When he originally became Prime Minister, Mr Blair proudly announced his party’s big focus was “Education, Education, Education�. A praiseworthy enough focus and obviously not something one would couple alongside the horrors of frustration and increasing personal debt. But as time has gone on, as more colleges have acquired university status, and student loans have become easily available to so many more, schools have encouraged greater numbers of young people to go for higher education without really spelling out the cost.

It’s not in question that we should have a more highly educated society, but are youngsters really getting the most appropriate advice? Let’s be honest; is it such a hard sell to encourage the youth of today to leave the family 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 facile interpretation perhaps – inevitably there’s a spot of studying to be done, and a careful balance to keep afloat, then the rewards will be worth it in years to come. But is that really so? For a great deal of families, the cost of university education continues for many years after graduation, both socially and financially.

Student Loans (the best method of funding for students at university), tuition fees, rent and the cost of life in general over the time spent studying can set you back well over £30,000 – without any guarantee of employment. It’s not a funny joke that freedom-seeking teenagers out to conquer the world too often become back-at-home twenty-somethings who haven’t even conquered their first job. Not only do mums and dads still have to support them financially, but time on their hands adult children who’d previously flown the nest can obviously make things awkward!

A university education can be a rewarding time for young people, and is the only road for many of our professions. But schools and parents ought to know that in some subjects, there are other, frequently more advanced alternatives. In the world of Information Technology, employers are crying out for commercially qualified IT professionals. Only having a university degree means students often end up having to supplement their IT training skills to be ready for work and have a chance in the job market with Microsoft, CompTIA or Cisco professionals. The sorry thing is they might have qualified two to three years earlier and not been burdened with a really large debt had they gone straight to a commercial interactive computer training provider. Perhaps alcohol in the student union bar isn’t such a great idea after all – surely the family bank account would be a lot less used up, 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.

More Resources for Computer Training

Back To My Resources