Advice needed regarding apprentice

Accountant - Get one anyway. Decent one should save you more than they cost and I can earn far more in the time it would take me to do my own return that she charges (£1,200)

As far as your son is concerned if he can go to university then let him do so. Encourage him to do so. The loan is irrelevant. 80% never gets paid back and if it does its because he’s earning well. I have plenty of wealthy friends who could easily afford to pay the fees themselves and nobody does precisely because of that reason.

very difficult to go to university later in life if he doesn’t now. It’s three years and it flies past. Worst that can happen is that he doesn’t use the degree and he comes out and works with you and builds a great career in the trades. It’s a fantastic opportunity for him to meet new people and to live (sort of) independently. Likewise if he does go make sure he moves away from home.

Don’t convince him not to go. Let him experience both.

 

I have to declare some bias as both SWMBO and I are graduates and so are the 2 kids but we have all done degrees relevant to careers (respectively teacher, civil engineer, another teacher and pharmacist). We both had fees paid plus grants (happy days) and were then able to fund our kids so they had no loans to pay back.

I would hesitate to recommend uni to anyone these days I fear though with so many useless courses on offer, high fees and limited input. Many courses seem have only one criterion to join: breathing. Cynical possibly, but I worked in an HE college in another life and some of the cretins that were taken on beg beggar belief.

Far too many graduates feel an entitlement to good salaries even though in reality they are worse than useless and have no work ethic. Probably easier to find a history graduate than a good woodbutcher.

A lot of jobs simply don't need degrees: look at the mess the nursing profession is in with the insistence on degrees for all.

 

There’s no right or wrong answer. Loads of kids do degrees and never use them. I’ve got one in Economic and Social History. Have I ever used it? Course not but it got me my first graduate job just because I’d done one. Successful retail career for 27 years earning 100k a year. Didn’t enjoy a minute of it. Took a pay-off a few years back and now earn a better living and vastly more fulfilling job as a landscaper, handyman, whatever.

Do I wish I’d always been a landscaper. Yea. Pretty much. Would my current career be more successful if I’d started it thirty years ago. Maybe.

Did I know what I wanted to do when I went to university. Nope.

Life is short. Try as many things as you can. See where it takes you. I make a point of never pushing my kids down any path. That way they can’t blame me later. Though they will anyway I’m sure

 

I went to uni, got a bog standard BSc in Physics, which I always loved. got a run of the mill job, didn't like it, managed to hook up with an experienced spark, went through training, exams etc. self employed, never looked back. I find I love science all the more not doing it for a living!!

I think it all depends on what kind of person you are, I'm more than likely a bit autistic (such things were never measured when I was at school), not to keen on change (a new set of regs gets me all unessasary!!), not to keen on being told what to do and when. Very practical and hands on, somewhat obsessive about my trade and work, enjoy it thoroughly, don't mind working on my own, finding my own work and taking ownership as they say, of my destiny.

Some people can't do that, they need the stability of the PAYE payslip, the pension, the office hours, and the ability to say sod it and find another job.

I couldn't tell a 17 / 18 year old today what to do, I'm in my mid 40's, the world really has changed an awful lot in a short space of time. My 90's uni experience was great, living in a grotty bedsit a la rising damp in Llandaff, trying not to get gassed by the ascot water heater in the communal bathroom, waiting in the pouring rain to use the public telephones to phone home, hammering out essays on the half life of some isotope or another on my IBM golfball typewriter in my room or booking an hour on a huge cream computer. watching the likes of Roy Chubby Brown or Jethro down the students union, And downing many a pint of Brains down the pub - All of which has been out-moded, banned by heath and safety or political correctness. The kids of today will inhabit a much changed world, and good luck to them - but it's beyond me to steer their path.

 

Not sure I could either, world is very odd these days!

Just done a job at a university where it seems to be fairly common and accepted for boys to pretend to be women... (But not acceptable for people to vote conservative, or dislike the EU!)

 

........think I'll cheer myself up and watch Bernard Manning on YouTube...need a good laugh!

 

You’d be gobsmacked if you popped back now Tony, Cardiff has changed incredibly in twenty five years and continues to change on what seems a monthly basis, Llantrisant Road heading into Llandaff/Danescourt now sports thousands of houses, the overall target in the region of ten thousand, yet the infrastructure has only been marginally altered via filter lanes and some traffic lights. It’s still a brilliant city though, but a headache to navigate.

 

Not been back lately, but I know it's had a lot of work done, they were re-developing the bay in my day. I dare say many of the student landmarks of the day are now long gone!!, Is Howells still there, I worked weekends in Menswear! The S4C used to recruit students as extras, I managed to get in two episodes of Pobol y Cwm (being an out of towner in a non speaking role!!) for years I felt BAFTA had cruelly overlooked me, but I reckon they are holding out for the Lifetime Achievement.

 

Ha, no Howells isn’t there anymore, Spillers records was ousted from its spot about ten years ago and now resides in Morgan Arcade, Chippy lane is still thriving though after kicking out time but the pubs and bars are changing ownership and their names more or less every year.