After six years holding down full time hours, no holidays and practically no social life...I am greeted with the happy-go-lucky news that tuition fees have trebled and apparently I should be ecstatic by the news...

...all I can ask is "and what medication do you happen to be on?".

...I am thankful I got my degree in before this stupidity happened, but dammit, I seriously cannot afford to continue any further. I was looking forward to an additional certificate in Maths or Physics but that simply isn't going to happen. Education here in the UK is now only for the super rich.

What's the estimated average cost for a year of school where you study? I'm curious because I have no frame of reference, not because I don't believe you.

[quote name='Anri' timestamp='1355187826' post='5009262']
After six years holding down full time hours, no holidays and practically no social life...I am greeted with the happy-go-lucky news that tuition fees have trebled and apparently I should be ecstatic by the news...

...all I can ask is "and what medication do you happen to be on?".

...I am thankful I got my degree in before this stupidity happened, but dammit, I seriously cannot afford to continue any further. I was looking forward to an additional certificate in Maths or Physics but that simply isn't going to happen. Education here in the UK is now only for the super rich.

What's the estimated average cost for a year of school where you study? I'm curious because I have no frame of reference, not because I don't believe you.
[/quote]

For a single year its £5,000 with the Open University(England). If you go with a brick uni then its about £9,000.

Even still, handing over £5K a year is like being able to buy a new car every year...prices like that are in the realms of fantasy...

For a single year its £5,000 with the Open University(England). If you go with a brick uni then its about £9,000.

Even still, handing over £5K a year is like being able to buy a new car every year...prices like that are in the realms of fantasy...

Whoa, thats quite expensive.

@frob: thanks for the info!

I'm just going to leave this here. And this.

[size=2]Note that this certainly isn't directed at anyone in this thread. It's directed to the original question of will "a[size=2] college education will once again be only for the few elites in society" and I'm trying to say no, not if you logically think ahead and actually sensibly plan. But if people continue the trend of idiotically failing to plan for the future, then perhaps the answer is "yes" (but in this case, the "elites" aren't necessarily the wealthy, but rather the logical, sensible ones).

I don't know if anyone has mentioned the changes going on with the student loans situation here in the U.S., but there are a lot of things happening just to prevent higher education from becoming a thing of just the super rich. There's the income based repayment plan, which allows you to pay back your federal student loans based on how much money you make. There's also the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, which has just recently been proposed in Congress. It may not be passed, but it would certainly improve the system as it stands now.
But I would have to say that even without all those changes in the system going on to make it more feasible, it's still possible to get an education without giving up an arm and a leg. I'm going to state school right now, but we have one of the best mathematics and engineering departments around. And with federal aid and scholarships, plus the (small amount of) money my step-dad is paying, I only have to have a part-time job to pay for non-school related stuff. So it is very possible to get an education, so long as you don't go to a school you can't afford and know where to find the money.