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The end of a chapter

Posted 26-06-2010 at 21:27 by blazey

University education costs £3325 per year (as it stands) in tuition fees and several thousand pounds per year in living expenses, books, equipment etc. Thanks to student loans the money is accessible to anyone from any kind of background who wants to go to university. The only real difference between students from differing backgrounds is the ability, or inability to pay back the loans after the degree has been completed.

Doing an undergraduate degree isn't just about the studying though. The opportunity to move away from home is a priceless chance to meet people from walks of life that you might never have had the chance to experience yourself, and I've now met people from many different kinds of families and places all over the world. I've played new sports, started to learn a new language and taken part in so many types of activities that I could write a book about them. I feel like I've lived a whole life of memories, new knowledge and experiences in the three short years of my degree.

I found out I got a 2.1 in Law on Thursday. I'm so thankful for my mum for always being there for me, and my siblings to give me people to aspire to be a role model to. I hope they'll look up to me and follow their dreams whatever they might be. I don't know what I'm going to do next. I have an offer to do an MSc in Law and Management but it will cost me another £10,000 of debt on top of what I already have, and the chances of the bank giving me that kind of money are slim. I don't have any family members with that kind of money to invest in me, so maybe I might have to accept that I can't carry on studying just yet. My boyfriend and I might be moving away to start a new life together and new careers. Who knows what we will end up doing though. We both have good degrees (he got a 2.1 in History) and a wealth of experience between us to go and do anything we want to do really. We just need to make the choices to pursue them. It is quite exciting.

I'm in a lot of debt but everything I have gained from university is priceless so I hope that everyone with the intelligence and ambition who wants to go to university will always have the funding available to them, even if it is just through loans, to go and pursue those dreams. Nothing will ever make it a regrettable decision because the people who you meet, whether they are friends for life or not, bring so much to your life that will change the way you think forever. I've loved every minute of it, even the stressful all night essay/revision sessions!

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Comments

	Loans,stress, n crap aint the end of the world, its doin what ya want thats priceless. so long as ya never take that to the extremes i did yer on winner.
	Posted 26-06-2010 at 21:33 by cashman

	i think meeting these people has made you grow up a hell of a lot over the last 3 years Michelle, you've done good girl, good luck with whatever you choose to do in the future, there's a huge world out there and its yours for the taking
	Posted 27-06-2010 at 06:52 by flashy

	well done blazey .. congrats .. you've done well. good luck in the future...
	Posted 27-06-2010 at 19:05 by shillelagh

	Well done. That was great to read!
	Posted 27-06-2010 at 21:08 by AccyLass

Congratulations Blazey .. bet that is a relief.
Of course, you will know that (as it stands.. LOL) you will not have to start paying back your loans until you are earning over £15,000 per annum, so don't think it actually separates the rich from the poor to be honest.
A good blog too for anyone wishing to start university, lots of common sense advice.

Hope you are offered a good position soon.

xx

Posted 28-06-2010 at 16:31 by katex katex is offline

It was a bit of an anti-climax and the most notable thing is that it happens to be all the people with money that seem to have less struggles finding the graduate jobs. Most of them have got work experience and graduate placements through their parents or family friends so it makes life a lot easier for them. Fortunately I am blessed with a very persistent and resilient attitude to finding opportunities and getting where I want to be. One of my friends is contemplating making his appointment to sign on for the dole, and who would blame him, the university offers that as advice to recent graduates. Fortunately I have a job at the moment, though I work on commission and only at the weekend, but I have interviews coming up and I've always stayed active outside of university so I luckily have a lot of experience and skills. It is sadly not like that for a lot of students but it is of course their own fault.

As I have poor A levels though I am actually in a position that makes me over qualified for a lot of ordinary jobs and under qualified for a lot of graduate schemes. It takes at least an hour per application and add on time for any psychometric tests on top of that and it becomes a very time consuming process. But it will come. And I'll let you all know how I find my job hunt.

Also, whilst student loans may not to be paid back a lot of students like me rely on their overdrafts and credit cards to fund their education for those times when you need something expensive in an emergency and it is often a last priority to pay it back. I have a lot of people chasing me for money but it will just have to wait unfortunately. I'm probably going to be in some financial trouble soon but I'm just ignoring it and hoping I get a grip on a great opportunity soon that can help me to pay it all off.

Posted 29-06-2010 at 19:31 by blazey blazey is offline