Tuition Fees – My View

I am an unhappy man on the issue of tuition fees… However not for the reasons that many are unhappy. I am unhappy because your unhappy and believe you have every reason to be happy which in turn will make me very happy. Make sense?

 

The above may take a second to detangle and make sense of and it is precisely this that the media has used in order to convince many that they have had a raw deal on tuition fees. I quite simply do not agree. I have always been deeply upset that millions of young people do not believe they have the opportunity to go to university. In many cases that has been quite true. However I believe that the causes of this do not lie with the recent changes in tuition fees.

I read a story recently of a girl from Falkirk who is simply unable to afford going to university as she will lose her housing benefit. She was made homeless aged 16 and although very intelligent and in receipt of top marks has simply had the door closed in her face. This despite the promise of no tuition fees.

The idea that some may be put off going to university because of the high fees is quite correct, however it is the media’s spin that is putting them off and not the reality of the situation. In fact the system implemented in England means students pays less and Universities have a requirement to ensure University is for the many and not the fortunate.

The door to university is closed to the very poorest in our community and that has remained the same for hundreds of years.

Ok I can hear your arguments that surely the fees are too high? Well, yes they are higher and for the highest earning graduates they will pay more. Those earning £44,000 + Will pay more over the 30 years. Well why shouldn’t they? If university education has opened doors that you can be earning six figure salaries then I believe you should make contributions back. In Scotland it doesn’t matter if you had the opportunity to go to university or not you still contribute through taxes. Surely this is less fair than post graduates making contributions towards their tuition and ensuring the higest standards of education at our universities. After all if someone invested in your business and enabled you to make higher returns would you not expect to pay that back?

There is a further under reported fact relating to the millions of students who will no longer contribute towards their tuition. That is right, as a result of Lib Dem influence the threshold at which you make any contributions is now £21,000 and up from £15,000 to make it fairer for students this is now index linked, another safeguard implemented by the Liberal Democrats.

So have the Lib Dems sold millions of students up stream? No they haven’t, millions wont pay anything and those earning under £44,000 will pay less than under the old system. The big question is should students pay fees in Scotland? Well the short answer is that is unlikely to be the case but please pay attention to the campaigns that Universities are now underfunded as a result of free tuition?

In fact I’ll leave you with this. Did you not find it ironic that NUS organised two different demonstrations in a three month period? In England they were campaigning against tuition fees and in Scotland against cuts caused by an underfunded system. Maybe a case of cause and effect? Whatever the case there may come a time when we choose between students paying tuition fees or having the worlds leading Universities in Scotland.