[vyper]

.....the ironic thing about all this is that despite having college degrees and what-not....in the end we'll probably have to answer to a corporate leader that most probably dropped out of high school and succesfully created the business in which we are working and are filthy rich millionaires....

What should really burn you is the fact I intend to do that, only having graduated university as well.

[IceFire]

Tuition here has been going up too...but $5000 tuition average at my school is not bad compared to the $32,000 that I hear about (per year!) in the states.  Our tuition is going up and there are the same concerns about accessibility that they want to hand off to scholarships and that sort of garbage...but my parents technically make too much for me to have ever applied for assistance and we're also too honest with what we have to be able to get it (many apparently just cheat the system).

Its scarry...by the time I have children the average middleclass family will have to go into debt to put children through university or college.

[Grey Wolf]

Icefire: Welcome to the United States

Hell, my family is considered in the upper range of middle-class, and I'm going to be in debt for a few years after I get out.

[pyro-manic]

Well, I'm in my first semester of a 6-year course (Master's degree, placement year, plus foundation year), And I'm expecting to come out with at least £20,000 of loans to pay off. And that's going to get worse for students starting next year, with the introduction of top-up fees of several thousand pounds a year (though AFAIK they won't happen in Scotland and Wales).

[aldo_14]

Well, I'm in my first semester of a 6-year course (Master's degree, placement year, plus foundation year), And I'm expecting to come out with at least £20,000 of loans to pay off. And that's going to get worse for students starting next year, with the introduction of top-up fees of several thousand pounds a year (though AFAIK they won't happen in Scotland and Wales).

I think they are allowed in Wales, but it's at university discretion.  I have about £10k owed in loans, but fortunately I've got some left tucked away in an ISA, and also a few grand from when I was still self employed.

[vyper]

[q]and also a few grand from when I was still self employed.[/q]

You mean you eventually make money? I was beginning to think I was toiling under a false pretence.

[Martinus]

In first year of my degree I taught about half the class basic/intermediate electronics theory. Last year I taught a first year girl and a few of her friends ECG theory, electronics and some maths. I did all of this without being paid and probably at the expense of my own end of year marks. I'm not horribly bothered though as the marks from the first two years don't actually count for anything, they're simply a mechanism to get you to final year.

This year I am supposed to be doing placement to get a diploma in industrial studies, for this I don't actually go to uni, I still pay them half of the normal fees though. I was set to go to work for siemens or another major medical company in Germany for half the year and go to uni in Geissen to get a diploma in clinical practice for the other half. I'd set a bit of money aside to get me there and done my research on the place I was going to. Before the summer holidays the person who was in charge of things at our end changed. I emailed the guy, I phoned him repeatedly and one week before the placement forms had to be in I find out that the entire thing had changed and I needed an extra 1000 euros which I couldn't possibly get in time. Had I one months notice I would have been able to get the funds together and everything would have been ok. The only reason I got details is that I found out who was the contact in Germany and emailed her directly. This as I said was one week before the forms were supposed to be sent.

As a result I had to pull out feeling quite betrayed considering I had shown interest since first year. To add insult to injury when I told the guy on our end the reason for pulling out two days after the cut off date for applying, he then told me that the work part of the placement would have been first. I would have been able to make the money I needed to go to uni there. Amature hour.

[aldo_14]

[q]and also a few grand from when I was still self employed.[/q]

You mean you eventually make money? I was beginning to think I was toiling under a false pretence.

I was only self-employed for contractual/tax reasons.