24/10/2011 Inside Out East Midlands

Hello, tonight Inside Out is at the University of Derby, facing up to

the facts on fees. Is a degree still value for money? Alvin Hall

I'm going to show you what a degree can really cost, and how you can

avoid those fees altogether. meet the 6th former facing the

biggest decision of his life. It has always been assumed that I'd go

to university. But with the new tuition fees of �9,000 a year, it

doesn't seem viable. Let's see what we can do to help. And Rosemary

Conley on the growing obesity crisis.

What I do really hope people realise is that if they are very

overweight, morbidly obese, they are basically going to be eating

Inside Out has discovered that as many as one in 10 A-level students

have been put off university by next year's increase in tuition

fees. In a specially commissioned survey, more than 1,000 16 to 18-

year-olds were interviewed, and almost half said they were starting

to look at cheaper options abroad. We asked financial guru Alvin Hall

to crunch the numbers, to find out Young, confused and afraid. This is

what thousands of teenagers across England fear - a lifetime on the

run. But what's chasing them? But is it really going to be the

horror movie that we have been led to believe? Whether you think next

year's hike in fees is fair or not, it's happening. So young people

need to know the facts. I'm going to show you what a degree can

really cost, and how you can avoid those fees altogether. Next year,

English universities will charge up to �9,000 a year. With living costs

on top, graduates can face debts of around �50,000. But how much will

they actually end up paying back? Well, I've come to meet some sixth-

formers in Birmingham to show them. I think the number is going to

shock them. I think that earning interest over such a long time as

you're paying back that loan really is a number that most people don't

think about. Let's imagine that you graduate from university with

�50,000 worth of debt. And you get a high-paying job, like we expect

Jacob here will get. How much of that money do you have to pay back?

I'm not quite sure, but is it all of it? All of it and more!

interest! Interest. "Oh, God", is right! �75,000! Is that just for

one person? That's just for one person. That is horrible. That's

really bad. Is that just for the average degree of three years?

you take out the maximum loan. But what if, for some reason, their

careers don't go as planned and they never earn more than �21,000 a

year? The amount you have to pay back is... Zero. So what's going

on? Basically, the repayment of the loan works like taxes. The more you

earn, the more you pay back. If you never earn above a certain amount,

then you never pay back a penny. The new independent task force on

student finance is led by Martin Lewis. The biggest confusion out

there quite simply is people confuse the price tag, these �9,000

fees, a total of �15,000, with the actual cost. This is a very, very

different type of system. Many people won't come close to repaying

in full what they borrowed. Some won't repay anything at all. And

the bewildering fact that we are putting people off going to

university because they're looking at the price tag, not the cost, is

the biggest problem to me. But most graduates will face large debt. So

is there any way of avoiding the fees? Well, yes. You can study

abroad. At the recent Student World Fair in London, teenagers

discovered just how much they can save. I think everyone would rather

go to university where they pay �8,000 cheaper than in the UK.

fees are a lot cheaper, that is more attractive, so when you come

out, it's not going to be so much debt. In fact, dozens of

universities across Europe offer courses taught in English. The fees

differ from country to country, but in Scandinavia, tuition is free.

Denmark, we have no tuition fees at all, because the Danish government

pays for Danish students, and according to EU rules, we have to

treat other EU citizens alike. Harriet Moore has already taken the

plunge. She is off back to uni in Slovakia. I'm trying to save money

on flights, so hand-luggage it is! Over there, she saves a fortune on

living costs, spending just �100 a month. I caught up with her via

Webcam. What would be the piece of advice you'd give to anyone

considering doing what you have done? I think if you're even

considering it, you should go for it, definitely. It's worth doing,

just get on the plane. You have to be a bit brave, the first plane

journey over, but I never looked "Time's up. I want my money. I want

my 50 grand!". So studying overseas may be one way to avoid the debt.

But there are downsides. If you study abroad, the government here

won't make you a loan. Only some of the courses are taught in English.

And some employers might not recognise foreign degrees. So you

need to do your homework. Another way of beating the fees is to get

someone else to pay. But who? Well, London's financial heartland is a

good place to look. Don't be fooled by the power suits. Believe it or

not, these youngsters are all freshers. They're being sponsored

by accountancy giant KPMG. entire package was a degree, a

salary, the tuition fees were paid, and a job at the end. And you

obviously were helped to become a qualified and chartered accountant.

