Great post Duffer thanks. Do you think any single party could tackle the issue or will it take co-operation from all sides? Are there any politicians or ‘thinkers’ who have come up with a reasonable plan in the past?
I have just began making repayments but fortunately they aren’t crippling at the moment.
Apologies mate, never responded to this. Thank you for the kind words, in fairness I think SBD's idea above are pretty solid. To me, at least, it feels like the root of the problem is trying to monetise something that is of benefit to the whole of society.
If graduates generally earn more than non-graduates, which seems to be accepted, then with a genuinely progressive taxation system the state will get something back anyway in financial terms. The question then is how much should an individual contribute to their further/higher education?
I'd start with nothing and go from there, in the way that it used to work for most people here over 50 who went to University (or Poly, or College). But the whole system needs review, not just the level of student fees.
There's an assumption at the heart of all of this that the 'market' could do a better job of higher education than the state could. So make students consumers and have Universities compete for their 'business', then it will become cheaper for the state and competition will drive down costs for consumers.
But when you look at the figures even now the opposite has happened, with the state still on the hook for huge amounts of money in student debt that's never going to be repaid, and universities are all charging the maximum possible whilst competing for student numbers.
In my opinion, It's just another example of how things designed for the public good (education, health, transport, utilities) are usually less efficient overall when (often notionally) opened up to market forces.
Personally, I wouldn't start by trying to reform student fees, it's a bottomless pit of debt unless you want to make it even more unfair and expensive (as demonstrated above). I'd start by looking at what we want from higher education and how we can properly fund it as a nation, rather than as an individual and corporate profit making exercise.
Some interesting articles here, if you're really still interested:
Universities provide public – not private – goods. If the social benefits outweigh the financial, it’s only fair we charge students accordingly
www.theguardian.com
Without overhauling the market-driven system, reducing high fees will only benefit the government, says lecturer Lorna Finlayson
www.theguardian.com
