Designer Degrees?

Its safe to say most people will struggle financially at some stage in their life, if not all their life. Now I’m not here to offend anyone by possibly pretending that I could fully comprehend the continuous struggle and stress that comes with owning a home, a car, having children etc. But as a millennial I’m anxious of the debt that is accumulating from wanting to continue my studies at university, which will ultimately put me on the back foot when I'm starting out in life. I know you’ve heard it all before, in fact many of you may have experienced this yourself. Especially, if this involves departing home and having to do everything yourself, in my experience this will total to about £45,000 ($56,000) in debt. But its no secret that there are countless credible sources that show the majority of degrees, bar the likes of medicine and dentistry etc, wont be making enough of a sufficient income after 5 years to make considerable repayments to these loans whilst allowing the graduates to live comfortably.

Now you could pull out a spreadsheet and argue how initially you will be in debt, but over the course of your life you will make more money than you would without a degree. And I would agree, I’m not to one to argue over what benefits university will have as a long-term investment, my main concern, and my top priority was how was I going to finance this and justify it. As a student growing up in a working-class family the idea of university was always an unattainable one until recently in my life. But I understand it’s not just students in the same position as me, university fees are outrageously high in the majority of the wealthiest countries in the world. A university degree is almost becoming a designer item that only the wealthy can truly 'afford'. Now I am aware that people from all backgrounds who are extremely passionate about their education go on and study their passions in university and I do applaud those ambitious enough to do so. According to the Guardian, In the early 1960's, only 4% of school leavers went to university, today that number is over 40%. Therefore, I'm sure I am not alone in knowing that many people go to University to remain competitive in the workplace as the percentage of the population with degrees has drastically rose, coercing people to generate ridiculous levels of debt.

This current pandemic has yet reinforced the belief that University tuitions are too ridiculous, as they refuse to refund/reimburse students for an entire lost semester (1/3), and that's not accounting for additional lost teaching time such as the Strikes (four weeks). Now I can appreciate there was an 'attempt' to mitigate this lose of education by moving classes online. But if students and the general population were already deciding that the quality of education was low or at least not worth the price tag then how does an organisation think that poor zoom calls and the occasional email will satisfy us? Surely they're not that delusional.

This article isn't ANTI-Universities, but simply against serious debt imposed on the people who want to educate themselves and teach, build, and invent the future. If you agree and what to help out then there are countless petitions on change.org and https://petition.parliament.uk/ and I encourage you to explore them. Additionally, you could encourage your friends, and loved ones to consider other paths to prevent them for going to university for just the 'Uni experience', such as apprenticeships, community colleges (The Open University), unpaid internships, travelling abroad on missions or to work at camps.