After doing rather appaulingly in a subject I detested for three of the four years, I'm taking my booty back to University this september. However, the academic year starting 2006 will see University tuition fees rise from £1100, to £3000. That's about $5,500 for you yanks or 8 billion Yen for anyone else. That has to be paid each year, for three years. Add to that the smothering accomodation bills of attending London universities and the inability to gain a good income whilst attending a full time degree and you're pretty much in Butt-Fucked land.

What is this shit? Tony's done well during his Reign, and the pursuit of a more efficient Higher Education programme to put our results on par with other countries is noble - but not by water-ing down A-level results for college students, lowering university entry requirements, and then sky-rocketing prices to stop from over-crowding (or capitalising on it - most probably).
It's not only insane and rather nasty, it's also ill-affordable. With the average student owing £15000 by the time they graduate, there must surely be a limit to this £££?? Just because the increasing foriegn student (see: chinese) can afford it in this country, doesn't mean us Natives can!

Please sir, can I 'ave some more?

$5,000 a year is pretty cheap compared to most US schools. The public universities typically cost somewhere from $5k to $10k, and you can usually double that for room and board. If you're attending a private school, you can probably bet on spending about $15k a year. It's not uncommon to spend more. If you're taking 5 classes, tack on another thousand or more for two semesters worth of books. Some places will totally fuck you over on parking too - a friend of mine going to school in Pittsburgh has to pay $600 a semester for parking. It's not pretty.

*Edit* If it makes you feel any better Halo, I dumped about $4,000 last year attending a public community college, which is considered by most people to be a rather shitty place to go to school. ;)

So your tuition went up $5500 or its actually $5500 a "year"? Thats extremely cheap while many US colleges are 5k a "semester". Go to private school such as MSOE or Marquette..add in room and board your approaching 40k.

no crap I want your school man.. Im going to a community college which is the cheapy colleges. and im still paying more then that.. quite a bit more.

If you can expect to land a moderately well-paying job once you're finished with school, that debt is not the end of the world. If not (and I suspect this is the case - you're a history major, right Halo?) there's no shame in attending a lower-end school or putting it off for a few years.

I attend a pretty decent community college, which runs me under $2k a year for tuition/books/transportation, minus a few hundred for resold textbooks. UCLA will be several times that. I intend to milk these disgustingly cheap courses for all they are worth. In a year, UCLA will take several times as much. Mind you, a litany of bitching pours from hordes of entitled lefty (well, lefty by the college's standards, which puts them squarely on top of Lenin's corpse on the political spectrum) wankers: how dare that damned sexist/racist/classist pig of a Governator raise our tuition from $17 to $26 a unit? The rise of fascism is at hand!

If I'm not mistaken, UCLA's tuition is pretty cheap (once you have residency), it's just the whole living in LA thing that blows. How much are you expecting to pay for a place to stay?

My friend went to UCLA. It was costing him something like 10 grand a semester though. Maybe more, it was several years ago.

UCLA is closer to me than my current college. But yes, housing prices in LA fellate goats.

(The following is directed at Halo, I really didn't read the posts, and figured I'd just jump to the bitching since I know almost everyone pays more than what he was describing).

Stop bitching, tuition on average went up for me about 15-25% every year, the next "full year" for me would cost near $7k, thats of course minus books, and the average 1 bedroom near the campus would cost around $600-700/month.

Doing the math, which I'm pretty bad at, so someone please feel free to verify my numbers.

£15000 = $25,000

What's £15000 in the grand scheme of things? Hell, cheer up, Halo. You should be able to make that back in the first three years out of college. :D

Yup, as long as he doesn't mind living at a lower standard of living than he was in college for those 3 years, he can pay the loans back pretty fast. Typically though, most people after graduation have had it with living off Beanie Weenies, Ramon Noodles, Mill's Best and having to shack up with 5-6 other roomates in a small run down house.... and defer it a while longer or they join the National Guard in order to aid in paying the loans back. Hopefully salaries will one day increase ( don't hold your breath!) at a percentage complimentary with the cost of tuition and your retirement watch won't also have to be wrapped in your last payment stub of your college loan!


Also, Halo...don't alot of students in the UK end up buying boats and living aboard them tied up to the Thames since it's cheaper than living in the campus housing or any of the local flats?

