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My eye! Sweet Jesus, Ouch!


Sledge

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Oh.

 

Never heard of it.

 

Just to stay on topic, my current rant is fraudsters.

 

My girlfriend and I aren't exactly in the throes of poverty, but things are a bit tight for us, so when we saw that £722 had gone missing from our joint account (the one we pay bills out of), alarm bells began to ring. Long story short, someone has managed to clone 2 of my cards, and I'm pretty sure the other one has been too, so they've all been cancelled, and we will be getting the money back, but it's just something we don't need when we've got bills need paying and especially not when both my girlfriend and myself have our birthdays this week and next week (Juli's was yesterday, mine is next Thursday), and, just to make things worse, I just sent off an application to renew my security licence, and the card details I put down are for one of my cancelled cards.

 

Oh, and telephone services people that don't bloody listen to you or do what they're asked. Every day this week I've been woken up by someone from the Carphone Warehouse looking for someone called Muhammad Jamalamadingdong, and despite two very angry conversations demanding to speak to a manager and get the number removed from their system, they still keep ringing and wanting to speak to Mr M. Jawolawola, or whatever the *fruitcage* his name is, so I've taken to just putting the phone down as soon as I hear the name.

 

Anger doesn't quite cover my feelings this week.

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We had something very similar, someone got hold of our unlisted number asking to talk to a 'Raoul Roberts'. They refused to believe he didn't live here despite us having this unlisted number at this address for the past fifteen years.

 

 

Also, blockbuster. I bought a blockbuster 'value card' in the summer, which apparently gave me a bunch of free rentals. Turns out some computer has decided I owe them seven pounds, which neither the shop on newland avenue nor the extremely rude little scrotum who keeps ringing me up demanding I give him all my card details can tell me what it's for.

 

So given the fact they've now just got a very out of date student address and no other of my details, I'm screening their calls and happy in the knowledge I'm costing little mr pushy a damn sight more than £7 :). Whenever they go to voicemail I get an automated computer voice asking me to ring an 080 number, so I have plenty of reasons not to call them back :D

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Wasn't APB a game Chimpy worked on?

 

Anywho, I'm all for the Pope's visit.

 

Grrrr... Relatives getting mine and my brothers birthday mixed up. On my birthday, he receives a cheque for £500.00 to help with course fees on his MA. On his birthday, I gleefully rip open my card to receive a cheque for... £20.00 <_<

 

Ben.

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I'm getting sick of going to websites and trying to read product reviews only to find dumb *fruitcage*s using them as discussion forums for comments like "I will totally buy this" or "This isn't ranger green, the picture makes it look black". STFU unless you have purchased the product and are providing worthwhile information for those of us considering buying the product.

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Wasn't APB a game Chimpy worked on?

 

Anywho, I'm all for the Pope's visit.

 

Grrrr... Relatives getting mine and my brothers birthday mixed up. On my birthday, he receives a cheque for £500.00 to help with course fees on his MA. On his birthday, I gleefully rip open my card to receive a cheque for... £20.00 <_<

 

Ben.

 

Yeah it was, havn't seen him about recently. Spose if the company folded he probably has better things to worry about then here I guess, poor chap.

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Yeah, it is a shame about the game. I actually remember thinking it looked pretty good, and some of the reviews were promising. Wonder how many people bought it and are now stuck without servers?

Heh, I actually preordered it, and didn't get the promised bonuses, that should have been the first alarm. Then it turned out the bugs from beta are still there, a lot of *suitcase* was horribly imbalanced and finally the game went down the ######. Let's hope that Epic will buy it and somehow remake it into playable form.

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Adult education - why does it cost so much?

 

I know schools and colleges have to further their income by providing these services, but £300.00 for a GCSE is taking the ######; especially if you didn't fail the first time round, but you just need a better grade.

 

Ben.

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Its nothing about furthering income; they need to cover the cost of the teacher's additional time, the facilities and the admin of having you there.

 

Look on the bright side, without the government subsidies currently in place you'd have to pay all the costs yourself ;).

 

(My evening class teacher told us all this last week!)

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Adult education - why does it cost so much?

 

 

Ben.

Simple answer is because that's how much it costs.

 

You never really appreciate that, until you have to pay for it out of your own pocket.

 

It's one of the reasons why old tax paying coggers like me begrudge 'paying' for time waster students etc. :D

 

Please note, I say, 'time waster students'. My comments are not aimed at any one doing a worthwhile course that will allow them in turn to contribute to society.

