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These degrees are officially the biggest wastes of money

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It takes true bravery to deny that sitting and copying a Powerpoint you could've stayed in bed and found online represents good value for £27,000. All degrees are a farcical waste of money, the saying goes, but some are more of a farcical waste of money than others.

The worst culprit is Social Studies, where only 27 per cent of students think their course is good or very good value for money, according to a study from HEPI, the Higher Education Policy Institute, which surveyed over 14,000 students about their academic experience.

Business and Administrative Studies students – which includes Economics – clearly apply penny-pinching scrutiny as intensely to their degrees as they do to fictional case studies. Along with Technology, only 28 per cent of students thought their course gave them value for money.

At the other end, 58 per cent of Medicine or Dentistry students think they're getting value for money, putting the already smug bunch way ahead of the pack. Veterinary Sciences are rated as the second best group of courses, with 49 per cent of students feeling they got good value for money.

Check out the table below to find out which courses are the worst value for money:

So what explains students feeling their course didn't give them value for money? Interestingly, useful feedback and a good amount of contact hours don't have that much of an impact. Instead, fulfilled expectations and supportive teaching staff are most closely linked to how well students feel their course gives them value for money.

Overall, students think the value for money they're getting from their degree is getting worse. In 2012, 53 per cent students felt they had received good value, a figure which has been constantly declining towards the 35 per cent who feel the same in 2017. Meanwhile, 34 per cent of students feel their course is poor value for money. If the trend continues, 2018 will be the first year where students' views of value for money are a net negative.

Featured image: Andy Powell via Flickr