Would you have gone to university if you had to pay for it?

[MarillionFan]

Yes. I worked before going to University and went a little later, not receving a full grant & landing up with student loans afterwards(not as much as now of course).

I worked during Uni as well. It all depends on what you think your risk / reward is for doing a degree.

[Robinho]

I don't think you should have to have Maths to do an Art degree (if you're fully paying for it).

The University should dictate the entry requirements and not the gov.

[norrahe]

Paid for it the first time around, but thankfully fees were taken care of by an EU bursary (funnily enough they don't exist any more ), didn't get grants or loans, so it was quite expensive to cover living expenses in London.

But looking at the fees involved now I might think twice about going.

[Zoiderman]

I think it would make me think about it more, but the goal was always contracting, so I know I'd have got it back in spades.

[MrRobin]

The fact that many people would now 'think twice' about whether to go or not is in my opinion a very good thing.

Daryll from Scunthorpe might realise it's not worth his while doing that 3 year <del>pissup</del> course in Badger Grooming or similar

[Aman]

I probably would have gone to uni had I to pay fees. First time round there weren't tuition fees, I had the help of the company I served my apprenticeship with in the first year, and a good agency that found me offshore work in the holidays year two onwards.

I don't think I would have got so much out of uni if I had matriculated as a 17/18 year old.

[thelurker]

12k for 3 years of partying, money well spent.

blew grand in 1 week in ibiza after I graduated so its all relative the cost of an "education"

[SueEllen]

I don't think you should have to have Maths to do an Art degree (if you're fully paying for it).

I disagree.

Lots of Arts and Social Science students become teachers. And primary teachers teach every subject.

I've overheard (and had arguments with) more than one female primary school teacher who has said "Girls can't do Maths" to explain their own fear and ineptitude of doing basic Maths.

They are also teaching your child whether they are male or female and if they can't do simple trig and algebra how do you expect your child to learn from them?

The University should dictate the entry requirements and not the gov.

For students going the traditional route lots of decent universities dictate for their most popular courses that you need a C/B or above in GCSE Maths. Some even ask for AS level.

And yes I would have gone to university if I had to pay fees. I had to take out maintenance loans anyway.

[d000hg]

I disagree.

Lots of Arts and Social Science students become teachers. And primary teachers teach every subject.

What's that got to do anything? The ones who become teachers can be the ones who DO have basic skills in core subjects. Or they can do a conversion course (this is very common in the UK, no idea about other nations) to brush up on missing/rusty skills.

[Freamon]

The statistic that is frequently trotted out says that a degree will, on average, increase the lifetime earnings of the graduate in question by around £1m in total. So on that basis it's obviously worth it. I'm not sure how true that statistic is though, particularly with the advent of nonsense degree courses in the past few years, such as Business Information Management, and fourth tier colleges such as Heriot-Watt University.