 

Ben, I do sympathize. I do a lot of courses to keep up within my chosen industries. I get very frustrated at the vast expense I incur. What always hurts more, is finding out, that I'm the only one in the class, who actually 'pays' out of my own pocket. This becomes particularly infuriating, as the course goes on, & my non-paying counter parts, show less & less interest in the course contents. They become easily distracted & in turn become distractions themselves, ignoring course information, preferring make new friends & discuss the x-factor etc. :(

 

On a recent course, I was the only one out of 20 students who had payed out of his own pocket (£685):

 

3 were kids, fair enough. 4 were sent by their employers, fair enough. 2 were sent by prison rehab charities, the rest from the dole or what ever it's called now.

 

In other words, a lot of the folk there, didn't gave a *suitcase*!

 

Within weeks, the course had fallen apart & the tutors were apologizing to me on a regular basis.

 

This worked well for me, as I kind of ended up getting one to one tuition. I was the only one who appeared to want to learn.

 

I took my observations to the heads of the college, whose only concern seemed to be pass rate. When I pointed out that they were probably looking at 100% failure, they took the drastic action of contacting the various bodies paying the bill.

 

The prison guys left, the folk sent by their bosses started paying attention, the dolites behaved themselves & the kids carried on mucking about & failed the exams.

 

I passed with distinctions & got awarded a £15 Smiths token as 'student of the year'. <_<

 

Who would have thought it!

 

I'm currently signed up for another course with the same college (acknowledged as the best in the country for this type of education ;) ). It starts next week & I really hope it isn't the same fiasco.

 

Bad signs already: Being the only person on the course who had to pay, they didn't know what to do with my enrollment cheque & just put it to one side! I checked yesterday to see why it hadn't been cashed: Eventually I got through to the person in charge who apologized, saying 'enrollment was last week' & they should have contacted me to let me know. They had put my application on hold, not being used to someone 'actually paying for the course'. Nice. They indicated that I am on the course & will process my application (cash my cheque :rolleyes: ) immediately. I was holding my breath all day, as the first few folk said that I had missed enrollment & was therefore not on the course. :blink:

 

Everyone agrees that further education for mature students is a good thing but I don't see much incentive. :rolleyes:

 

 

Greg.

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It's annoying because I literally just finished University, payed for out of MY own pocket, and I need to change the grade of one poxy GCSE to get a job I want.

 

However, I'll be cheating the system in a suitably cunning and devious manner.

 

I haven't got a job at the moment, and the courses range from £200.00 - £300.00 each.

 

But my local 6th Form college does a concessionary rate for courses, ranging from £40.00 - £80.00.

 

So, my plan is to sign on for JSA, pay for the course under the concessionary rate, and then get a job. Even though I swore I'd never waste my time with the Job Centre again, it might prove useful this time.

 

Ben.

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It's annoying because I literally just finished University, payed for out of MY own pocket, and I need to change the grade of one poxy GCSE to get a job I want.

 

However, I'll be cheating the system in a suitably cunning and devious manner.

 

I haven't got a job at the moment, and the courses range from £200.00 - £300.00 each.

 

But my local 6th Form college does a concessionary rate for courses, ranging from £40.00 - £80.00.

 

So, my plan is to sign on for JSA, pay for the course under the concessionary rate, and then get a job. Even though I swore I'd never waste my time with the Job Centre again, it might prove useful this time.

 

Ben.

What ever works for you mate. If you're entitled & in genuine need of social support, take the concession. That's what it's there for.

 

& I take my hat of to ya, paying your own way through uni ain't cheap. Well done.

 

How come you had to pay fees? I thought you was a youngling?

 

 

Greg.

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Adult education - why does it cost so much?

 

I know schools and colleges have to further their income by providing these services, but £300.00 for a GCSE is taking the ######; especially if you didn't fail the first time round, but you just need a better grade.

 

Ben.

]

 

At the college I'm working at, A GCSE with Full Cost Recovery (IE: student pays) is about £500.

 

Some people are paying £850 to do a baking/patisserie course.

 

 

You can (sometimes) pay for just the examinations, which are anything between £50-£150 each - It may be worth asking if you can just take the exams - presuming you're dedicated enough to teach yourself it.

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& I take my hat of to ya, paying your own way through uni ain't cheap. Well done.

 

How come you had to pay fees? I thought you was a youngling?

 

I'm 23 now.

 

I think people older than my generation hold some kind of shared misconception about how University courses are funded. You aren't paying for us students. We pay for ourselves!

