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I was very fortunate to be able to go to university in the era of student grants from the local council. Queuing up for my cheque at the start of each term became a ritual.
I supplemented the student grant through betting, which I was much better at back in those days! It seemed easier somehow back then.
I aimed to win something like £30 a week, which doesn’t sound much now but it was in those days. Food was much cheaper and a pint cost less than £1 in the student union bar (and was not much more expensive in the pubs).
I did take out a small student loan in my final year, which I paid off in one lump sum when the Student Loan Company came calling.
I would think twice about the situation today. I don’t believe it is a good idea for young people to get thousands of pounds into debt for a degree of questionable value and with no guaranteed job at the end of it all.
It is probably only worth going to university today to do a STEM subject.
Yes I think you need a clear plan for what to do afterwards if you’re going to go these days, or at least put some groundwork in with prospective employers whilst you’re there.
And believe me, those £1 pints were still available in some corners until about 20 years ago. Usually something awful like Fosters or Strongbow but beggars can’t be choosers.
“Put some groundwork in with prospective employers whilst you’re there.”
I think that is essential for anyone at university now.
“And believe me, those £1 pints were still available”.
I bought a pint for £1.70 in Wetherspoons today.
Liverpool University has a good pub named The Augustus John, after the artist. It is subsidised and pints are often only £3.50 – far cheaper than the city’s pubs that are not part of Tim Martin’s empire. Some people think you need to be a student to go to the AJ but that is not the case, so I often go there.
Let’s be honest if you were advising your child you,d be saying apprenticeship all day long , LBC debated university vs apprenticeships one day and a woman phoned in to say her son had been offered a place on a degree ….. in bakery , I mean Jesus h just get a job in a bakery , you read about degrees in Harry Potter and similar shite , unis offering that crap should be closed down …
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Let’s be honest if you were advising your child you,d be saying apprenticeship all day long , LBC debated university vs apprenticeships one day
Trouble with the media is that they have to make everything ‘x vs y’. Not that simple. It’s entirely down to the individual’s own strengths. There’s plenty of value in a good degree for the right people just as an apprenticeship is best for others. One isn’t better or worse overall, they are just different.
Son had been offered to do a degree in bakery.
He didn’t etc – I hope you are joking; if not it is far more serious than I thought. Can you imagine two boys, neither of whom are academic. One gets an apprenticeship studying food preparation and gets a part-time job at a bakery. The other goes to university.
After three years a job comes up supervising a number of bakeries. One applies saying he is £50,000 in debt but he says he has a 1st degree in Bakery. He knows in theory how to make bread. The other says he has three years experience having started out part time.
Who gets the job? Answers on a postcard.
He didn’t etc – If your comment was not a joke, then I agree with you the university in question should be shut down.
On a related subject: the huge expansion of student accomodation, often prefixed by the word ‘luxury’. I believe there’s all sorts of financial incentives and tax-breaks for developers and it strikes me that this is a bubble that will burst, not least due to the declining birthrate which will see fewer youngsters to fill the places, homegrown ones at least.
The bulidings themselves are generally ugly, utilitarian multi-storey boxes, and I suspect built to a lowish standard that wouldn’t permit their use as permenent accommodation once the supply reduces.
Skipped Uni, went straight to a job in financial services. In late 70s as insurance co.s moved their admin HQs out of London, Bristol benefitted.
Jobs, jobs, jobs thru late 70s and into 80s, as insurance co.s took on 16 year olds and 18 year olds in droves thru each Summer and trained us up. Jobs with benefits and a real paternal instinct from banks and insurance co.s.I attended a grammer school and most fellow pupils went to Uni – not that i kept in touch with many of them post-school, but i know from other pals that only a few really ‘made it’ after Uni. Others ended up no better off than those of us who went into employment after 6th form.
No regrets from me about missing out on Uni.
Today? Well, if you aint academic then go out and get an apprenticeship in engineering, plumbing & heating, electrician and similar. Crikey, today’s plumbers or sparkies are as well-off as yesterday’s teachers. Around here a plumber/heating engineer or a sparkie earn anything from £75k to £100k per annum.
It was Tony Blair who set the goal of 50% entering further education which was actually only reached as recently as 2019.
Never really liked the idea as it – covertly perhaps – assumed that education until in your early 20s is what all youngsters should aspire to, whereas many aren’t of an academic bent and would prefer to get their hands dirty on reaching 16-or-so by doing vocational training through apprenticeships, which entirely mistakenly continue to be viewed as subordinate to a university education.
The result being of course that – as others have pointed out – we have a huge number of 20+ year-olds with degrees that count for little in the work marketplace and a chronic shortage of homegrown skilled manual workers.
My Son is going to uni in September. Any positives?
I’ll be able to keep the house much tidier for a start
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
You don’t Homer but it’s set to a pretty low number
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Wilts, you brought back memories for me. I started work at the Sun Insurance Office. I was a junior clerk and where you sat determined your status. The Accident Manager sat top left and I sat back right. Because of ny moaning they gave me holiday insurance in those days a set fee of £1. Then I graduated to travel insurance. There were 4 different level of cover for four options with the price ranging from £2.50 to £10. One day being the junior I was left alone at lunch time because the others were out celebrating something.
A customer came in; 3 of the options were within specification but one was outside. I didn’t know what to do but decided to put him off saying the premium would be £25 He said fine so I amended the limit and verified with the Sun stamp.
The following morning the Accident Manager was checking through yesterday’s policies and he came across mine. His skin coulour changed to pink and then red and immediately went off to see the General Manager, something only done by appointment. The rest of the team said they would organise my leaving do.
After ten minutes I was called down into the sacred office. I sat next to the Accident Manager who was shaking in despair. The General Manager sat opposite. I was resigned to being sacked; then I noticed the GM was laughing. He told me he appreciated that I didn’t want to let the Sun Insurance Office down, but next time ask the customer to come back after lunch. He told what I had underwritten was way outside the Accident Manager’s authority, but luckily it was within
his authority. The correct premium was £24.Jobs, jobs, jobs thru late 70s and into 80s
I wonder what happened in the late 70s that might have have led to things changing 🤔
I wonder what happened in the late 70s that might have have led to things changing 🤔
I was referring to ‘my’ industry. The banks and insurance co.s carried on employing school leavers (16 and 18 year olds) thru the 80s and the financial services environ was ripe for moving co.s for those who chose to.
‘Our’ industry first started cutting costs, streamlining processes in the 90s, which gathered steam at the turn of the millenium.
We just spoke to a builder friend about needing a joiner to repair the summer house and he told us joiners are on minimum of £50,000 a year. I guess the only downside of that kind of occupation is that you can’t risk having a health problem eg every carpet fitter I’ve ever known has needed a knee replacement eventually.
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