Is a degree worth it?
Aug 13, 2025•16 min
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Episode description
It’s results time for 700,000 A-level and T-level students. It’ll mean final decisions about their future – and whether university is the best option for their finances and their career.
With the huge cost of a three or four-year course, squeezed graduate incomes and fast changes to the job market due to AI, is a degree worth it?
Niall Paterson speaks to business and economics correspondent Paul Kelso about whether the cost of a degree outweighs its reward and just what has changed since Tony Blair vowed to get 50% of school-leavers going to university in 1999.
Producer: Emily Hulme
Editor: Paul Stanworth
With the huge cost of a three or four-year course, squeezed graduate incomes and fast changes to the job market due to AI, is a degree worth it?
Niall Paterson speaks to business and economics correspondent Paul Kelso about whether the cost of a degree outweighs its reward and just what has changed since Tony Blair vowed to get 50% of school-leavers going to university in 1999.
Producer: Emily Hulme
Editor: Paul Stanworth
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