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well meaning, total tosh that will backfire and the status quo will be maintained.

Agreed. My sister is well on the way to being a doctor and we're definitely not what you would classify as 'priviledged'.

From what I understood with what I saw this morning, people can get the degrees and become a Doctor of medicine or a qualified lawyer, but it was the getting the job that was difficult.

Getting into medical school is more difficult for affluent people these days as the Govt. wants equal access to all social classes.

Medicine used to be such that you were guaranteed a job for life. Govt. changed all that so you have to compete with others to get such jobs. If you have lots of activities and qualifications, you will be more likely to get a job than someone who worked hard but didn't have the money to have better hobbies. Example - being a qualified pilot will put you above other candidates.

I'm not actually surprised. I kind of thought this was how the world worked. The people I've known around my age; most of the well off kids have gone on to well off jobs.

Is this really news?

I don't believe so. No.

I'm not from a well off family and was the first to go to University (I'm still not sure anyone else has made it). It was supposed to be accesible to all apparantly poor or rich. Thing is though is was a struggle through the term times with my student loan paying for rent and thats about it. I now have a whopping great loan to pay back too. They say you have to earn over 14k beore you start paying it back. Thats true but earning 18k means the amount they take from your salary in a year doesnt even cover the interest added. Admittedly I'm on a decent salary now so it should start to go down but unless I make lots of extra payments it will take a very long time to pay back.

Normal degree - 3 years
Medical degree - about six years

Government charges tuition fees and stops most grants

=> Poor families/students can't do medial degrees.

My dad and uncle both did medical degrees forty years ago when you could live off your grants. They came from a working class family and would not have been able to afford to go if they had to pay fees like people do today.

the first thing required to gain a degree in anything, is a degree in debt management …

for me and mine that is not required as i will not allow my children to get in to this much debt … end of transmission …

I was hoping that my sons child trust fund would pay for his degree. But with a £1200 limit per year and constant talk of tuition fees going through the roof, I doubt even that will cover the cost.

Well he won't go untill he is 18/19 will he? That will be a fair whack of money by then.

So you'd deny them an education?

I went to med school. Came from a working class background where I paid for everything out of my student loan with parents chipping in as and when they could or was required (maybe £1000 over the five years).

My debt is around £20,000. The money they take pays off the interest only and that's £200 a month they take!

Working during medical school is immensely difficult. Unlike other courses where you have maybe eight lectures a week, we had around eight lectures a day, monday to friday. This was for the first two years. During the hols, I did part-time jobs but even then, didn't make much and most of it went on necessary course material. The following four years of med school, I had four weeks per year of hols and the rest work clinical work (with a year for lab work), so there was no opportunity to work then.

A good few mates are in the same boat as me - saddled with debt but not from a rich background, so we'll have to keep paying off the interest until we can afford to pay off the initial loan. Contrast this against a few of my 'richer' mates who have not only paid off their debts but also have bought houses to live in, drive flash cars and can afford to take time out during their career to go abroad to do medicine elsewhere for a few months/years. It'll give them the upper hand on their CVs too.

That's my point, a fair whack probably won't be enough.

I denied myself an education on this exact basis.

WTF? I thought student loans were supposed to be low or zero interest. If you're paying 12% you're being totally screwed. I'm currently paying around 4% on my debts.