Is University Worth it Anymore?

Is university worth it or is it an elaborate money trap and scam? How much worth can one attach to a degree and if I decide to pursue a degree, which one shall I choose?

These are all very important questions and questions one must ask when deciding whether or not to go to university.

Are student loans worth it?

When you buy almost any product - if it doesn’t deliver what it promised, you get a refund. So if the promise of a degree is that it’ equals success in the world, why don’t colleges and universities offer a money back guarantee if you don’t get a job? That's because Universities are run as businesses. The minute students could get loans so they didn’t have to pay out of pocket - universities started jacking up their prices.

The problem in the UK is not as bad as our cousins across the pond. In the UK, I don’t think student debt should be a major concern – at least not if you are in England. Here’s how student loans work in England: you begin by choosing your repayment plan. Plans 1 & 2 will only have you paying 9% of your income that goes above the threshold (￡25.72k) every month. The threshold is the amount of money you are expected to earn a year before you start paying back student loans. On an income of ￡40k you will only be repaying ￡1,285 a year. It’s not a lot, and it all gets written off after 30 years anyway. So what’s my biggest concern with going to university…?

What Degree should I choose?

Choosing your degree is the most important factor in this debate. There are so many people that will choose a degree because of parental pressure, societal pressure, or pressure from their friends. They will choose a degree because it looked “fun”, or it seemed “interesting”, but a lot of people do not ask themselves: what career do I want to get into? And even more importantly: do I need this degree to get into a career? I made this mistake when I picked Psychology for my undergrad. The BIGGEST mistake I made and a colossal waste of money. Rather than jumping straight into university, I wish I would have gone on a gap year.

Should you take a gap year?

One of my biggest solutions to not knowing whether or not you should go to university, and what degree you should pick is taking a gap year. Take it.

What should I do during my Gap year?

A few of my recommendations are reading, getting a job, going to networking events, and travelling. Generally, you want to experiment and try different things. It’s important to see what you enjoy and are more inclined towards, which can aid you in making a decision on what career you want to get into. Once you know what career you would like to go down, check to see if you need a degree to start working in that field. If you don’t, then it may be that going to university is not needed for you to get a job. This is where I may voice an unpopular opinion but I REALLY wish i took that gap year instead of spending money on my MBA. That essentially was all of the above but a very expensive gap year both in the cost of the MBA and opportunity cost.

What is the value of a degree?

Grade inflation is a big problem that universities are tying to tackle. More than half of university students are leaving with a first, or a 2:1. To add to that, the student cap that once prevented universities from letting in as many students as they liked has now been removed. Removing the student cap has increased competition between universities, and now it’s become a major competition to get as many students in as possible.

This all becomes problematic when you look at how employable a degree makes you. The more graduates with top classifications there are, the less an employer can differentiate between who is truly the best, and who is not. My personal opinion is that a degree can get you a foot in the door for a job, but that is as far as it goes. The rest is up to how you perform in the interview.

I would even go as far as to say that some employers (depending on the career) prefer non-graduates, so that they are coming into the company with a ‘clean slate’ and can be moulded through the company and not already enter the job with pre—conceived ideas and notions on how that company may or may not function.

Students during the Pandemic are being treated so unfairly and are so disadvantaged that they have my empathy. They have been through the credit crunch and now the pandemic and with rising property prices why are we stacking the deck against them? They need a voice and they need a stand.