 

There are no grants, or bursaries, or free monies available for the most part unless your parents earn under a certain threshold. As usual, the average middle-class families get *suitcase* on here.

 

I signed up for the course, and had to pay the deposit (out of my own money). I then contacted the Student Loan Company. They agreed to lend a fixed amount to cover my course fees, all of which I have to pay back, with added interest, when the course ends.

 

Because I went to a music university, the loan wasn't enough to completely cover the cost of the course. I then had to pay the rest (again, out of my own money) up front.

 

This process is repeated for however many years your course lasts for, in my case, three years. I am now near enough £20,000.00 out of pocket, with something like a £17,000.00 loan to start paying off.

 

And thanks to the miracle of the recession, there isn't the most bountiful selection of jobs available for graduates <_<

 

Ben.

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I think people older than my generation hold some kind of shared misconception about how University courses are funded.

 

You are correct, I am misconceived: All of the courses I have paid for recently have been free, if you start them before the age of 19 (it says so on the application form). I assumed that this was standard for all or at least most 'further/higher education'.

 

Anyone care to enlighten me as to how this actually works, so I can stop holding an unjust grudge. :D

 

 

Greg.

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I've never met anyone who got to go to University for free - if anything, it should be you wrinklies that get the help with the finances ;):bleh::lol:

 

Ben.

He-he. :D

 

Is it different for Uni then?

 

I genuinely thought that the course fees were waived if you stated before 19! You then of course had to support yourself, food, lodgings & beer by working the weekends/evenings or poncing off your middle class parents. When did this change? & why wasn't I informed? :D

 

You can get a loan? :blink: Can I get a loan? :D

 

& why are the courses that I have taken 'free' for sub 19's, if uni has to be paid for? I really need a proper answer, as I'll be up all night pondering this one.

 

 

Greg.

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It's annoying because I literally just finished University, payed for out of MY own pocket, and I need to change the grade of one poxy GCSE to get a job I want.

 

If you graduated, why the hell do you need to worry about a GCSE when you've got a degree? :unsure:

 

However, I'll be cheating the system in a suitably cunning and devious manner.

 

I haven't got a job at the moment, and the courses range from £200.00 - £300.00 each.

 

But my local 6th Form college does a concessionary rate for courses, ranging from £40.00 - £80.00.

 

So, my plan is to sign on for JSA, pay for the course under the concessionary rate, and then get a job. Even though I swore I'd never waste my time with the Job Centre again, it might prove useful this time.

 

Ben.

 

The JobCentre might - I say MIGHT - pay the fee for you, if you can somehow show them that you'll get a job by doing the course. A letter from "an employer" (as far as the JC knows, anyway) ought to do the trick...

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If you graduated, why the hell do you need to worry about a GCSE when you've got a degree? :unsure:

Because under Labours stupid '50% of school leavers need a degree' policy degrees have become often near worthless unless they lead directly into a profession.

That combined with the current economic condition means that there are loads of Uni grads flooding the market, thus employers look at things such as GCSEs more - or for other non Uni courses/jobs you need certain GCSEs not a degree.

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I have no idea about the under 19's, but my younger brother had to pay, same as me.

 

He did Maths at Brighton, and he was only 18 or 19 when he started?

 

What courses are you taking, anyhow?

 

Ben.

Currently land based C&G Arb & Hort stuff but in the past, it's been the same for various language courses (GCSE) & biz studies. I think that one was a national diploma or something, a long time ago.

 

When I left school, I seriously don't remember having to pay uni fees.

 

Mind you, I don't remember what I had for breakfast or the last time I got layed these days. :D Probably toast & jam & it seems like ages but must have been some time last week :huh: . But that's only a guess 'cos my back still hurts a bit. :lol:

 

If the situation has changed, it would explain why so many of us old folk genuinely feel that we are 'paying' for the young uns.

 

 

Greg.

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Because under Labours stupid '50% of school leavers need a degree'.

50%??

 

Jesus.

 

In my year (a long time ago) only about 10% made 'A' levels in 6th form & about half of those went to uni. Which was about the norm, so 5%, ish? I think. & not everyone passed!

 

No wonder degrees these days are seen as having little value. If only 20% got enough 'o' levs to do A's & these days half the students can get a degree,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, we have either bread a race of super geniuses, or, Degrees just ain't as hard as they used to be. :huh:

 

I guess the super genius race was the aim but I have a sneaky suspicion we are far from it.

 

 

Greg.

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