economy | Kiran Trivedi

With university fees higher than ever, the week on the Kiran Trivedi blog I ask, is a degree worth the money that you pay for it.

University Seems More Expensive Than Ever These Days

It seems like university is a less stable investment than ever these days. Fees are up, and we’re always hearing stories in the press about how university graduates aren’t able to get jobs. If it doesn’t help you get a job, what’s the point.

Are you at the point of deciding whether you want to do a degree? If you are, then you have to consider how much it’ll effect your personal finances. These days, it’s too expensive not to. So how much does it actually cost to do a degree?

Risk vs. Reward of University Degrees

According to AOL Money, the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) has revealed that the average cost of university fees is set to hit £8,700. This will bring the total bill for a three year degree to £26,000. Furthermore, now almost three quarters of universities in the UK are charging the maximum of £9,000.

But it isn’t all bad. Jobs sight Adzuna has revealed in its most recent report, that the average graduate can expect to earn £15,000 more per year than the average non-graduate. This means that collectively, a graduate will earn £500,000 more than a non-graduate throughout their working life.

It All Depends What Job You Get

So, on the face of it, it seems as though a degree is easily worth the investment. But that all depends on a graduate’s ability to get a job; in the modern market that’s not so easy. New figures have suggested that this year, almost 250,000 graduates will fight for a mere 54,200 across the UK. It’s particularly bad in London; with a ratio of 30 graduates to every vacancy.

This leads me to ask, what is the best degree for a job? According to Adzuna, these degrees are maths, computer science and engineering; these provide an average newly-qualified pay of between £40,000 and £45,000. However the average starting wage for a degree in hospitality and tourism is just £18,000. A huge disparity.

Will this Course One Day Benefit my Personal Finances?

So, Kiran Trivedi readers, is a degree worth the money? It really can be, it all depends on what you actually study. If you’re thinking about doing a degree, you need to think; is this the course that will one day benefit my personal finances?

A business environment auditor has announced that it expects wage rates to pass inflation rates for the first time in six years in 2014. Kiran Trivedi finds out what it could mean for your personal finances.

This type of thing is something that you need to know about, because inflation is how much the prices for goods and services are rising by, on average. When inflation rises faster than wages, it means that you have less money to go around.

So what are the details of this claim and how could it lift up your bank balances, Kiran Trivedi readers?

Wages vs Inflation

EY Items Club, a business environment auditor, has now gone on record suggesting that for the first time in six years, wages are set to rise faster than inflation. That’s basically the first time we’ve seen this since the onset of the great recession, which hit wallets and purses hard across every region of this country.

Specifically, the organisation said that because the economy is currently in a “long period of low inflation,” average earnings could rise at a quicker rate as soon as this month. According to the auditor, wages are set to increase by 1.7% this year, whilst inflation is set to rise by 1.6%.

It also means that low inflation, combined with a pound that is doing very well on the market right now, should keep interest rates low until 2015. This will have further benefits for every one of you out there.

The business environment auditor also said that it expects the UK economy to grow at a reasonable, if not spectacular rate this year. Economic growth by the end of 2014 should measure around the 2.9% mark.

The Club’s Chief Economic adviser, Peter Spence, was reported have commented on the figures by the BBC. Spence said that “until now the recovery has been financed by a fall in the amount households save, but it appears to be moving to a firmer footing,” and that this will mean that “the consumer upturn will be given a boost from real wages and rising employment, while investment is finally kicking in.”

What Will The Wage Rise Mean For Your Personal Finances?

So what could wages rising faster than the rate of inflation mean for you, Kiran Trivedi readers? Well Spence pretty much hit it on the head; more purchasing power. Basically you’ll have more money to go around and all of a sudden, your monthly budget is just that little bit easier to manage.

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