Fancy a debt of £32,000?

A controversial report by a bunch of university chiefs has stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy on student funding.

When considering why the topic of higher education funding is controversial it is important to move beyond the narrow territory of equity issues, e.g. it is unfair that modern students do not benefit from free university education while all but one member of the Labour Cabinet that introduced fees did.

The issue of fees first became controversial during Blair’s first term when up-front tuition fees introduced. Even more controversial were the introduction of “top-up” fees – delayed until Labour’s third term so that they could stick to their 2001 manifesto promise not to introduce them.

The increased rate and deferred payment had two main advantages as Blair saw it: this would not only provide much needed additional income for universities, but would also switch the payments from the parents (who tended to carry the burden of payment) to the students once they were benefiting from having been at university.

Now this controversial debate looks like it is to be reopened with the announcement by Universities UK, a coalition of university vice chancellors, that a sum of £6,500 per year (i.e. more than double the current rate of £3,145) should be levied in order to protect university standards.

Interestingly, the report suggests that an increase to £5,000 would not have a very detrimental effect on applications, but that £7,000 may have more severe consequences. An interesting case study in price elasticity! Unsurprisingly the NUS have been quick to react by pointing out the report’s suggestion that graduate debt would ballon from the current average of around £17,000 to over £32,000.

Whatever, any change is unlikely to happen before the next election since a manifesto pledge to raise fees would be party political suicide.

The BBC website has loads on this topic, which is always popular with students!