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Ha!
I ain't completed it yet babe:P
And, in fairness, I got a combination loan and grant for my undergrad course (including maintenance grant/loan combo) which I will not need to pay back a penny of until my earnings rise above the threshold (currently 15k p/a). I also got my MA fully funded via scholarship, along with a maintenance grant of £10k for the year. I am currently doing a PhD, the fees for which are entirely covered by a scholarship and again I am on a maintenance grant, this time 13k per annum for the three years o fthe course.
I have sacrificed time yes. But it isn't that much of a sacrifice. I wasnlt doing anything better before. I was paid a similar amount for working full-time as I now get in maintenance from the scholarship.
And, I fully expect to get a hike in earnings when I get my phD, assuming I can get a job in academia. But seriously, a payrise on what I am used to for a week's work wouldn't need to be a big wage :p
The truth is, I have in many ways, breezed through higher education without a financial care in the world. If at the end of this I can't get work in my field and end up stacking shelves at tescos, well, I'll have enjoyed the last 7 years of delving into a subject i love and be no worse off than I was before. I'm not sure how sanguine I'd be about that if I'd had to pay my own course fees, or been saddled with the levels of debt that my nieces are likely to accrue when they do their undergraduate degrees.
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