When he first came to power, Mr Blair proudly stated that his party’s mantra was “Education, Education, Education�. A praiseworthy enough focus and definitely not something we would couple alongside the horrors of frustration and increasing personal debt. But over time, as more and more colleges have gained the status of a university, and student loans have become easily available to everyone, schools have encouraged greater numbers of young people to go for higher education without really spelling out the cost.

There’s no question that we require a more highly educated society, but are young people really obtaining the very best advice? In reality; it’s not a difficult sell to persuade an eighteen year old to leave home and live with mates, not concern themselves about obtaining a job for three or four years and get cheap beer at the university bar. A bit of a basic interpretation maybe – inevitably there’s a tad of studying to be done, and a careful balance to keep afloat, then the rewards will be worth it eventually. Or will they? For a great deal of families, the cost of university education can go on for many years after graduation, both socially and financially.

The student loan system (the best method of lending for university undergraduates), fees for tuition, accommodation and general costs of living over three or four years can set you back well over £30,000 – without any guarantee of work. It’s not a funny joke that young people with great ambitions too often find themselves back home and unemployed. Not only do parents find themselves still stumping up the cash, but unemployed adult children back home again can significantly get in the way!

A university education can be a rewarding time for young people, and is the only way for many of our professions. But we should know that in some subjects, there are other, frequently more advanced alternatives. In the world of Information Technology, employers are desperate for professionally qualified IT professionals. University graduates regularly need to bolster their computer training skills to be industry ready and compete in the job market with Microsoft, CompTIA or Cisco professionals. The sorry thing is they would have qualified two to three years earlier and not had a really large debt had they gone straight to a commercial interactive computer training provider. Maybe alcohol in the college bar isn’t such good value after all – surely the bank of mum and dad would be a lot less depleted, and life would be lot more comfortable for all.

(C) Scott Edwards - www.learninglolly.com. Scott Edwards has been involved in the IT and Training Industry for 30 years.

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