For around 700,000 adolescents on the treadmill that is the English education system, the level A and T results that fall this week can be the most important step of all.
They count because they open the door to higher education, and a crucial life decision based on an unwritten contract which has been located since the 1960s: the greater the brands, the more the choice of the institution and the course available for candidates, and in due time, the value of the diploma at the end of IT.
A quarter of a century after Tony Blair set a target of 50% of school permits at university, however, the fundamental principles of this agreement were transformed.
Today’s first cycle students today face the increase in the costs of tuition and debt costs, the new dynamics of the labor market and the uncertainties of the imagination IA revolution.
Together, they ask a different question: is it going to university worth it?
Students of the Plantsbrook school in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, look at their level A results in 2024.
Huge financial costs
Of course, the value of the university experience and the diploma which result from it cannot be measured by finances alone, but the costs are indignant.
For students of today, free universal tuition fees and student subsidies whose generation of their parents were replaced by annual costs which increased to £ 9,500 this year.
Cost of living Meanwhile, it will extend to at least £ 61,000 over three years, according to new research.
Together, they will leave the graduates struggling with medium debts of £ 53,000, which, as part of new agreements, they reimburse via a “graduate tax” of 9% on their profits greater than £ 25,000 for 40 years.
A hurried salary lake
In addition to the increase in finance costs and costs, graduates will enter a labor market in which the financial benefits of one degree are less obvious.
Graduates still benefit from a start -up salaries bonus, but this can shrink thanks to advances in the minimum wage.
The Institute of Student Employers claims that the average departure salary of graduates was £ 32,000 last year, although there was a great variation depending on the career.
File peak: PA
With the minimum salary The increase of 6% to more than £ 26,000 in April, however, the gap for non -degree employees may have decreased.
A reduction in gaining power can be aggravated by the salary compression phenomenon, which sees employers having less space to increase wages through the remuneration scale because the lowest and compulsory minimum level has increased quickly.
Taken a career, however, the graduate bonus remains uninhabitable.
Government data shows a median salary for all graduates aged 16 to 64 in 2024 £ 42,000 and £ 47,000 for the third cycle, against £ 30,500 for non-graduates.
Graduates are also more likely to be in employment and in highly qualified jobs.
There are also few signs of the buyer’s remorse.
An investigation by the University of Bristol with more than 2,000 graduates this year revealed that, given a second chance, almost half would be the same course in the same institution.
And while a quarter would change the course or university, only 3% said they would have jumped higher education.
Students receive their level A results at ARK Globe Academy in London last year. File peak: PA
No surprise while the universities industry of Body UK believes that the answer to the question is an unequivocal “yes”, even if the future of the employment of graduates remains uncertain.
“It is a decision that each individual must take for himself; This is not necessarily the right decision for everyone. More than half of the 18 -year -old population does not progress to the university, ”explains the director general Vivienne Stern.
“But if you look at it from a purely statistical point of view, there is no doubt that the majority that goes to university benefits not only in terms of income.”
‘Roll with the punches’
She is convinced that graduates will continue to benefit from the advantages of extensive education even if the future of work is deeply uncertain.
“I think now more than ever you must have the resilience you buy by studying at the level of the degree to ride with the punches.
“If the job market changes under you, you may need to reinvent yourself several times during your career so that you can extend changes that are difficult to predict. This resilience will hold its value. “
The biggest change is likely to come from AI, emerging technology whose potential of eating white -range collar work can be filled even faster than expected.
The recruitment industry already reports a drop in higher level positions.
An examination in mathematics underway at Pittville High School, Cheltenham.
File peak: PA
Anecdotally, companies are already bank cuts to legal, professional and marketing expenses because AI can produce basic production almost instantly and free of charge.
This could suggest a bonus to return to non-qualified jobs that remain beyond the bots. An AI could be able to bring together customer research or write an ad, but it cannot yet change washer or catheter.
This does not mean, however, that the diploma is dead, or that the university is worth nothing, although the sector will remain under surveillance for the quality and the type of price offered.
The government is developing a new skills program with higher education in its heart, but guessing what the economy will need in a year, regardless of 10 years, has rarely been more difficult.
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Universities will be crucial to producing the qualified workers that the United Kingdom needs to prosper, from life sciences to technology, but the reduction of students to economic units optimized by “great value” lessons ignores the non-quantifiable social, personal and professional benefits that the university can provide.
At a time when cultural wars were played on campus, it is also fashionable to reject attendance, except elite institutions on proven professional courses as a waste of time and money. (A recent personnel favorite came from a columnist holding an Oxford in EPI and a career as a teacher of economics.)
The reality of the university today means that no student can afford to ignore a cost-benefit analysis of their decision, but there is much more to experience than the work with which you find yourself. Even AI agrees.
Ask Chatgpt if the university is still worth it, and it will tell you: “It depends on what you mean by Valent – financially, personally, professionally – because each angle tells a different story.”