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They’re supposed to be the best days of your life – but is university everything it’s cracked up to be, now that it comes packaged with more stress and financial worries? Twenty or 30 years ago there were no tuition fees, students had grants and there seemed to be more time for socialising, drinking and generally having fun.
We asked people from that era how they felt about their time at uni – and whether they really would describe it as the time of their lives.
‘If you’re dozing off hangovers, you’re missing out on things you may not have the chance to do again’
Will Ham Bevan, 45
University of Oxford, graduated 1996
It was the best and the worst of times. Mostly, I realised what a privilege it was to have three years simply to read books and explore English language and literature, but I had a severe stammer that made the first few terms difficult. I look back with huge regret at all the wasted opportunities. If you’re dozing off hangovers each morning, you’re missing out on things you’ll probably never have the chance to do again in later life (and all subsidised, of course). I’d love to go back and be an undergraduate again, but I’d do it better.
‘Uni transformed my life. I was a free-dinners boy from a rented flat; now I practise law’
Ralph Nathan, 57
University of Leicester, 1982
Growing up in a rented flat in Hackney, I was a free-dinners boy and ashamed of it; university wasn’t for the likes of us. The best day of my life was being assured on the phone that the letter asking me to choose a hall of residence wasn’t a mistake, despite me missing the offer by one grade. At university, I learned that Catholics faced the same guilt as Jews for breaking the rules, that most people’s parents at university owned their own home, and that a pack of bacon wasn’t a one-person serving (we’d kept kosher at home). The real bonus was that I met my wife of 30 years in my final year. I now practise law (and imposter syndrome) and never forget where I started. University transformed my life.
‘I loved meeting new people, and the freedom to do almost whatever I liked, when I liked’
Catherine Cooper, 47
University of Birmingham, 1992
I loved my time at university. It’s the best of all worlds in many ways – you have the freedom of an adult while you still don’t have the full responsibilities of one. I really enjoyed my English course and felt like I was treated as an adult in my studies for the first time in my life. Mainly, though, I loved meeting loads of new people, many of whom are still friends, and having the freedom to do almost whatever I liked, when I liked, as long as I got my work done (which I did – and I even enjoyed that too). There aren’t many times in your life when you have so much freedom.
‘I was conscious that this was an opportunity that had not been open to my parents’
Rachael O’Driscoll, 53
University of Newcastle, 1986
Looking back across a 30-year chasm, although I know that there were times when I struggled, the overwhelming feeling is one of gratitude. Even then, I was conscious that this was an opportunity that had not been open to my parents. My mother’s family could not afford the expense of university and my father combined degree study with full-time work and a young family. Academically, I could have made more of my time – even this was a life lesson about the virtues of application! The forging of lifelong friendships was, however, what really made university such a positive experience.
‘The degree was incidental to the student life I had in Liverpool, where my uni had a campus’
Lee Partridge, 53
University of Lancaster, 1989
Perspective was university’s greatest gift to me: the useful degree I gained from Lancaster was incidental to the experiences of my student life in Liverpool, where Lancaster had an offsite campus. Independence, uncertainty and a distance of 200 miles challenged previous social, emotional and cultural assumptions – and I also had to contend with the steep learning curve of budgeting and bill paying. Lifelong friendships forged through shared hardship, humour and happiness, and seeing yourself as part of the wider world – all of these I valued and encouraged our daughter to seek out for herself in her choice of university. Should I be worried that she’s chosen somewhere 400 miles away?
‘I became arts editor on the student radio station. It was the start of my journalistic career’
Annemarie Flanagan, 55
University of Warwick, 1988
I loved my time at Warwick studying history and politics. I struggle to remember anything bad about it. I just recall making great friends, having so much fun and loving most of the studying. I got involved in the student radio station and became arts editor, which paved the way for my future journalistic career, and no doubt helped get me my early jobs in independent radio and then the BBC. My second-year house in Coventry was awful, though – freezing cold with mould on the walls. But we were there when the football team won the FA cup and it was a blast!
‘I learned much more outside the lecture theatre or lab than inside it. Embrace the whole experience’
John Flynn, 60
University of Leicester, 1982
My time at university was a wonderful life experience that resulted in lifetime friendships.
Sure, I learned a lot of physics that gave me a great career, but I also learned much more outside the lecture theatre or lab than inside it, such as how to manage my own time, money, studies and social life, and simply how to get along with a variety of people from many different walks of life.
I have the impression that students nowadays seem to prioritise course studies over the extracurricular opportunities available, but I’d encourage them to embrace the whole experience – it’s a chance not to be missed!
‘It was a time of self-discovery. I was the first in my family to go to uni and I saw it as a real privilege’
Krutika Pau, 57
University of Lancaster, 1983
I was at Lancaster University from 1980 to 1983 and did a combined degree in psychology and educational studies. Looking back, I can really say they were some of the best years of my life.
It was a time of growth, development and self-discovery – I just didn’t know it then! I was the first person in my family to go to university and I saw it as a real privilege.
I was very conscientious and worked hard while having fun too. I am a Londoner and at Lancaster I grew to love the vast open green spaces of the Lancashire countryside – it gave me a lifelong love of walking and hiking.
‘Freshers’ week was one of the worst of my life. Fortunately, I stuck with it and found my niche’
Ravi Jayaram, 51
University of Newcastle, 1990
When I first went to university, the shock to my middle-class, small-town, naive self was shattering. I knew nobody, I missed my mum, I missed my friends and I missed the security of the life from which I’d felt desperate to escape. Freshers’ week was one of the worst of my life, doing things I had no interest in doing, with people I had little in common with.
Fortunately, I stuck with it, found my niche, met people who became friends for life, and learned the art of appearing self-confident. It has taken me till the age of 51 and having teenage children of my own to realise that everyone else was feeling exactly the same – but could hide it more convincingly.
‘I was happy hanging out with friends, surviving on a diet of chips, garlic bread and cider’
Bianca Alder, 48
Cardiff University, 1993
I didn’t really care where I went or what I studied. I just wanted to live away from home and by my own rules. I loved learning, but often skipped lectures to lie in, watch hours of daytime telly and catch up with study at night. I didn’t join any societies and rarely ventured out of the city. But I was happy hanging out with friends, surviving on a diet of chips, garlic bread and cider and growing into the first iteration of my adult self. The foundations laid here helped me build a modest but happy life running a small business, and to raise two sons now in their 20s and also at university.
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