Did it sound too good to be true? Did you suspect a catch? I don't

think there is a catch. As with everything in life, you have to

work hard, and that's the only catch, I guess. And the man who

runs the programme tells me KPMG doesn't offer the stereotypical

student experience. This is an extremely intensive programme.

They've got to work for us, study for their degree, and they have

also got to obtain their qualification in 10 years. That

will require hard work, that's all we really ask of the students who

are joining us. And then there are bursaries. Students from low income

families can get money from various sources, so it's worth trawling the

web. But is there another way of avoiding the debt? Well, you can

pay up front. 16-year-old Safina Adam is trying to do just that. As

well as studying for her A-levels, she sells beauty products on her

website. I formed my business because I wanted to save up for

university, and my parents said because of the rising prices of

university fees, it would be too much for them to pay for it. I'm

hoping to not get in debt, because I know it takes a long while to get

out of debt, and I don't want to be in that place. The government

allows students to pay up front, but most WILL have to take out a

loan. But one financial expert believes that graduates could end

up paying back far more than anyone has predicted. Financial journalist

William Cullerne Bown is warning students to be aware. I think the

problem is that the deal is actually not a deal. There are all

these numbers flying about, saying that you will be charged a certain

rate of interest on the loan, that your repayments will start at

�21,000, over that, you'll be paying a certain percentage. But

none of those parameters are in the contract that the student signs up

for. And in fact, the government can change those numbers if it

wants to in five years' time, 10 years' time, 20 years' time, 30

years' time. So students could end up paying a lot more. But any big

changes would have to be approved by Parliament. Like many Americans,

I graduated with the equivalent of the tens of thousands of pounds'

worth of debt. It was daunting. But if you know the facts, student debt

doesn't have to be scary. I Coming up, 40 years of fighting the

flab. Rosemary Conley on the obesity crisis. If you do exercise,

it's like taking a pill to make you well. Fitness is absolutely crucial

for our ongoing health in the So is a university degree worth the

money, especially in the current climate when there is no guarantee

of a job at the end of it all? Latest figures show that graduates

here in the East Midlands earn less per hour than anywhere else in the

UK, and as I've been finding out, that is making higher education an

even tougher decision for some of Tom James is 17, and facing the

biggest decision of his life. He has worked on his father's farm

since he was old enough to hold a bucket, but he dreams of running

his own business. Now he has got to decide whether to join the crowd

and apply to university, when fees for his year group have tripled.

I've always been quite clever throughout my schooling, and it has

always been assumed that I would go to university. But with the tuition

fees, I'm really not sure. I guess you need to find out whether it is

going to be worth it for you in the long term. Exactly. The thing I

look at is a job at the end of it, getting on the job ladder. You need

a bit more information perhaps. Definitely. Let's see what we can

It's graduation day at the Got our degrees! For these students,

though, the end of studying means the start of some hard thinking, as

the reality of the highest graduate unemployment rates since the mid-

There's a level of uncertainty, because although a lot of people

are getting the degrees, they may not be getting jobs immediately

afterwards. Suddenly people are going to university and getting

good degrees, they almost becoming less valuable, in a sense. Everyone

is aware of it, struggling to find work. If you were going in next

year, you would probably need to think more about what degree you

want to do. Last year, 91 per cent of Leicester University students

got a job, but overall, the latest statistics show a fifth of UK

graduates will earn less than someone who left school with A-

levels. And next year, courses here will triple in price, to �9,000. De

Montfort University, the University of Nottingham and Loughborough

University are all charging the same. Nottingham Trent courses will

cost �8,500, while the University of Derby have set a sliding tariff

of between �7,000 and �9,000, depending on your course. That's

just in tuition fees. Then there's food, rent, books. A three-year

degree course could put you more than �15,000 in the red. No wonder

sixth-formers asking, is it worth it? What we're doing this week is

continuing with the UCAS and personal statements. At Bilborough

College in Nottingham, most of Tom's friends are filling in their

application forms. Tom wants to study accounting, so will a

university degree guarantee him a job? The published figures show 40

per cent of students who have studied accounting at De Montfort

went into graduate level employment, compared to 90 per cent of

accounting graduates at Loughborough University. What is

everyone around you telling you that you should do? Everybody is

saying go to university, because everybody thinks I'm quite clever.

