Here's an interesting article about university, which is relevant.
Four in 10 of the first students to pay higher fees do not believe their courses have been good value for money, a survey for BBC Radio 5 live suggests.
Just over half say their university course has been good value and about 8% are undecided.
BBC news
Interesting reporting. It focusses in the 4:10 who say that the course is not good value for money, but glosses over the fact that the majority of students do believe that their course
is good value for money.
Still, for a £27,000 investment, 40% saying that the course does not provide value for money is a worryingly high number (and, let's not forget, that number climbs up to £45,000 for some five year courses, such as medicine and engineering - although I hasten to add that figures for these vocational courses are not quoted - I suspect that these students will be much less unhappy).
With this in mind, surely having part time employment would be considered even more beneficial? If you don't feel that you're getting benefit from the course, and will still have to pay back £27,000 at the end of it, surely you're going to benefit from employment - both as a means of earning money to sustain you, and as experience going forward.
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I also agree with what the minister said - sometimes it's good to be blunt with the truth!
I agree with the minister in broad terms too.
It's certainly true that weekend work is beneficial. But, as I've said, getting a good Saturday job that works around your studies is increasingly difficult. I was lucky to find a job with sympathetic employers who were willing to work around my degree within reason, and of course I was able to help them out when I could. I had low hours during the term time. At Christmas and over the Summer, I was able to do many more hours due to the increased trade and increased annual leave at those times respectively. We had a mutually beneficial situation that on the whole worked perfectly well.
However, employers seem to be relying less on weekend staff than they were in days gone by. I know plenty of people who got a weekend job on a 9-10 hour contract, and they were soon getting pressured to work 20hr+ weeks without any consideration for their study commitments during the week; in some cases, being threatened with termination of employment if they don't comply. This is probably, at least in part, making weekend work more difficult for young people.