WESTBY AVENUE: Uni was amazing but I'm still paying for it!

WHEN I went to university I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do as a career.

I’d been talked out of going to drama school by one of my A-level teachers (phew) and with my skills pretty much limited to writing and causing trouble, I decided to study English Literature at Leicester University.

At 18 I was still very immature, had no sense of financial responsibility and I felt pretty intimidated by the adult, working world, so three years of study seemed like the right thing to do.

At least that way I could be eased into independent life and put off making a big decision about my career.

I was very fortunate that my parents (thank you) paid for my tuition fees and living costs, leaving me just to use my student loan (and temping jobs) for any extras. But I am greatly aware that I was privileged to be in that position and my parents worked exceptionally hard to give me that opportunity.

Now English Literature, although it was an extremely hard subject (if you ask me), it didn’t start me on any vocational pathway.

I had the most amazing three years at university and although those years were invaluable in terms of learning about life away from home and making life-long friends, I still wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do for a living when those three years were up.

I’d always fancied myself as a news reader or Crime Watch presenter but a careers advisor told me pretty early on that the media industry was extremely competitive and that I should think of other options (footballer’s wife was never really going to happen).

While at uni, I joined the student newspaper (where I learned about libel laws pretty quickly) where I reviewed theatre productions and had my own column entitled Irrational Mavis.

I found that it was still something I was interested in and after a spell of travelling after uni, I decided to set my sights on the reporting world and miraculously (after a few temporary roles) got a job where my employers put me through training.

Had I not landed on my feet, I would have had to pay myself through further training to even think about getting a job on a newspaper.

My other option was teaching, which again, would have required me taking a PGCE and paying out for further training.

What I’m trying to say is that in light of the Government’s proposals to increase tuition fees, I would advise students to think very carefully about what choices they make.

I would not change a thing about my experience but I will be paying my student loan off for the rest of my life.