A good university education can set you up for life and put you on the path for your dream career, but the costs of university education have to be considered carefully. Over the past few years, the UK has changed how university education is funded and universities have almost universally increased the costs of their degree programs.
For UK students, the annual cost of studying for a degree is £9,250 per year, on top of which students need to find living costs typically around £12,200 per year. For international students, the costs can vary but usually start around $14,000 USD, and go up to over $50,000 USD for medical degrees or degrees requiring access to laboratory facilities. Again, this is before living expenses. It’s also worth bearing in mind that studying in London can be considerably more.
Is studying in the UK worth the investment? A study from online finance broker Solution Loans asked respondents if the time and money they’d spent on university was worth it, and the study showed some interesting results.
41% of respondents said that getting a university degree had helped them to secure a career that they wouldn’t have been able to enter in to otherwise. Men are almost twice as likely than women to feel that their university degree helped them to secure a higher salary. 28% of men felt that attending university had helped them to secure a higher salary in their chosen career compared to just 17% of women. Men were also slightly more likely to feel that their time a university had helped them build connections that helped their career. 17% of men responded that this was a positive benefit of university compared to 13% of women.
Whilst career prospects are a key driver of attending university and getting a degree, its also important to study something you’re passionate about. Women were slightly more likely than men to cite a benefit of going to university as being that it enabled them to study a subject they are interested in. 33% of women viewed this as a positive compared to 26% of men.
