OPINION: The Opinion That Further Education Is The Only Route To Success Is Becoming Outdated

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Is delving into further education the most important step you need to take to be successful and financially secure or is it becoming overrated? It’s a tricky question to answer. Attending university is a good way to learn more about your passion or even discover a new passion, but the opinion around further education being one of the only options young people have these days is becoming outdated.

According to a recent poll, 86% of the people who answered believe that too much pressure is being put on young people to go onto further education after school.

There’s no doubt about it, there are certain occupations which may require you to attend some form of further education, such as engineering or medicine. Therefore, attending college or university may be essential to some people in order to pursue their passion, but for others it’s not the best fit for them and it’s not fair to put so much pressure on young people about it.

The amount of money that is spent on attending university is extortionate, and it adds up every year you attend. If you are required to pay tuition fees to study, which currently are sitting at around £9,000 a year, a three-year degree can cost up to £27,750 in fees alone and digs can cost more than £30,000 in some cases. Scotland allow their students to study at a university or college within the country for free as their tuition fees are paid by the government but the student loan needs to be repaid back. This is not the same in England, as tuition fees must be paid for and the student loan paid back too.

The whole idea of a student loan is that when you finish your studies and get into a high-paid job, you will easily be able to pay off the debt that has been accumulated over the years. However, there is a threshold, in which if you earn below it, you may not have to pay anything back at all. The threshold currently sits at £25,000 in Scotland.

The student loan could be enough to sway anyone to start university. Receive a couple thousand pounds from the government with no need to pay it back until you’re in a paying job? It sounds tempting, but the main rival against attending university, is the growing popularity of apprenticeships and how they seem like the better option for some people due to the fact that you can earn a salary whilst you learn. An apprenticeship allows you to not have to pay any debt back once you finish which is one of the key reasons that sway people to take them up as well as earning money too.

According to Skills Development Scotland, a total of 29,035 people started a Modern or Graduate Apprenticeship during the 2019 to 2020 financial year. Four out of ten apprenticeship starts were in engineering, science, maths and technology related roles. These statistics show that you can gain a job in occupations that many people attend university for without actually attending and being able to earn whilst you learn.

There is genuine proof out there that going to university or college isn’t the only way you can be successful. Take Bill Gates for example, he dropped out of Harvard university after two years to start Microsoft, which resulted in him becoming a billionaire at the age of 26. Steve jobs also didn’t graduate from college and turned out to be the co-founder of Apple. He actually very much believed that schools and colleges were useless.

Now it can be argued that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates aren’t people who should be followed because they are exceptions of people who became successful and wealthy without graduating but it doesn’t move away from the fact that university isn’t your only option for when you finish school.

However, it is important to mention that the decision to go onto further education isn’t just to gain a successful occupation afterwards, the lifestyle it provides is a big factor too. Having the chance to attend university or college and move away from home can provide you with skills and experiences that you might not have gained living at home or staying close to your roots. The experience of living alone, doing your own washing, cooking your own meals, or just having your own independence are key to growing up, there’s no doubt about it and the university experience will give you that.

Although attending university is a good option for after school and it is something that young people should be proud of themselves for doing, it isn’t for everyone. We need to break down the stigma that attending university is the only route to success and gaining a good occupation because it’s not fair to confuse, guilt trip or persuade young people that it is. There are other options.