uni - would you do it again?

[May Kasahara]

I'd like to be learning academically again, but I wouldn't want to have lectures and hang out with 18 year olds who've just left home for the first time. It was okay when I was the same, but I think they'd just annoy me now that I am a grumpy old lady.

Exactly, this is why I love my MA so much - everyone there has chosen to be there, so there's a lot more actual thinking going on. Although the vast majority of people are still nearly 10 years younger than me, which is quite hilarious at times.

 

[Dillinger4]

I am still at university and I am not a fan of the student lifestyle - hanging round with 18 year olds who have just left home, as missfran says.

In fact I didn't like that when I was an 18 year old who had just left home. I am old beyond my years.



As for doing it again, I would have to say yes. I love university level learning more than anything, ever.

 

[story]

I went as a mature student. I found the youngsters quite cute and endearing.

 

[Firky]

Yes! If I didn't have to put up with the oddpants.

 

[foo]

i was a mature student when i got a degree too - loved and hated it. an intense period. i'm very proud that i got through it though.

i wouldn't do another hons degree but am due to start a post-grad in september. i want to do it, career reasons mainly -but the thought is making me a bit anxious.

 

[nightowl]

interesting how many people would like to do it again. thought it would have been mainly been there, done that. i still once in a while think back to that time with some nostalgia. sure there were some crappy elements but the good outweighed the bad unless the passage of time has rose tinted my view of the past. certainly wouldn't want to be lumbered with a loan like today's students are so would only really consider it if i had enough to just pay for the thing and be done with it. i suppose the one element that i would consider would be the age thing, being lumped in with a bunch of youngsters just out of sixth form

 

[Cheesypoof]

been there done it, and returned now for the third time.

Its hard going back but to do what you want, its worth it.

I left a pretty good job in 2002 to go back to uni for a year to do my postgrad, and it panned out well...eventually. The loans are paid off now, and i'm at my third uni right now studying alongside working. Luckily works paying for it. In the new year i will be studying like crazy from mid january, so giving up booze and everything else for a few months.

this weekend will be essays for my tutors. I havent done any study yet, as its distance learning.

one thing that strikes me about studying again is that I need a fresh sober head on me to do it correctly.

If you can do it, I highly recommend.

 

[_angel_]

Yes! If I didn't have to put up with the oddpants.

c Swarthy Thug.

 

[Firky]

I know, it is a good phrase though

 

[Thora]

Same me dear, same

Would they not let you go in the second year at all? (I know some do some don't)

I'm doing a totally different subject at a different uni unfortunately.

 

[London_Calling]

Great time, great lifestyle, great memories, and a better disciplined, analytical mind as well.

Worth it? Every single time.

 

[Thora]

I went for half a year and then left, this was 3 years ago now, I only got student loan, dunno about fees. Does this mean I won't get a bursary to pay my tuition fees this time around? I thought you get 4 years maximum of loans? hmm I need to do some investamagating.

I dunno tbh - the whole system seems incredibly complicated now. I think the way it should work now that fees are 3000 is that you get a tuition fee loan that you don't pay back til you graduate, and then also a normal student (maintenance) loan that you don't pay back til you graduate. But because I did a whole year before (and haven't paid back any loans from then yet) they will only give me the maintenance loan and not the tuition fee loan in the first year.

Not sure about a bursary though - as a mature student you get a grant of up to 3000 I think, and mine isn't effected by all that.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

I dunno tbh - the whole system seems incredibly complicated now. I think the way it should work now that fees are 3000 is that you get a tuition fee loan that you don't pay back til you graduate, and then also a normal student (maintenance) loan that you don't pay back til you graduate. But because I did a whole year before (and haven't paid back any loans from then yet) they will only give me the maintenance loan and not the tuition fee loan in the first year.

Not sure about a bursary though - as a mature student you get a grant of up to 3000 I think, and mine isn't effected by all that.

Yeah i'll be a mature student, I was when I tried the first time round. I just did the loans calculator and it says I can get 11 grand a year! this includes maintenance loan, tuition loan and grant, I also get a bursary on top of that.

 

[zenie]

Yeah i'll be a mature student, I was when I tried the first time round. I just did the loans calculator and it says I can get 11 grand a year! this includes maintenance loan, tuition loan and grant, I also get a bursary on top of that.

oooh you got a link?

I know, it is a good phrase though

what does it mean?

