Recently, there have been enormous changes to the higher education sector:

• University tuition fees have rocketed from a modest £0pa for UK students, via an acceptable £3000, to an eye-watering £9,000;
• Overseas students face far tighter visa restrictions, making UK-based study more difficult;
• The British government has been encouraging more and more people to go to university, meaning that a university degree no longer has the cachet it once did.

The status around the world of a genuinely accredited British qualification remains high; however the means of achieving this have changed considerably, and there is naturally a reappraisal of the system as students become picky consumers and universities can no longer call all the shots. Naturally, in the light of these changes, many young people, rather than automatically choose university, are examining a range of options:

The choices facing them include:
• Knuckle down and learn a practical trade through the classic apprenticeship;
• Enrol in a vocational training course;
• Just get a job. Any job;
• Go straight to university;
• ‘Find yourself’, with the aid of a gap year in some far-flung location
• Get going on a career and then study when you know which qualifications can take you further.

Your average graduate earns £100k more than those who took no university education – but if a university education is also a reflection of innate intellect, surely someone with the extra intellect will consider these options most carefully … and be able to succeed even if they need to embark on unexpected or modified paths.

One thing has become increasingly apparent over the last 15 years: there are many different means to achieving the goal of an accredited UK qualification, than merely those labelled ‘university’. For many, one major problem with university is going there: move home, friends and family, take your life and relocate it in a new area. A person with no ties can thrive on this but it may be less than perfect for someone with a family.

If you have come to a time in your life when you know exactly what you want to study, and you don’t want the upheaval and financial pressure of moving to a university, the distance learning opportunities now available via the internet probably offer your surest, most convenient route.

Browse around the online courses out there; far cheaper, they offer flexible learning with an accredited qualification at the end. And studying using distance learning methods show that you have the initiative to succeed in today’s market. Without a future of unsustainable debt.