Month: August 2011

Working past the money issues in HE

I’ve seen a lot of stories today about the monetary impact of higher education. Here’s a selection:

Nevertheless, now is not the time to panic.

You can’t put a specific or accurate value on education. Tuition fees and the costs associated with a degree aren’t the same as the value of HE. Some people don’t think university is worth even £3k a year in tuition fees, yet they still place huge value on it.

Alan Roberts sums the situation up quite nicely:

https://twitter.com/#!/the_alan/status/107049998709047296

As for parents, that’s a strange one. Parents should not need to re-mortgage in order to cover costs. For more information on why it’s not necessary, check out MoneySavingExpert’s “20 key facts on fees, loans & grants everyone should know“.

MoneySavingExpert also has a useful new calculator for student loans from 2012, so you can see how much you might repay.

If parents are able to offer more money, there’s no need to be embarrassed. I still hear some people say they are ‘not a charity’ and don’t want to look like they’re ‘on the scrounge’. But this has nothing to do with charity or scrounging. Consider that means testing can result in you getting less money if your parents are high earners. It’s as if expectation is built in that parents should be able to help.

[Edit: Just as I published this post, I got an email from CrossCountry Trains with another study of 1,500 parents and 500 graduates. They found that parents loan their children on average £6,568 during the three year course to cover rent, bills books and clothing. One in five parents claim to give their children more than £12,000.]

Extra money can be useful, even if you don’t need it. And if you do, what better place to start than those who love you? Especially if they want to support you and do have the resources to do so! However, there’s another other side to the issue. One person commenting on Graduate Fog said:

“I know I have an advantage over many people because my parents have been so supportive, and I don’t like that – I would like to be able to feel I am succeeding on my own terms rather than as a result of economic backing others won’t have access to.”

I’ve talked at length that students don’t always win as consumers. It’s practically impossible to get away from money issues, especially under a ‘consumer’ guise. It is important to focus on individual circumstances as well as general money matters, which is why surveys cannot paint the full picture. Surveys and polls have their place, but don’t panic about them in isolation. By all means debate, explore, carefully consider options and make decisions relevant to you. But please don’t panic.

EduLinks – 26 August 2011

“If our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it’s not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don’t care as much about ideas as they did. In effect, we are living in an increasingly post-idea world — a world in which big, thought-provoking ideas that can’t instantly be monetized are of so little intrinsic value that fewer people are generating them and fewer outlets are disseminating them, the Internet notwithstanding. Bold ideas are almost passé.

[…]

“The post-idea world has been a long time coming, and many factors have contributed to it. There is the retreat in universities from the real world, and an encouragement of and reward for the narrowest specialization rather than for daring — for tending potted plants rather than planting forests.”

Dealing with curveballs

The best takeaway from all the stories about A-levels this year can be applied to anyone, no matter what their situation.

A Carlisle student got a double dose of misfortune after he received the wrong results and then, when he finally discovered that his actual result was still not good enough, had missed out on all available clearing places due to the delay.

So far, so frustrating. But something caught my eye in what Mike Smith said after this unfortunate news.

Smith told Cumbria’s News & Star that he was more angry with himself, because he knew he could have put in more work to get the grades he needed in the first place.

It could have been so easy to blame the sequence of events for what took place. If the error had not occurred, a clearing place may have been possible.

photo by John-Morgan
photo by John-Morgan

Despite these issues, however, he still recognised some responsibility. Rather than wash his hands of the whole thing, he showed awareness that he could take better control of his situation and that he would do so now.

Curveballs get thrown at us as we go through life. Some big, some small. But that doesn’t take away our own strengths and responsibilities. You cannot control your life down to the last action, but you do have great tools at your disposal.

From time to time, remind yourself to use those tools and to learn how they operate best.

When you’re faced with unexpected problems, remember not to just find blame in everything else. It is rarely worth the effort. Many things do happen outside of your control. That makes it doubly important not to give up on the things you still have a handle on. Letting go of everything is destructive with no purpose.

I hope Mike Smith is able to recover from this year’s unfortunate position. I’m confident he will, so long as he continues to take responsibility for the matters he has more control over. Smith has learned something from a curveball, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

Next time you’re thrown a curveball, what will you do with it?

Returning to awesome: 7 things to do after lower A-level results

Okay, it’s A-level results day. If you, or anyone you know, is holding on to grades that weren’t the ones you’d hoped for, read this.

Your life IS NOT shaped by your results. YOU go way beyond a few exam grades.

What makes you awesome isn’t about a particular institution, degree, or career. Those things don’t matter as much as you might think.

Your awesomeness is about what you do. Everything you do. And who you are.

You are the big picture. While your experiences are parts of you, they don’t define you, they only help build a definition of you in pieces. For every situation that makes you want to crawl under a rock, there are many others that will pick you back up and make your big picture more amazing than ever.

In short, you can still make things happen if you want it. Lower A-level results aren’t a fail. You may have failed to secure a firm offer to the degree you wanted, but that doesn’t mean you fail. Or, put another way, failure is fine. It means you work on what’s next for your big picture.

Stuff like this can make you feel deflated. But don’t let it make you give up. Start with some of the following:

Have a cuppa and stay calm. Oh, and a doughnut too. Nom.

1. Take stock and stay calm

Yes, it’s time to pick yourself up, but have a cup of tea first. Have a few cups of tea. Basically, let it go for a moment. Nobody expects you to jump up fighting straight after a shock. So relax. As hard as that sounds, try.
It is not the end of the world. If anyone acts like it is, they are wrong. Hope is not lost.
Imagine how it feels when you’re really dizzy. Your balance is thrown around at first, but you gradually improve. Give yourself time to feel a bit less dizzy.

2. Consider clearing options

Although some unis say they have no clearing places, that’s no reason to ignore what is available. Check my previous posts on clearing to make sure you are prepared:

Other clearing tips online today:

3. Only accept a place through clearing if you really want it and you think it’ll suit you

Just grabbing at places because you’re desperate to go to uni is a dangerous move. If you really are that keen to be in a uni, ANY uni, it’s better to find places that will guarantee you a place next year based on the grades you have. Then plan ahead for the year ahead.
Yes, even though tuition fees go up next year. Fees are more annoying than dangerous.

4. Consider your other options

We’re all thrown curveballs from time to time. You certainly won’t be alone in this situation. There are other routes into uni. And you may even decide not to bother with university at all. Correct, that IS an option. Seriously. A good place to start in checking out other options is notgoingtouni.com.

The Independent has information on distance learning options.

Also check out Ross Renton’s tips on what do you do if you don’t get a place at University.

5. Find support from understanding friends and family

Don’t go through this alone. And if it is too tough to speak to those you know, seek online forums of support. There will be a lot of people going through similar circumstances over at The Student Room, for instance.

UCAS also has an Exam Results Helpline, with people on hand to discuss your future options. Give them a call on 0808 100 8000. UCAS say, “Whether it’s questions about continuing into further or higher education, or pursuing different routes such as vocational learning routes, taking a gap year or finding employment, advisers are on-hand to offer free, expert and independent information and advice”.

6. Work on Plan B, even when you don’t have one

University and College Union says that tens of thousands of students who don’t get a uni place this year are “unlikely to have a plan B“.

So make one. Now you’ve considered your options, make a focused plan. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but it does need to be taken seriously.
Why? Because now is not the time to despair and grab at the first thing to fall into your reach.
Give it proper thought. Ask yourself some questions. What were you going to university for? How else can you get to where you want to be? Who or what can help you in your quest? Do you have any particular career or pathway in mind?
If you can’t answer all your questions, do some more research. And don’t be afraid to ask for advice as you do it. Nobody would be able to do as much as they do without other people.

7. Believe in yourself

It’s not always easy to pick yourself up after a fall. But don’t be hard on yourself. What’s done is done. If you did your best, there is nothing to worry about. You can shine brighter in other ways. If you know in your heart of hearts that you could have upped the effort, let this be Day One of making the effort you know you can give.

Good luck to you and may you have an amazing future.