The Student Protests

Brace yourselves...I of course have something controversial to say, and it will probably offend a high number of people.
But of course, that's life!

Well, I do have a point of view to offer on the student protests, but before I get onto that, let's get right back to the basics. What's the point of further education? What's uni actually for?
Well, the answer depends on what you're studying. If you're studying, for example, Law, the chances are you're doing so with the aim or becoming a lawyer. One of the Sciences? Maybe going into research. Or maybe you want to teach? For which you can study just about any subject you like and then teach it. And of course the teaching qualification itself can be achieved on the job, once you've got the initial degree in the subject. (Just a side note, I think that is a fabulous idea by the way, and will make for much better teachers. They'll also get experience and have people on hand to offer advice who have been doing the job for ages. As we all know, good teachers make the world of difference to children and seem to be quite a rare breed!)
So university is a means to an end, its a way of gaining the qualifications you need to work in your chosen field. Bottom line, you go to uni to get a job. Or maybe you're lucky enough to have been blessed with a rich daddy? In which case you go to uni for the hell of it because daddy's paying up front for the whole thing. This makes you a jammy git. But a fortunate jammy git nonetheless.
So you're either studying because you can afford to do so, or because once you've become qualified you'll be able to afford to do so, and will pay it back.

Of course there's the other school of thought, the one I totally disagree with. You're at uni because you don't know what else to do. You're "not sure what you want to do with your life". Or as I like to look at it, because it's a free ride and you don't yet fancy getting a real job.
Jog on mate! Welcome to the real world! Universities are not for getting a degree in alcohol consumption!
University is wonderful if you use it, it's simply a surefire way of contracting a huge debt if you abuse it.

So personally, I don't think these students have a leg to stand on, the genuine ones and the freeloaders included. There's no such thing as a free lunch guys. The Labour government might have liked for us to all think so, but the Labour government clearly made a cock up of that one. If the moneys not there its not there, there's not a lot anyone can do about that. Things have got to go, and subsidised uni fees is a great place to start.
University is a choice. It's not compulsory. There are other options out there. If you have your heart set on a profession like medicine for example, then yes, go to uni and best of luck to you. But accept the fact that you chose to do so, and will therefore have to pay for it.
If you don't have a profession in mind at all, how about doing things the old fashioned way? Start at the bottom and work your way up. As an employer (albeit a very small one!) I know that employers in most industries prefer experience over qualifications. (Not in all cases, but as a general rule it rings true) Even having spent the last few years working on the tills at Tesco will result in an improved chance of getting a better job than some degrees will! And working on the tills in Tesco doesn't result in thousands of pounds of debt...

There is also one crucial point that a lots of these protesters seemed to have missed however. They government have also upped the earning threshold for repayment of student loans. You now need to be earning a lot more before you even need to start paying your student loan back. So the scroungers who appear to be whining the loudest will be the last to be affected anyway! Do your homework guys...

Just incase you're wondering, no, I didn't go to uni. I don't even have a-levels. I got my childhood education at school same as everyone else, but I got the rest of my education myself, in my spare time. I intend to further that with an open university degree in something I enjoy like Classics one day when I can afford to do so, just for fun! But I have been working since the age of 15 and in my early 20s I can now boast my own house, a business I run, an 8 grand bike and a car. And no tens of thousands of pounds of debts.
There are other options, and honestly, they're not that bad. I have plenty of friends in very similar situations to me who managed wonderfully without uni too.
Except the Best Friend, who is managing wonderfully at uni, studying to become a teacher, and will probably ring me up to give me an enormous bollocking when she reads this...