We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
MSE News: Tuition fees to hit £9,000 as Government wins vote
Options
Comments
-
To summarise this thread so far on this forum :
1. Over 90% appear to be in favour of the government's now approved legalisation with regards student payments of Uni fees.
2. Less that 10% appear to be not in favour.
As I advised previously, I have no sympathy with any student until they complain to make education tougher unlike what it is at the moment !0 -
The_One_Who wrote: »You're not really understanding the difference between these things. An operation is usually not a choice. Of course, something like cosmetic surgery is a choice and as such is not provided for free on the NHS. Compulsory schooling is not a choice and is therefore provided for free. University is a choice, and so should be paid for by the individual. In this case there is a compromise between the student paying and the tax-payer paying through the loan system.
Yes, the UK will always need doctors and engineers and such, but I think it's a dangerous system to go down if you start funding some but not others.
I do understand the difference. I was just being facetious, but obviously not very well. To take your logic a step further. Does that mean 6th form students should pay as they choose to stay on.
I think an argument can be made that too many students do fairly meaningless courses. But I don't don't think that is a good reason for charging so much to all students. Large numbers of high quality graduates are essential for us to compete with other countries. If we don't invest and we put large numbers of able children off then we will pay the pay the price in future years.0 -
Johnburton wrote: »I do understand the difference. I was just being facetious, but obviously not very well. To take your logic a step further. Does that mean 6th form students should pay as they choose to stay on.
I think an argument can be made that too many students do fairly meaningless courses. But I don't don't think that is a good reason for charging so much to all students. Large numbers of high quality graduates are essential for us to compete with other countries. If we don't invest and we put large numbers of able children off then we will pay the pay the price in future years.
I don't disagree that it is a lot of money - but if that's how much it costs universities, where are they going to get money from if they charge less?
And FYI, I would agree about Sixth Form if it wasn't for the fact it is now compulsory.0 -
Rubbish.
As long as it doesn't effect you right?
Students should boycott uni in 2012. Uni staff will lose their jobs and some unis would go bust.
Student teaching counts for surprisingly little of a university funding. They would be rather more pleased with fewer subsidised (yes, even at £9000 it's still being subsidised) and more full fee paying students with no penalties.
Lecturers are not really judged on how well they teach, more on how much research they do and how much money they pull in.0 -
I don't disagree that it is a lot of money - but if that's how much it costs universities, where are they going to get money from if they charge less?
And FYI, I would agree about Sixth Form if it wasn't for the fact it is now compulsory.
Thanks for correcting me about 6th form.
I suppose the real question is whether university should be one of the things the government pays out of taxes without expecting a direct return. I think it needs to be seen as an investment in the future prosperity of the country and they have now got the balance wrong.
I can understand the debate about some courses, but I do worry that trying to recover so much money will damage us in the future.0 -
Well I feel sad about it.
DS has for a long time been wanting to study medicine. A 5 or 6 year course, coming in at around £50,000 fees, plus all 'extras' like living expenses. He would have been the first person in his family to go to university. Obviously to study medicine you need fantastic grades, but all things being equal he was expected to achieve them.
We/know how it works, we know you dont pay it back till you are earning etc, but the problem is this...
The 'honest poor' have a fear of debt. And a fear of failure. I cant encourage him to take out a debt of that much money, in fact I dont want him to go anymore. I have no idea if he'd even pass once he got there. How miserable to have that debt hanging over you if you failed after 4 years. He himself cant imagine having that sort of debt increasing with interest. It might seem nothing if you have plenty, but we have never had a debt like that for anything ever.
He is as a last resort looking into army sponsorship, they will pay some of the money if you sign up:(
Which is also not at all what I want for him.
Nobody like us would want their son to be in debt for this sort of amount. And I can only presume that society does not want people like my son becoming a doctor, which seems like another kick in the teeth on top of the fees themselves.0 -
Well I feel sad about it.
DS has for a long time been wanting to study medicine. A 5 or 6 year course, coming in at around £50,000 fees, plus all 'extras' like living expenses. He would have been the first person in his family to go to university. Obviously to study medicine you need fantastic grades, but all things being equal he was expected to achieve them.
We/know how it works, we know you dont pay it back till you are earning etc, but the problem is this...
The 'honest poor' have a fear of debt. And a fear of failure. I cant encourage him to take out a debt of that much money, in fact I dont want him to go anymore. I have no idea if he'd even pass once he got there. How miserable to have that debt hanging over you if you failed after 4 years. He himself cant imagine having that sort of debt increasing with interest. It might seem nothing if you have plenty, but we have never had a debt like that for anything ever.
He is as a last resort looking into army sponsorship, they will pay some of the money if you sign up:(
Which is also not at all what I want for him.
Nobody like us would want their son to be in debt for this sort of amount. And I can only presume that society does not want people like my son becoming a doctor, which seems like another kick in the teeth on top of the fees themselves.
Don't forget, from a poorer background he will be entitled to grants.
And the £9k will be the maximum charged, so might not be the amount he would have to pay.Universities Minister David Willetts has said universities will only be allowed to charge fees of £9,000 in "exceptional circumstances", which he said might mean if they had high teaching costs, or if a university was offering an intensive two-year course.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11483638
Theres a nice Q&A here.
Another option for him is to take a gap year and work during it to save some money.0 -
WhiteHorse wrote: »How it panned out in reality was rather different.
To put it crudely, greedy councils simply applied the former ratable value to each adult. Thus, your family of 3 that was paying £1000, suddenly found it was paying £3000.
Which was of course impossible.
No idea which councils those were, that is certainly not how it worked out for us.0 -
The fee would be an investment in their future career. Young people can decide either leave school and get a guaranteed £6 an hour and work your way up, or risk carrying a large debt for a possible higher salary and the ability to reach a higher position.0
-
WhiteHorse wrote: »How it panned out in reality was rather different.
To put it crudely, greedy councils simply applied the former ratable value to each adult. Thus, your family of 3 that was paying £1000, suddenly found it was paying £3000.
Which was of course impossible.paddedjohn wrote: »bloody hell thats expensive. My dads rates were £900 just for himself whilst 2 doors away were also £900 for a family of 5, 4 of whom were adults, our poll tax rate was £250 pp so the neighbours total bill was £1000 and my dads would have been £250. Totally fair i think
That is much more how I remember it. We were a household of 3 adults, our combined Community Charge (as it was really called) was LESS that our rates bill.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177K Life & Family
- 257.6K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards