Is university the way to go?

This posting was written by student Alysha Kotadia.

Going to university in September? Or considering it in the future? Why go to university instead of taking a school leaver programme? After the government’s recent announcement of the rise in tuition fees to £9,000, application figures up to the 15th January 2013 deadline, show an increase of 2.8% on last year for applicants from the UK for undergraduate courses. An overall increase of 3.5% was boosted by a recovery in overseas students.

There were differences in applications within the UK - there were increases of 7% in Northern Ireland, 3% in England, 2% in Scotland and a fall of 2% in Wales. However, despite the increase, many students still prefer to take the school leaver route as supposed to going for the more academic route. The number of UK 18 year olds applying to university has also risen slightly, 0.8% compared to 2011. Earlier this term I spoke to someY 13 students, some of whom are going to university and some who have decided to either take a gap year or the school leaver route, to find out what their views on it are.

Year 13 student Humma Mouzam thinks that students who want to achieve academically and be successful must go to university and that students shouldn’t worry about the rise in tuition fees because the debts after studying for 4 or 5 years about university will only be paid back if students are earning over £21,000.

On the other hand Niki Ford thinks university can be quite expensive, especially when you are very unsure about what it is exactly you want to study. She would rather go for an apprenticeship, because she feels as though there is more scope and it also offers the opportunity to excel into higher job roles. More importantly, Niki also emphasised her opinion on degrees, saying she feels as though employers look for initiative and experience rather than a degree itself. There’s always the option of going to university later once you know what exactly it is you wish to study further.

Academic Coach Sonia Millership also feels as though the increase in tuition fees has had an impact on the amount of students who decide to go on to university compared to those who might take a gap year. Sonia says there has been an increasing trend in the amount of students who have decided to take a gap year in 2013/14 because they want to fully decide if university really is what they want to do. Reasons for taking a gap year included wanting to earn money in order to finance themselves for university as well as using a gap year as an opportunity to reflect on whether university is really the right choice for them. However, some students take their gap year as an opportunity to do something useful such as fundraising for charity.

Sonia emphasised the point that students who go to university have firm reasons for doing so, such as the idea that the career they are interested in requires them to go on to university in order to gain specific qualifications. University is vital for students wanting to go into careers such as teaching and Medicine.

Meanwhile, in previous years, statistics show that the overall majority of students who leave college do go straight on to university. Although, a small minority do decide to go on to university after their gap year, because they have find the right career for them.