I don't think they really know too much about the whole tuition fees

and the extent of it. It's unbelievable, the amount of stress

it's causing for students at this particular time, because they've

never had to think so much about it. Not only thinking about if they are

going to university, which university, but what are the other

options. So for students, it's a huge choice, and it's really

changing the advice that I give Freshers' Week at the University of

Leicester, because of next year's price hike, there has been a rush

for places. The university has been researching the likely impact of

higher fees. Their model suggests that in future universities are

going to have to compete for students as never before. What we

are seeing is the biggest change in higher education for the last 50

years, possibly longer. Universities in the region that had

a strong record, that can demonstrate a really good quality

of teaching, will fare well, our model suggests that universities

that do not have the strong reputation will struggle to recruit

at very high fee levels. Back in Nottingham, Tom has decided that

the best way to make a informed decision about university is to

visit one. First Stop, a talk about finances. The University of

Nottingham will be charging graduate students �9,000-a-year

from 2012. There are some grants that students can get. Grants do

not have to be paid back, Horay. They are means tested. We just did

the talk about finances, it was interesting to see, there is a lot

of help you can get with bursaries. There is a lot of bad press about

the �9,000 a year tuition fees. With bursaries, it does not seem as

bad as I first thought. Every university has to publish a range

of facts and figures about how satisfied their students are with

their course, and how graduates find jobs. To make sure it is a

fair comparison, they use the same questionnaire to poll them. Those

statistics have been under more scrutiny. Even here, one of the

UK's most popular universities, with 10 applicants for every place,

there is a big gap between the top courses, and those with lowest

levels. Market levels only work when everyone knows information for

the products that they are going to buy. That is quite difficult for

students to get not least because they are deciding whether they are

going to get a job at the end of this, something that is going to

happen for five years down the track. The market is changing.

Melton Market, hard facts and figures are what counts. This is

how Tom got his appetite for real world maths. He was helping his dad

with the farm accounts. I enjoy the business side of it, academically I

did business studies, you do not learn the stuff. If he goes to

university, he will be the first of his family to get a degree. What

you think about these �9,000 fees and the dilemma that your son has

found himself? It is terrible having to find all this money just

to go to university. He has tried so hard at school. It is not a

dilemma that you had. No, that my life was mapped out for me. Do you

think you should go? Yes, to fulfil his potential. It is a lot of money

isn't it. I read that it is �57,000 by the end the University, it is

extortionate amount of money. Ideally, what would you like to do?

I would like to earn while I'm learning, getting paid by a company.

You get experience on the job. is trying alternative, he is giving

up part of his summer holiday to attend a four-day taster course.

Interest rates, and revenue. It seems a lot of money. A lot of

people are not aware that employers are looking for school leavers to

start apprenticeships. It is not just in mechanics, it is

accountancy. That is the new electricity bill. It is definitely

helping. I have always be quite narrow-minded. I always thought I

would be an accountant. The thing we must consider now to take on

that debt, it will cost them over �100,000 to pay back. If you want

to get into work, you're not going to take any of bad debt on, you'll

start learning from the age of 16. The thing is at university, you are

still in debt. If you come to an apprenticeship, you are already on

the work ladder. You got to show enthusiasm for the cause that

you're applying for. The employment is such an emphasis at the moment.

What you do at the end? Ultimately, graduation is the aim. The deadline

for some university applications is leaving. Tom has made a decision.

You have seen what is on offer, you are seen all the facts and figures,

what is it going to be? It is going to the apprenticeship for me.

university. You better get applying. Good luck. We wish to the very best.

It is very hard out there, I'm sure you'll do very well.

This month Government announced a strategy to tackle obesity. They

want people to take responsibility for the things that they eat. That

is something that fitness guru Rosemary Conley has been preaching

to 40 years. Still obesity grows. Is advice and encouragement enough?

