown sold off our gold reserves to the EU at a cut-down price and pillaged the pension funds and frittered the funds away on useless quangos and profligate government spending, and borrowed lots more besides. So much for looking after the country's finances - I wouldn't trust him with my housekeeping let alone anything else 😮
I wouldn't trust him with my housekeeping let alone anything else 😮
I would. I mean, given his personality type, I bet the house would be spotless. 😉
You have a point there Scott!! :rolleyes: Colloquially I meant my housekeeping allowance (financial) 😉