Student tuition fees on the rise

atypical

liney wrote: »

It may not be the best way, but it is a way. Too many people go to university for the "experience", and whilst that is important, it is not the paramount reason to attend.

This is where we disagree. I don't think any old way is acceptable when you're talking about something as significant as higher education.

If it's about ensuring people of the right calibre go to university the most obvious tool is to have a minimum points floor. I've heard that some small island communities rank all their students and assign university places based on it.

But that would serve to make the funding issue worse. As obviously greater volume allows for dilution in fees per student terms.

liney wrote: »

I hope that rises in cost will mean that potential students will think more carefully about whether they apply to university, apply for vocational training, or other work instead.

The problem is that the potential students who will think more carefully won't be the ones from rich/high middle income families. I don't mean this as a slight at the 'rich', but if Daddy is paying who cares what it costs?

If you make the argument that bursaries will make up for it, then cost won't be an issue for anyone but maybe the 'squeezed middle' which is still unfair. Unfair in a way that a system that aims to select people based on ability to pay always will be.

liney wrote: »

Whether the government have acknowledged this is partly to reduce number is unimportant.

I asked this just out of general interest.

liney

But what percentage of students are from "rich" families who pay their tuition fees? I can't find a figure online, so i'm guessing a generous 20%.

The other 80% will have to think about whether firstly, they are academic enough to warrant spending the money on third class degree, and secondly whether the degree will allow them to earn a salary which justifies the cost.

There will still be fee loans, and grants. No one will not be able to go, it will just stop being the default: moderate A levels, don't want a job so go to Uni!

Lets be honest, not everyone is capable, and not everyone needs to attend further education.

WhiteHorse

Going to 'uni' is seen as a Right. It isn't. Someone should only be there if they are able, and it will provide them (and the nation), with something genuinely useful.

'Media studies' is not useful. Useful things are subjects like engineering and medicine (history is useful, but you don't need many historians). These courses should be subsidised, although there should be conditions built in. The nation expects a return for its investment.

University is not to be used, as many do, as a means to avoid seeking employment (although that said, the government itself uses it as such, in order to fiddle the unemployment figures).

Most universities are bogus. They were created in the final days of the collapsing John Major government in a desperate attempt to get votes (a swindle that Blair continued). Most should be shut down or returned to their former status. Very few should be allowed to issue degrees.