The Nine Thousand Pound Question

So I‘m working as a sales assistant at the moment. This is my first time dabbling in the exciting world of retail and I tell you, it’s bloomin hard work! More than you would think. Normally at this time of year I would be looking forward to my Christmas holidays, which would mean four or five weeks of stress free bliss where I could get up whenever I liked and literally do nothing all day. Most of this doing nothing would involve eating, naturally. This year, however, I have had a brutal stab of reality and discovered what it is to have a full time job in retail. I have the grand total of two days off! That is Christmas day and Boxing day. Oh how I long to be a student again.

Working towards my finals in May of this year, I could not wait to finish uni and ‘start my life’ but now that I have left the security of formal education I long to be back there again. I have thought about going back to do a masters in broadcast journalism or something similar, but unfortunately I think this will have to be one of my ideas that never comes to fruition. Like the time I tried to persuade my parents to let me go to boarding school, God knows why?! To enrol on a good course would cost around six thousand pounds in fees alone, not including living costs. And all this has to be privately funded. Despite the fact that this could help further my career, I don’t think I can justify spending that amount of money to go back to uni.

All this has got me thinking about the recent announcement to increase tuition fees for undergraduates in England to nine thousand pounds a year. I know the government is going to fork out the money up front in the form of student loans, but it is still a huge amount of debt for graduates to be faced with, especially in the current economic climate where graduate jobs are few and far between. I have to admit, that if I had had to pay these increased fees back when I started university, I would think twice about going. I am aware of the government’s justification for the fees by saying that graduates will not have to pay back any of their loans until they are earning over twenty thousand pounds a year, but I don’t see how this will work in the long run. Surely this will have a negative effect on the county’s economy? The government will have to hand out so much more money straight away for people to go to uni, with no guarantee that all of these graduates will find jobs that pay more than the amount needed to start paying back the loans. At the moment I am earning under the threshold for paying back my student loan. I know that the interest I have to pay is increasing, but if I continue with this job, which I potentially could do (although I don’t think my parents would be overjoyed at this idea) I may never have to pay my debt back. That would be almost ten grand the government would have given me for free. Obviously, I am, like many graduates, aspiring to a job that will pay enough for me to have to start paying off my debt. Oh joyful days…maybe living with the rents isn’t so bad after all!

Recently the student loans company has come under fire for making graduates pay much more, millions more in fact, than is necessary. There have been so many problems with the loans company, with many students not getting their loans on time and now this new revelation, that it makes me think that increasing the fees will just increase the problems. I believe this will greatly reduce the number of people applying for university as the burden of the future debt will be too much for some. But maybe this is the government’s intention. Obviously those who really want to go to university and will benefit from a university degree will still go as their chances of getting a good job after graduating will be high and they will be able to manage the debt, but I can’t help but think, however, that this will make university more elitist again. The poorer in society will always worry about the financial implications of these increases, whilst those with money won’t think twice about paying.

All I can say is that I’m glad that I went to university when I did. If I did have to pay nine grand a year in fees it would definitely rule out the possibility of doing a masters. As it is, I can still ponder a bit longer before I reject the idea and move onto the next grand plan. That’s usually what happens.

Attention Kirstie Allsopp...or anyone really.

Living at home at 21 is a strange situation to be in as I very much feel like I have regressed to being a child again. Although there are benefits to this- I get my washing done for me, I don’t have to worry about cooking meals (and as a result, my diet has very much improved since the carb-centric, low vegetable diet of my student days)- at the same time my independence has been quashed by having to let my parents know when I’m going to be in for dinner and being reliant on them for lifts anywhere etc. Much of this is my own fault though, and I think subconsciously I let this happen as I quite like the fact that I don’t have to grow up and face the big scary world yet or take on any kind of real responsibility.

Despite feeling like a child, I am also suffering the paradox of feeling old before my time. Having moved from the lively and multicultural London where I was a student, back to my very white, middle class home town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, I am very aware of what I am missing as a result of leaving the Big Smoke. In London, you can do something different everyday if you want to; there are always little markets to discover or clubs to go to. In my opinion, it is the best place in the world. Harrogate on the other hand is a very quiet town. Lovely for bringing up children, but hardly banging on the entertainment front. As a result, I have taken up hobbies more suitable for the 50+’s, than 21 year olds. I have almost finished knitting my first scarf and on most of my days off, can be found baking (I make a mean carrot cake, that’s for sure).

If truth be told, part of me has taken up these hobbies because I secretly hope that Kirstie Allsopp, of 'Location Location Location' fame, might find out about my hidden talents and offer me a job as her researcher. This is what I want more than anything. Not necessarily a job with Allsopp (although if you are reading this Kirstie, I am available to start immediately), but any job in the media. I know I have said that I am jobless. This is not strictly true. I do have a full time job. I work in a department store as a sales assistant. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good job- the people are lovely, it stops me getting bored and its allowing me to save money for the trip that I am taking next year (I have no idea where this trip will be yet, or for how long, but I keep telling myself that I will take some sort of trip so that this year out I am taking will not have been for nothing). The problem is, this job won’t really have any long term benefit for me: I don’t want to pursue a career in retail. What I really want is to work in radio, or some form of broadcast journalism. I realise that this is a highly competitive industry to break into and as a result, this year out is also supposed to be a time for me to gain some work experience. This is proving very difficult.

Whilst at university I volunteered at a hospital radio station which was quite possibly some of the most fun I have ever had. Consequently I thought I would apply to volunteer at hospital radio here in Harrogate, but since first applying back in September, I am still no closer to making it into the studio. With so many hurdles to overcome- character references, police checks, waiting lists- it makes it nearly impossible to do this good deed! I have tried to remain positive, sending enthusiastic emails to the organiser about how keen I am to get started. However, I don’t think she took them as enthusiastic, rather annoying and as a result I have probably been pushed to the back of the volunteering queue!

Daddy dearest also came up with the very good idea of starting a podcast. At the moment podcasting is becoming a very popular way to break into the broadcast journalism world, so a friend and I decided to have a bash at one ourselves. How hard can it be? This idea was born approximately two months ago, and despite regular meetings to discuss it at the beginning, we are still yet to record one. New idea needed.

This blog, therefore, is another desperate attempt to do something that might get me noticed by some important people in the media world. I know it is highly unlikely that this will happen, but if nothing else, it lets me get things off my chest. And in the meantime, I can always hope…