University: Is it worth it?

Next year, university students will have to pay £9000 a year for tuition, but is this fair and is it still beneficial to go to university?

Uni as an investment

Despite the tripling of fees, university still adds up as a good investment. By the time you are 43 you would have earned more than someone who only completed their A levels, even though they had a three year head start (see below)*.

However, if you were to take a gap year and choose a low earning degree (art, music, media studies etc) then it simply doesn’t become a worthwhile investment.

Recently the amount the average graduate earns over their lifetime has narrowed when compared to that of a non-graduate. The reason is a simple case of supply and demand. A sluggish economy means subdued demand, plus an ever increasing amount of graduates desperate for a job means that the wage they can command will be less.

Recently there has been a strong increase in the amount of graduates applying to science, maths, medicine and of course, economics. This is because such subjects not only improve the chance of graduates being employed but also the wage they will have when they find employment. This is a direct result of recent increases in the cost of attending university.   

Fairness

Many of the recent protests regarding the increase in tuition fees are quite understandable. These students will be paying 3 times more for their degree than the previous year. It doesn’t sound very fair. But actually the tax payer has had the unfair deal for the last few decades.

Before the cuts the government would spend £7.2bn on universities, that’s £272 per household per year. When you consider that the primary beneficiaries of that money are the students themselves, it’s quite a lot. Effectively what you have is the less well off being taxed to pay for the future rich students. Certainly there are a lot of social benefits from having a more educated workforce and universities should receive subsidises from the government. However, when the student takes on so little of the cost, the result is inequitable and a waste of resources, especially when the costs go on a course which will provide little benefit to anyone.

You should go!

For students that have carefully considered their course, are self motivated and determined, university is definitely worth it. The above graph only shows the tangible financial benefit, but going to university has so many other benefits. For example living with other young, like minded people is very liberating and a lot of fun. All of those experiences at university that you cannot count certainly add value to to going.  Any graduate will tell you that the happiest days of their life were those spent at university.

* The cumulative earnings are linear as they are based on average earnings, therefore, form the data based on the graph, you cannot judge the time at which a degree would surpass the earnings of A levels