When he originally became Prime Minister, Tony Blair proudly stated his party’s mantra was “Education, Education, Education�. A commendable enough focus and seemingly not an area one would think of associating with frustration and high personal debt. But over the years, as more and more colleges have acquired university status, and student loans have become effortlessly available to everyone, schools have encouraged many more young people to go for higher education without really spelling out the cost.

There’s no question that we need a more highly educated society, but are young people really obtaining the best advice? Let’s face it; is it such a tricky sell to promote to an eighteen year old to leave the family home and live with a bunch of friends, not concern themselves about finding a job for three or four years and get cheap beer at the student union bar. A over simplified interpretation perhaps – naturally there’s a spot of lectures to go to, and a careful balance to keep afloat, then the rewards will be worth it in the end. But is that really so? For a lot of families, the price of university education continues for many years after graduation, both in social and financial terms.

The student loan system (the best method of borrowing for students at university), tuition fees, accommodation and day to day living expenses over three or four years can set you back well over thirty grand – and still no guarantee of employment. It’s to nobody’s amusement that intellectual adolescents too often become back-at-home twenty-somethings who haven’t even conquered their first job. Not only do mums and dads find themselves still stumping up the cash, but time on their hands adult children in the house again can obviously cramp their style!

A university education can be a rewarding time for young people, and is the only course for many of our professions. But we ought to know that in some areas, there are other, often more advanced alternatives. In the world of Information Technology, employers are desperate for professionally qualified IT professionals. University graduates often end up having to top up their computer training skills to be ready for work and compete in the job market with Microsoft, CompTIA or Cisco professionals. The disappointing thing is they might have saved themselves three years and not had a unmanageable debt had they gone straight to a distance learning computer training provider. Perhaps the beer in the student union bar isn’t quite so cheap after all – it’s true the bank of mum and dad 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.

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