Few students feel university fees are justified – survey

FEW students at Welsh and English universities feel that their fees of £9,000 a year are good value for money, a survey has found.

Just 13% of students questioned agreed that “the standard of education and the increased wages graduates earn mean Welsh/English university degrees are worth the money”, according to the YouGov poll.

By contrast, 62% felt that “the standard of education and the wages graduates earn are not enough to warrant the cost of Welsh/ English university degrees”.

Some 14% did not agree with either statement and 11% said they did not know which they agreed with more. However 86% of students said they were satisfied with the quality of their university course, including 25% who said they were “very” satisfied. Just 13% said they were dissatisfied with their course. But 59% of those students who are satisfied with the quality of their degree believe that that fees are too high, and even among those who are “very” satisfied that figure is still as high as 45%, with only 22% feeling they are worth the money.

Seven in 10 students (70%) think that they will be better off financially over the course of their life thanks to their university education, but 14% believe their degree will make no difference to their lifetime earnings, and 7% believe it will actually leave them worse off.

Nevertheless, 59% of those who expect to be better off financially as a result of having a university degree still believe the fees are too high. The survey questioned 867 students.