As University Fees Rocket, Potential Students Wonder If It's Worth It

Government Ministers will parrot the line that higher tution fees won't stop people from applying to go to University. However common sense would suggest that prospective students, facing £60,000 debt before their working lives have even begun are inevitably going to be considering their options.

With little sign of growth, graduate jobs will continue to be thin on the ground. Employers can escape with paying less, or in the case of internships pay nothing, and many graduates will inevitably be joining the dole queue. Many graduates will be burdened with enormous debts with no sign that they will be able to pay them off in the medium-term, or perhaps ever.

With the outlook for gradutes so bleak, the usefulness of a university education will inevitably be questioned. Students and their parents will wonder if a degree is any longer a strict necessity, whether it might be better to defer or pass up the option. Vocational courses will grow in attractiveness, with a consequent squeeze on less practical fields such as arts and humanities. And many debt-squeezed students are likely to remain under their parents roof.

With job insecurity now an accepted part of working life, young people will be apt to view the classic 'school-university-job for life' progression as being unrealistic and so will look to hedge their bets, maybe by building career experience and contacts (as well as saving money) prior to further study.

Getting real-world skills and business knowledge whilst studying a relevant qualification such as a business HND, may be seen not only as a sensible choice but also a better means to get to where one ultimately wants to go.

Moreover, with the increasing range and sophistication of courses online, study through distance learning is growing in popularity. Students can study wherever they can plug in their laptop, at any time of day.

The distance option also informs the student that study is not merely university then 'stop'. E-learning, by doing away with the classroom, is also eradicating the necessity of an enforced and artificial 'timeout' devted only to study.

With debt and uncertainty waiting, the young are going to take a more fluid and open-ended approach to the business of study. However difficult the initial transition, the change will bring practical benefit to their futures.