The government has announced that universities that can show that the quality of their teaching is good will be allowed to increase their tuition fees.The plan is that for those universities with good teaching will be able to increase their tuition fees in line with inflation. This means that you might end up paying fees that look more like an average starting salary than tuition fees.Is it only worth going to uni if you are going to earn a lot?Most young people state that their reason for going to university is to get a good job that will make them financially secure. This is supposed to be the reason for charging fees at all right? That university graduates earn more. Often we hear that this just isn’t the case though – that higher apprentices on average are likely to earn more that graduates from non-Russell Group unis and that many graduates end up ender-employed if not unemployed. You have to ask yourself, how much will I earn after my degree?Should universities be charging for courses that don’t lead to employment at all?If universities are offering courses that don’t lead to employment because they are not in subjects that are in demand in the UK labour market or because they don’t include skills development that employers want, and yet they are charging more than £9,000 a year – aren’t they just ripping students off?Is studying at university worth it?Some university courses / subjects lead to better employment prospects than others. It’s worth doing your research to find out whether you are making a sensible choice. If you are just going to uni to study the thing that you like, then you really should ask yourself (and parents if they are going to be supporting you financially) whether studying what you love regardless of whether it will get you a job is worth potentially about £11.700 a year (and that’s just for tuition).Always ask yourself – is there another way to get to where you want to be? If there is, then is there good enough reason for you to choose the university route. Considering that so many employers don’t seem to care that much about qualifications unless they are required by the profession and that they also complain that universities often don’t do enough to prepare graduates for working life – you have to ask yourself – is this latest rise in tuition fees just one more reason not to go to uni?
