About this episode

The episode explores the financial implications of attending university and the varying outcomes for graduates across different fields and institutions.

More young people than ever are going to university, but the financial stakes have also risen. Many graduates begin their careers with around £50,000 of student debt and could make repayments for up to 40 years. While some degrees deliver substantial lifetime earnings gains, others may leave graduates financially worse off than if they had not attended university. Helen Miller is joined by IFS economists Christine Farquharson and Kate Ogden to examine what the evidence tells us about the financial returns to higher education. They discuss why graduate outcomes vary so widely across subjects, institutions and students; whether low-earning courses provide value to taxpayers; and whether government should restrict funding for degrees with poor financial outcomes. They also consider how artificial intelligence and wider labour-market disruption could affect today’s students, and whether historic earnings data can reliably guide decisions about careers that may last into the 2070s. Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership Find out more: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Helen Miller

Guests: Christine Farquharson, Kate Ogden

Topics covered

• higher education
• student debt
• graduate outcomes
• financial returns
• artificial intelligence
• labour market disruption

Keywords

• university
• student debt
• graduate earnings
• financial outcomes
• higher education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Institute for Fiscal Studies

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