Join the Army, they'll pay for college :p

'Also, Halo...don't alot of students in the UK end up buying boats and living aboard them tied up to the Thames since it's cheaper than living in the campus housing or any of the local flats?'

- No, we just erect cardboard shanty towns outside Number Ten or on the lawns of Westminster.
Well, I figure you poor yanks would pay such prices, seen as I chipped a tooth when I was in LA a while back and had to pay damn near $400 dollars for the dentist to fix the bastard. Can you say National Health Service?
Alas, double tuition fees in this country is a blow, especially when the old system was far cheaper and followed a Grant-based aid system. These fookin' loans are draining, and the thought that I'll be owing another twenty thousands on graduation is more than depressing.
I'd rather there be a stealthy tax on, uh, bananas.

State of the world man.

It's harsh they made such a jump @ once. Most places ease it up per semester so you don't feel the bite all at once.

Education beyond high school has become more of a necessity now days (I know there are exceptions). That piece of paper is your ticket to get an interview. Hell, I finished 13 years ago and have never worked in a field that my degree is in. It has, however, opened a few doors for the interview process.

I am currently paying right around 5k a year in tuition (plus another 1.5k or so in books) for my fiance to finish her schooling. This is living at our home so it is straight tutuion and fees. When she graduates, she'll land a job making a whopping 31k a year (early childhood eduation). I still consider it fair.

One of my friends, after scholarship and grants, got out of law school with a 65k loan on his back. It takes a few years, even if you land a good job, to recover from that.

Can you say National Health Service?

I'll pass on the taxes that accompany that. I've seen what a few friends have had to deal with in Canada. What you pay for vs. what you get don't often equal up unless you are in the ER for every stubbed toe. Go to work where there is a good health care package instead ;)

P.S. I don't hit the NAG forums too often. Even though I think yer rather an asshat Halo, I am glad to see you posting. It means you're alive. Hopefully you and yours were not too directly affected by the terrorist bombings not long ago!

A pox upon so called institutions of higher learning now days.

Most of it is bunk and mere speculation/opionion of the entrenched staff.

I'd prefer to see sculpted learning. Aimed specifically at your objective.

Fandros

Go to work where there is a good health care package instead ;)


Amen to that and yes school loans suck although many places with in the US offer tuition reimbursement. Hell my employer paid for 3/4 of my degree which equated to about 20k. Someone was even telling me "Home Depot" will pay for half your education costs as you work for them with no strings attached and this even included books. Unlike my job which I owe them 2 years after the last reimbursement payment or you have to pay them back. No big deal.


Education beyond high school has become more of a necessity now days (I know there are exceptions). That piece of paper is your ticket to get an interview. Hell, I finished 13 years ago and have never worked in a field that my degree is in. It has, however, opened a few doors for the interview process.

Whats even worse is a lot of your higher end jobs these days are requiring a Masters.

All I ever hear about is how there are millions of dollars in scholarships out there just for the taking. But then again, they never advertise them, so they go unspent. They really need to educate highschoolers and parents on how to find and apply for these. It really is a shame that people have to go into such huge debt if thier parents make too much combined (at least by finiacial aid standards). It is a hard way to start a career.

should have moved to sweden, we dont even have tuition for our colleges =/

I'm STILL paying my loan and I graduated in '97 and had two sports scholarships...damn private schools and their frigging prices. Speaking of not working in your field, hell I have a pre-law degree and yet I work in IT. Ooooh the irony.

The cost of education is high but the rewards are lifelong if properly applied. I may bitch about my loans but I'm thankful at the same time.

Good luck with shanty town.

Speaking of not working in your field...
My degree was in psychology, but 5 of my first 7 years out of college was spent with the Red Cross removing hearts, bones, skin and things from donor cadavers for various medical purposes.

I'm always shocked at how much people pay for school. All of my student loans combined ended up being about $20k for five years, for Georgia Tech. Best deal ever, long as you're in state.

I thought in GA the state pays for you education so long as you're a graduate a state high school? Did you miss that ticket when the lottery rolled around Sanchek?

You have to keep a 3.0 GPA for them to keep paying.

I partied too much my first year and lost it. Most people lose it at Tech. Tech is a bad place.