When he first came to power, Tony Blair proudly stated that his party’s message was “Education, Education, Education�. A praiseworthy enough focus and certainly not an area a person would immediately link to frustration and high personal debt. But over time, as greater numbers of institutions have gained university status, and student loans have become easily available to so many more, schools have encouraged greater numbers of young people to go for degrees without really spelling out the cost.
There’s no question that we need a more highly educated society, but is everyone actually getting the very best advice? Let’s be honest; it isn’t a difficult sell to persuade an eighteen year old to leave home and live with a bunch of friends, not worry about getting a job for three or four years and get cheap beer at the student union bar. A facile interpretation perhaps – naturally there’s a spot of studying to be done, and a degree of juggling to make ends meet, then the rewards will be worth it eventually. Or will they? For a great deal of families, the real cost of university education continues for a long time after graduation, both socially and financially.
Student Loans (the best method of funding for university undergraduates), fees for tuition, lodgings and the cost of life in general over the time spent studying can set you back well over £30,000 – with no guarantee of employment. It’s not a funny joke that intellectual adolescents too often find themselves back home and unemployed. Not only do mums and dads still have to support them financially, but time on their hands adult children who’d previously flown the nest can significantly get in the way!
A university education can be a great thing for young people, and is the only path for many of our professions. But we should know that in some subjects, there are other, sometimes better alternatives. As far as IT is concerned, employers are always searching for commercially qualified IT professionals. Only having a university degree means students often end up having to supplement their computer training skills to be ready for work and fare in the job market with Microsoft, CompTIA or Cisco professionals. The disappointing fact is they might have qualified two to three years earlier and been without a really large debt if they’d studied with a global online computer training provider. Maybe drinking in the college bar isn’t such good value after all – it’s true the family coffers would be a lot less used up, and there’d certainly be more seating left on the sofa!.
(C) Scott Edwards - www.learninglolly.com. Scott Edwards has been involved in the IT and Training Industry for 30 years.
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