Is university worth it?

University is a hugely expensive, especially if it isn’t entirely worth it for you, however I think whether it is actually worth the £9250 per year (plus living costs) is an entirely personal decision. For me, university is totally worth it, plus I need a degree to get into the career I’m hoping to pursue, so I didn’t have much choice really.

Especially in our current era of ‘hybrid’ and online teaching, tuition fees seem extortionately high, £9250 for UK students and even more for international students. Almost £10k a year for at least three years plus living costs and maintenance loans is an incredibly high figure, which leaves the majority of students with at least £30,000 in debt, so you’d really like to think their degrees are actually worth it!

Unfortunately, the days when a recent graduate could find themselves a well-paying job straight out of university are long gone, many employers now ask for ridiculous amounts of experience while refusing to give internships or work experience to students who ask for it. How that makes sense I will never understand, but that’s besides the point. If graduates still struggle to find employment after university, was their degree actually worth it? That being said, certain careers obviously require a university education, and others simply prefer to employ someone who has completed a degree.

Perhaps the value of university partly lies outside of employment. Of course, employability is a big part of why many people decide to go to university, however it is not only a degree that you can add to your CV while at university. Many students work part-time alongside their studies, similarly there is always volunteering opportunities and Students’ Union roles available. Personally, I set up LitSoc (literature society) and was LitSoc president for two years, I’m a Course Rep, I’ve also written for The Stag and had articles published online and in print, and I’ve just been elected Features Editor. I’ve always been a bit of a nerd for extra-curriculars, but all of these can (and will!) be added to my CV when I graduate and begin job-hunting.

Also, in my experience university has been amazing for my social life, obviously the pandemic has ruined this somewhat, but in my first year I met the people I now consider my best friends. University massively widens your social circles, I mean you meet people from all over the world, who you probably wouldn’t have ever met otherwise. Some of my closest friends are from Cornwall, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Wiltshire, and Southampton, plus various other places I can’t currently think of (to my friends – sorry if I forgot you!!), while I’m from Essex. There’s no way I would have met these wonderful people if we hadn’t applied to the same university, so in that way uni is definitely worth it. I can’t imagine my life now without my university friends, their friendship is invaluable.

On the whole, whether to go to university or not is a big decision that only you can make. For me university has been worth every penny (although a tuition fee refund would have been nice given that I’ve now done a year of online learning…). My university experience has been made by my wonderful friends, the extra-curricular stuff I’ve been involved with, as well as my actual degree, and for me that makes it worth the extortionate amount of money.