Also if you go back to Uni and you've already got a degree what fees would you pay?

 

[porno thieving gypsy]

No - would never do it again.

Better of getting in to the work place.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

oooh you got a link?

Sure

http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=53,1262849&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Have you done a whole degree before or only part of one? I based my calculation on only having done part of one, well I said a year because that's the lowest you can go and I did get a year's worth of loans.

 

[zenie]

Sure

http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=53,1262849&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Have you done a whole degree before or only part of one? I based my calculation on only having done part of one, well I said a year because that's the lowest you can go and I did get a year's worth of loans.

Nah smae as you did first year not sure I got all the lonas actually and I've been paying them back 50 quid a month

I can get just under 8k as an income too although what will happen about the other loans I'm not sure...

 

[Thora]

Just under 8k is what I'm getting too zenie.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

Yeah it's 8k if you don't include the fee loan, I might not get that the first year but should for the rest, do you intend to study in London or out of it? you get more if you study in London.

 

[kalidarkone]

I have never done it but hoping to in September 2008 Luckily money wont be an issue as It is NHS funded and I can get a bursary, as well as child tax credit and income support. As I currently work part time and have a very small income I think I may be marginally better off financially because I wont have to pay for council tax, the school bus for masterdk1, school dinners and uniform.

 

[feyr]

did it, struggled financially with uni fees, rent, raising a family etc. now doing a second degree in theory, pt, and hate it. if i quit before the end of my course , i stilll have to pay this terms fees, but i am seriously thinking about quitting


in an ideal world, if i didnt have to work full time, have a family to raise and all that comes with the life i have chosen, then yes, i'd love to go back to uni, to have the student experience without all the extra struggles. but that makes it sound like i'm regretting having my children, when i love them dearly

 

[Treacle Toes]

Have been at uni once and have now returned at M level. Go for it, it's worth it if it's a course you want to/ need to do.

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

I'd love to go back and work properly at it. Feel like I wasted my opportunity first time around

 

[Errol's son]

putting aside the hassle of loans etc, is there a small part of you that would like to do it again or is it a case of been there, done that?

Only at Masters level...

What is the point of another Bachelors?

 

[nightowl]

I'd love to go back and work properly at it. Feel like I wasted my opportunity first time around

i think that's the way i feel. something that offered great opportunites that maybe i didn't always make the best of.

 

[zenie]

What is the point of another Bachelors?

Maybe you wanna learn another subject?

, do you intend to study in London or out of it?

yep in London.

It's actually more than I thought, so with a part-time job I might be able to afford it. Need to sit down and work out my finances though....

 

[Badgers]

Never did Uni
Just did not do education very well when I was younger

Wish I had worked harder at school and got myself to Uni.

I could do something now through the OU but I don't seem to have enough time/money to work and live at the moment.

 

[jbob]

Done/doing it again after a decade+ out of it and would recommend it to anyone if you can find the money. More than anything else, after a decade of mind numbing, soul destroying jobs I didn't give a shit about, it reminded me that I do have brain, and consequently that I could do something with it. What that 'it' is I don't know as yet, but it's been a confidence boost, that's for sure.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Two terms, massive debt, exposure to rich fuckers, 40 hours pw of night work to pay mortgage, hardship funds eaten by well off teenagers playing system, freshers flu, idiot lecturers, sexual harassment by strange public schoolgirls (not as good as it sounds), crap bands in SU, PTSD from Bosnia/Northern Ireland/Gulf tret as bullying by Uni authorities unequipped to deal with adult students with adult issues - I'd have had sympathy if Mummy's cheques had bounced - , 22 yr old post grad students under the impression they mattered 'cos they were running tutorials, intellectual rigour redifined as 'write my lecture notes/texts back at me as essays and you will do well', undergrad OTC wankers trying to get me to call them 'sir' when they found out I was a NCO in the actual real Army and getting arsey when I hit them, expensive books written by the course tutors or their mates compulsory reading (none in library), .... no, give me a dose of e.coli or a fucking nasty industrial injury rather than ten minutes in Nottingham Uni fucking Versity ever again.

 

[scifisam]

Yup. I'd love to do it if I could. I loved it the first time round, but would benefit from doing it again the second time.

At least, I think I could. Three years, though? I'm used to being a 'giver,' now, the one who teaches others and does work that benefits other people. As a student, it's mostly about personal growth. I'd rather help other people grow.

Maybe I could study midwifery or genetics!