When he originally became Prime Minister, Mr Blair proudly announced his party’s big focus was “Education, Education, Education�. A commendable enough focus and certainly not an area one would immediately link to frustration and growing personal debt. But over time, as more institutions have acquired the status of a university, and student loans have become easily available to so many more, schools have encouraged a lot more young people to go for higher education without really pointing out the cost.

It’s not in question that we need a much more educated society, but are young people actually obtaining the very best advice? Let’s face it; it’s not a hard sell to encourage the youth of today to leave home and live with a bunch of friends, not bother about getting a job for three or four years and get cheap beer at the student union bar. A bit of a basic interpretation perhaps – of course there’s a bit of lectures to go to, and a careful balance to make ends meet, then the rewards will be worth it in years to come. But is that really so? For a lot of families, the cost of university education lasts for a long period after graduation, both socially and financially.

The student loan system (the best method of funding for university undergraduates), tuition fees, lodgings and general costs of living over the time spent studying can set you back well over thirty grand – and still no guarantee of work. It’s ironic 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 find themselves still stumping up the cash, but time on their hands adult children who’d previously flown the nest can definitely get in the way!

A university education can be a great thing for young people, and is the only way for many of our professions. But we ought to know that in some subjects, there are other, frequently more advanced alternatives. In the computer industry, employers are crying out for commercially qualified IT professionals. University graduates regularly need to bolster their IT training skills to be ready for work and compete in the job market against Microsoft, CompTIA or Cisco professionals. The disappointing fact is they might have qualified two to three years earlier and not had a five figure debt if they’d studied with a commercial interactive computer training provider. Maybe alcohol in the student union bar isn’t quite so cheap after all – certainly 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.

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