There was a time when being fat was easily ridiculed. If you're

overweight, you stood out. Not any more. The frightening thing is that

we now see someone who is there perhaps two stone overweight, as we

would ever thought 10 years ago, now we thinkt, they do not look too

bad. And what does it do to you if you are obese? I got told that I

would end up in a wheelchair, or I would not see my children get

married. I decided that I needed to lose the weight to have a life.

Obesity related illness is becoming one of the biggest costs on the NHS,

we need to do something about it. We had everything wrong with our

food system, we need better responsibility, you cannot pass the

buck. For 40 years Rosemary Conley has been a leading light in trying

to get the nation healthier. It all began in a Leicestershire kitchen.

We lost six stone in six weeks, with that success we went to the

local village, that is where it grew from. Now she has a kitchen

that is a TV studio. It is on the internet, only on the internet.

is a multi-million-pound business, built on the enormous success of a

book. The Hip and Thigh Diet. tried the Hip and Thigh Diet, and

there was a trial at the University of Leicester, they went on trial

for eight weeks, the results were absolutely astonishing. People were

losing 2 inches of each thigh. book went to number one, it stayed

at number one almost one year. was extraordinary. At one point she

dominated the bestseller lists. Welcome Rosemary Conley. She was a

celebrity, she was celebrated. Rosemary Conley, this is your life.

Welcome to Thursday's diet and fitness club. There was, and is

clearly an appetite for getting fit. Where as a nation did we get it so

wrong, to become so fat, and is so Why is it getting worse? We already

know that two thirds of adults and children are overweight, or a beast.

The British had been first in showing the cataclysmic costs in

terms of illness. We cannot afford, no country can afford to cope with

this programme, unless they take radical measures. It is not a new

phenomenon, the Americans got there first. Rationing and a spin-off the

World War Two. Candid camera proved that the average woman is not the

sylph-like thing that television would have us believe. In the early

1960s we started to put on collective weight. There were

bizarre ways of dealing with it. They are experimenting with

equipment that can measure the fat content inside the body. The

patient breathes air of a mildly radioactive gas. Doctors can

estimate the amount of fat present. This measuring apparatus is the

only one in the world, it could be the cure for tubby hubbies, and

bulging brides. Getting back to the America in the 1930s, they are

exercising, that was what raised my colleague recognised early on.

Exercise and a good diet, but organised. Very well organised and

now that many franchises are using her methods. There are always new

ways of getting a message across. We are all aware of the pains that

the average woman goes through in Years ago physical jerks were

practised by only the few, today there any part of what has become a

highly organised phenomenon, as double chins and Crow's feet. It

was all aimed at getting the fat off, making women look and feel

good. The mask makes way for a facial up lift. That is still big

business today. It is no longer for the elite. This is the Vitality

show at Earls Court in London. Guess who is here. Is this the kind

of world that you inhabit now. is a big exhibition brass. It is

very hard work, we are here for four days. We have loads of our

members come here. We had a lady come here, she has lost 16 stones.

It is incredible, it is just beautiful. It is lovely to meet

Rosemary Conley. She means the world to me, she showed the -- to

save my life. For every one of the hundreds that she has helped, there

has been a point where they realise that they needed help. For Nicola

it was her young daughter. She sat on my lap and said money, your

tummy is too big for me to cuddle. That was it. I looked at myself in

the mirror, and thought, what am I doing to myself? I could die before

I see her grow up. It is the benefits of good health which are

pressed home. The latest government initiative to combat obesity is

encouraging personal responsibility for how we eat. There are experts

who want the government to go further, they say that junk food is

to blame. It has been clearly shown that if you take personal

responsibility, make changes, we are highly educated, we know that

obesity in children and adults is a bigger problem in the poorer

members of society. They are stumbling, trying to feed their

families, and in fact the junk-food it is the cheapest food available.

That is everything wrong with our food system. It took 40 years for

the government to change our mind set. I hope it will not take as

long as far as obesity, food, and drink is concerned. I do hope that

people realise that if they are very overweight, morbidly obese,

they are going to be eating themselves to an early grave.

down the same road as cigarettes with junk food would see taxed

heavily, with warning signs, an advertising ban. That is not about

to happen. That is where we leave it for this

week, from the University of Derby, goodbye and see you next Monday.

Next week, parents are under pressure as a review into heart