Worried that you can’t afford university? Forget the negativity and go

In my opinion, the media do a very good job of scare-mongering people into not going to university. I read a lot about the cost of university being out of reach of ordinary people. With tuition fees going through the roof and the government’s apparent abandonment of any sort of help for us ordinary people, how on Earth can it be possible?

Despite the rise in tuition fees (remember the student riots in 2010?) there is a loan available to anybody studying their first degree, you only have to pay this back once you you are earning over £21,000. You then pay 9% on whatever you earn over that threshold and despite having to pay this back you will not have to declare it as a debt when getting a mortgage or any other loan.

Now the best part of this deal is, you will only have to pay this for 30 years, then at that point the debt is cleared: wiped clean, gone forever.

A large percentage of graduates (around 45% according to the BBC) will not have finished paying off the debt after the 30-year-time frame and the government will have to pick up the shortfall. So despite the backlash we are being helped – albeit indirectly!

So now I have realised I can ‘afford’, it I’m told it won’t necessarily get you a job at the end of it!

Practical work experience is important, if not essential in getting your foot on the career ladder. I should know: I was working for 13 years before starting my degree.

However, it is a fact that unless you are exceptionally talented or extremely lucky, there is a glass ceiling when it comes to non-graduate career progress. You will only get so far before the next job you want to go for has the dreaded ‘graduates only’ description.

Now I’ve covered the financial and professional benefits, I can move on to the most important part: the reason I keep going everyday, the reason we put ourselves through it all.

When you attend university you surround yourself with a hugely diverse group of people. People from different cultures backgrounds and beginnings, all with different reasons for being with you. Despite this, you share a common passion, a common drive to succeed in your chosen subjects. Making you united to get through the toughest of times together is an amazing thing when you think about it!

Everyone has a passion inside themselves, something they want to be, and university will help bring this out in so many ways. These reasons will make the financial cost insignificant.

So stop reading the press, and take the plunge – it will be the best thing you ever do!