Cost of RYA shore based courses

[andyorr]

My wife has just started Day Skipper evening classes with Royal Forest of Dean College with Dick Brice (great guy!). College are charging £170 plus £23 for charts books etc. When I did mine not long ago it was £80! And I got a rebate through the governments Learning Credit (?) scheme, noe discontinued.
£170 seems a lot to me. How does it compare to other establishments? I thought local authority evening classes were meant to be affordable for all. OK, in the long run I suppose its not bad for 50+ hours tuition, but why the increase over the last 3 years?

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[Andrew_Fanner]

Living on the edge of a "deprived area", and having the right postcode, vocational courses cost £10.

And that covered YM. I had to buy the charts etc as they wouldn't let me reuse those from DS.

The only way to see it is as payback on the extortionate Council Tax.

<hr width=100% size=1>Two beers please, my friend is paying.

 

[Althorne]

Sounds like an awful lot of money to me. Maybe they think all us boat owners are made of money. I recently did a boat electrics course over 2 days = 22 hours total for £42 (slightly cheaper than the normal £65) 'cause I'm an old git. Although manual was college printed it was more than adequate and was included. never the less I suppose £4 an hour each is not bad. So much for New Labour and their help for the masses getting further educated at a price we can afford - yet again.

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[woody001]

sod doing it at collage then

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[Admiral]

Sounds like rip off Britain again!! At Camborne college here in Cornwall the full cost is £60, plus the RYA pack which adds another £20, which seems a far more reasonable and affordable price. If training for these qualifications were made compulsory then undoubtably the prices would rise dramatically.
At the prices your wife (you?) are paying it doesn`t encourage people to go on these courses.

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[StugeronSteve]

SWMBO got on a course at the local college, as replacement for a "no show". Fees are £90, payable to college, plus RYA chart pack etc.

Steve.

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.

 

[Althorne]

Have to agree I would not pay it at that price but needs must and all that.......

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[snowleopard]

recently got involved in giving evening classes so have seen what goes on the other side of the wall. local authority adult ed. gets a subsidy from central government. most of it is aimed at exam courses, all to do with the results tables. there is a per-head subsidy for exam courses but only a block grant for all other courses which doesn't vary however may courses are run or how many bums are on seats. it's then up to the local authority to decide how many courses to run and how much to charge for them.

i can tell you that the fees paid by students are a small fraction of the total cost of presenting the course (cost of premises, tutors fees and admin). the tutors are paid between £11 and £19 per hour in our area depending on student numbers but that's classroom time and preparation and the ridiculous amounts of form filling aren't chargeable. the true fee is more like £5-10 per hour, i.e. just above minimum wage.

let's say we have 10 people paying £80 for 20 2-hour evening classes. that's £800 or £20 per hour. in our area the tutor would get £17 of that leaving £3 to pay the costs of the building etc. if the fee was £180 that would leave £28 per hour for all the other costs, which still doesn't cover the true costs.

no, it's not a rip-off.

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[jimbouy]

Mine Ym is costing me £120 inc. the pack.

May be it's not the cheapest adult ed. But it's a lot cheaper than a south coats sailing school. It's a smashing way to pass 20 winter evenings. You get to meet lots of local yachty people.

And the teacher is doing it because he too loves sailing.

Good value i reckon

<hr width=100% size=1> "It is a pleasure to give advice, humiliating to need it, normal to ignore it"

 

[Althorne]

Er, what happens about all the taxes I've paid over the last 46 years. Why should those of us that have already paid shed loads towards the building and up keep of these facilities be singled out as the ones who don't benefit from goverment resources. Most of the 'ology' courses arn't worth the paper they are printed on and a large proportion of the so called students don't attend consistantly yet those of us of older years or wanting 'further education' and who volantarily fill these classes are penalised financially.

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[MarkV]

I'm doing the YM/coastal at Gloscat cost about £140, I'm doing it there because RFDC cancelled it this year.

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[andyorr]

Useful info - thanks. It's good to hear the other side of the coin. Doesn't sound so bad now!

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[beancounter]

I\'ve been had!

Just started my Coastal/YM theory at a local village college here in South Cambs - £190 including chart pack etc, but excluding the recommended reading (RYA Nav & Met books).
I suppose it serves me right for being in an area that's a bit skewed toward socio-economic groups A/B/C1....

John

<hr width=100% size=1>Fabricati Diem, punc

 

[numenius]

Re: I\'ve been had!

£70 at my local high school night classes (+ the pack of course). Good value.
As an aside, however, I note that they make exemptions to the charges for single parents and (it's in the prospectus in black & white) asylum seekers. When looking at doing YM this year, I e-mailed the CRE (Comminssion for racial equality) and pointed out that as a white married male I felt that because of these exemptions, by me having to pay I was being discriminated against on the grounds of marital status, gender and race. Which is of course illegal. Funnily enough, they never even replied...

<hr width=100% size=1>http://members.lycos.co.uk/boaty1965/index.htm

 

[stevebrassett]

My Day Skipper theory last winter cost £ 195, less 10% for being an RYA
member. This included the course pack. That was with the local authority
leisure department.

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[Solitaire]

It seems to me that everybody wants something for nothing! I don't think people have any idea the amount of time that goes into the preparation for such courses. The tutor only gets paid for the time actually tutoring. For a tutor to make a course both interesting, eduactional and enjoyable, it takes a time. The fincancial rewards are actually very low and I know from my own perspective I often work for less that £10 an hour! Do you? The value offered by adult ed. centres is very good - see what you'll pay if you go to a sea school. Work it out for yourself - I bet you spend more in the pub in an hour than the course cost at around £2.50/hr!

<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboattraininguk.co.uk>Serious Fun</A>

 

[wooslehunter]

Just started the YM/Coastal at the local collage - can't remember exactly but about 80 quid inc the pack. Seems like a lot of variation across the country.

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[Solitaire]

Good value I think - I know Fareham College were offering the course for £75 - not sure if that included the pack or not. Even cheaper than spending and hour in the pub then!/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboattraininguk.co.uk>Serious Fun</A>

 

[beancounter]

David,

sorry if offence was caused; my post was not meant to be 100% serious. Like you, I lecture at a local college on a part time basis, and am well aware of the ratio of preparation time to contact time (for which we are paid).
Still, we must enjoy it mustn't we? Or are we just slightly daft?

John

<hr width=100% size=1>Fabricati Diem, punc

 

[Solitaire]

No offence taken! I think we are slightly daft, but as you say we would not do it if we didn't enjoy it.

<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboattraininguk.co.uk>Serious Fun</A>