It was a real privileged to meet the students who were very courteous and full of energy even though they had had a busy break down day. The all told us that they had enjoyed the day. It was great to hear their aspirations as they look ahead towards sixth form college and beyond. In Huddersfield students are fortunate to have the excellent Greenhead College and New College as options for Further Education.
We were chatting with the students about their planned journey beyond Further Education into work, apprenticeships or Higher Education. We focused of course on the option of Higher Education and chatted about the money issues.
We were very impressed with just how knowledgeable the young people already are about the money matters that might impact this option. Some very interesting points were raised and together we created a Student Money Wordcloud where students wrote down the words that spring to mind when they think of student money. The original is in the picture here. We have created a computer version below which generates the more frequently written words in larger text.
We promised to address some of the important matters raised by the pupils at the Careers Fair in our blog so here goes.....
University is Scary - one pupil said she didn't think university was for her - that even the word university was scary. We know what she means - but really universities are not scary places.
It's okay to decide that Higher Education is not for you, and it's okay to decide that you want to wait - students start university at all ages not just 18.
If the reason you might not consider uni is because it seems like a scary option then we would recommend that you visit a few universities to look around and meet people. Universities have Open Days a few times a year and you can usually book on through the websites. You don't have to wait till Year 13 to look around - so visit and we are sure you will get a friendly welcome.
It's a Rip-Off - one pupil said he thought student finance is a rip-off . When we asked why he felt that he made an excellent point about the concern that the financial investment a student makes sometimes not being worth it if it doesn't lead to a good job. This is such an important issue and Employability and the destinations of students leaving higher education are central to the quality measures of how universities are performing.
The expectation that those with a degree will achieve significantly higher wages than those without a degree is known as the Graduate Premium. Here are a few recent news articles which discuss this matter.....
We would recommend you look at UNISTATS a website which lets you compare important key performance information like this that universities provide.
Haram or حرام - this is an Arabic word that means forbidden. One student raised his concerns about the interest which is applied to the student loans. Under Islamic law, money must not be allowed to create more money, so for Muslim students, loans can be problematic.
Before 2012 the interest applied to student loans was set at the Retail Price Index only. The Muslim Council of Britain guided that as the loans increased only with the cost of living that they were not necessarily problematic. However the way interest is applied changed in 2012 meaning that they were more likely to be non-compliant with Islamic Law.
The Government understand this concern and in 2014 consulted the public and higher Education sector on the option for Sharia-compliant Student Finance . The outcome was the government expressed it's support for the introduction of a Sharia-compliant Takaful alternative finance product, available to everyone, and intends to work on its development.
Debt - if you are worried about the debt the we recommend you read Student Loans Myth Busting on www.MoneySavingExpert.com for guidance.
