'£56k debt for a degree I regret': The grads who say university is a waste of money (2024)

We are told they are the best years of your life and a ticket to a good career – but is university really still worth it?

Many still believe higher education is a vital rite of passage. My own grammar school was so concerned when I decided to train as a journalist in a newsroom instead of going to university, that they sat me down to check everything was all right at home. But as the costs get higher and financial outlook more precarious, many young people are weighing up their options.

Graduate debt is soaring, thanks to rising fees and changing loan terms – middle-earning graduates who started in 2022 will now end up repaying around £47,000 – as well as the increased cost of living. But while the cost of attending university increases, research shows the “graduate premium” (how much more university graduates earn than those who have not been to university) has declined. Three in 10 graduates end up earning less than those who don’t go to university, and just 37 per cent of students think their degree is value for money.

A BBC documentary released on Monday, explores whether university is a worthwhile investment. Here, students talk to the i about their experiences.

‘I’m £56,000 in debt for a degree I regret’

Tia O’Donnell, 27, graduated from Central Saint Martins in Fine Arts in 2022

Being able to get into Central Saint Martins (CSM) was always a dream of mine. Knowing all the legends who attended there, I spent a lot of my childhood looking forward to.

As I was at university in the Covid years, my degree feels a little fraudulent. I don’t really feel qualified to apply for certain jobs – I have a degree, but no physical work experience.

I thought university would be collaborative, where everyone works together and makes giant sculptures together. You’d walk away part of an art collective with amazing friends. You’d live together, meet the love of your life – all the classic stuff you expect. Instead, everyone was a username on a screen or someone I’d seen once. The tangible relationships were minimal. I had no friends.

Having to pay the full monty (£9,250 a year) for it too when I was in my bedroom behind a computer screen just doesn’t fit right. Part of an art degree is that you get to use the amazing amenities they have on offer, have your own studio space and get to use a metal laser cutter, and all the other equipment you don’t usually have access to.

As I did two foundation years, I’m £56,000 in debt, which doesn’t feel great. I wake up knowing before I’ve even managed to figure out my career and my path in life that I have this massive weight on my shoulders. It’s so daunting. I’m currently a freelance artist and dabble in lots of different things, as much as I physically can. I do set design, culture building, illustrations, animation and work part time to pay the bills. I also sell my belongings online.

I do regret going to university. For fine arts there’s loads of alternative routes and university isn’t necessarily the best. I think schools do keep pushing university as the only way of being educated and it’s a bit dated. There’s plenty of other avenues – universities have become corporate machines where students are just bricks in a wall.

I’ve got a job I love, but I didn’t need my degree

Emma, 26, studied Business at the University of Hertfordshire

In my first year I stayed in university halls and paid just over £1,000 in rent for the year. The rooms were very small and cramped and the 12-person kitchen was small. When I had the option to move out of the area I did but it was so close to London the rent prices were extortionate and I had to work many part-time jobs to survive.

In my second and third year I got into debt and had to take some time out and work a full-time job. After taking two years away I went back to complete my course – then Covid hit. It took me from 2015 to 2021 to complete it.

I regret the amount of money I spent on trying to survive. I’m still trying to pay off £7,000 worth of debt. I haven’t used my degree as when I finished university I got into the automotive industry and became a social adviser at Mercedes Commercial which I love. There are others I know using their degree and on much less money.

Sometimes it is best to work your way up within a company – if I had started in the automotive industry before university I could be in a much better position. Looking back, there are better ways to get where you want to be.

‘My friends were eating food out of bins to survive’

Winnie Grove, 21, University of Brighton studying Philosophy, Politics and Ethics

I realised a few weeks into university that it wasn’t the experience I’d hoped for. Everyone that has come to university has been taught that this is the place you need to go to get a good future. After a few months I couldn’t afford food any more because the minimum maintenance loan of £4,000 doesn’t cover enough.

In my second year I had mould in my student housing. It made me so ill I had tonsillitis six times in 12 weeks. It got to the point where my doctor told me they couldn’t do anything because it’s coming from the house. The landlord did nothing. The university did nothing.

I’m now in my third year, and have struggled to find suitable housing. I was staying on friends’ sofas and floors to get by until Christmas time when I found a flat in halls for over £800 a month. I’m currently in between jobs but I’ve done babysitting, cleaning and have trained as an NHS healthcare assistant. It’s caused intense stress. A lot of students have experienced it; we can’t provide for ourselves without having a full-time job that we do while studying full time too. I know students that, as a last resort, eat food out of bins. They go to the supermarket bins as they can’t afford to buy the food inside the supermarket. They go in the evenings and take out bread and vegetables.

I was sold the idea that university is the best route to a healthy future. I’ve come here and realised that we don’t even have a healthy present. I see myself getting in debt. I see myself struggling with housing and struggling to provide basic necessities.

I’ve been campaigning with the Direct Student Movement since May 2023. We’re struggling and we’re very disappointed in our experiences and we don’t want to be let down. We have three key demands: provide, house, fund. The education system should be focused on education and wellbeing, not profits.

Half of my year have dropped out

Kat, 22, University of Brighton studying Fine Arts

I went to university with the expectation that being a student would be hard financially but what hit me when I started was how everything is normalised. We’re fighting a cost of living crisis and young people are being hit harder than ever before. People are risking their health for education.

In my first year I learned that my course is not something that I wanted to do with my life. Being united with friends in a similar situation to me has definitely been life changing but I don’t feel like I owe my experience to the institution of the university at all.

Luckily as I got the maximum student loan of £9,000 I am in a very privileged position in that I can just about scrape by with a part-time job affording my £600 rent and food for myself. I work two nine-hour days a week in retail on minimum wage. Most of my friends have to work so much more, rely on food banks or just go hungry.

I’ve learnt a lot about what you can do with tins. It’s always about buying the saver lines in the supermarkets. We’ve all had to eat plain bread or plain pasta because we can’t afford pasta sauce or butter.

My year group has pretty much halved because people have just not been able to support themselves or engage in the course in a meaningful way because it’s been so stressful.

Is University Really Worth It? Is on BBC Two at 9pm, Monday 11 March or on BBC iPlayer