R
rubixcyoob.
Guest
Now first off, this is not a thread to bash the protestors or police for their actions in the slightest, if it turns that way I will ask for it to be locked.
Now ...
As of today the debate was one in favour of raising university tuition fees to an upper limit of £9000 a year from £3000 a year in England and Wales. This will only be repayable once you earn over £21,000 per annum plus a fixed interest rate. Thoughts and opinions please.
I for one am disgusted at this for a few reasons.
Firstly, many students who voted for Lib Dems feel betrayed. One of their main policies to attract students was the one which said tuition fees would not, under any circumstances, be touched. Yet instead of sticking to his guns and remaining loyal to his supporters Clegg sides with Cameron to keep his position of power. Cowardly, sneaky and disgusting to me. What a crock.
Secondly, education, along with the NHS is probably one of the highest funded things through the UK tax payers money. We pay money to ensure our education is kept 'free' (even thought it is paid for through tax payers money). Education is a fundemental part of any developing country, it needs to be accessable to the millions who can attend, if they wish too. By raising these prices, who in gods name could afford to become £36,000 in debt BEFORE they graduate (minus interest rates), plus whatever other student loans they need to take out? Its ridiculous. In our current economic climate there isn't the jobs out there for graduates to be earning the big bucks and paying this off, it is likely they could be stuck in debt forever. Sure this may change if we come out the recession soon, but for those just starting university with these tuition fees, by the time they graduate all the graduates mulling around and those in their 1st - 4th years just now will have filled the limited job vacancies. So if one never earns of £21,000 a year, the loan never gets repayed so the economy is in debt. We are supposed to have education to better ourselves as a nation, not hinder us because everyone is stuck in debt. We are a country trying to fight debt by ensuring more people get into debt, where is the logic?
Also, as a side note to that, since we are no longer putting tax money to education should a portion of our tax be scrapped because it's no longer funding that, I mean, why pay for a country to get out of debt, when it is making those who will go into high earning jobs be in debt possibly forever? Of course the won't do that, we will still be charged ridiculous taxes and now this, sickening!
Thirdly, while £9,000 a year is not a lot compared to some place, it is an exceptional amount of money. I know for a fact that my parents could not afford to spend that money on putting both me and my little sister through university (thankfully I won't be affected). We are considered 'middle class' but we don't have an extra £36,000 lying around for both me and my sister to give to tuition fees. Who in their right mind does really. Considering only the top 1-5% of our nation is actually 'upper class'. That is an extortionate amount of money people need for other things - necessities, raising families etc.
Fourthly, although the changes only affect English and Welsh universities just now and I am 'safe' since I come from Scotland, that will soon change. Yes I may be safe just now, Scotland may be safe just now. But consider this, SAAS and Scottish universities, while they charge students who are not Scottish for use of their facilities, do not charge anywhere near the £9000 mark. In the long run, it is cheaper for English and Welsh students to try and attend a Scottish university. This will see an influx of students into Scotland meaning that Scottish students hoping to avoid the tuition fee rises will have more competition and less chance of achieving a place within a Scottish university. Aside from making it that Scottish students get priority over any other nation - regardless of grades (making universities in Scotland more about country of origin than academia playing an important role in admissions, which would not be advisable and would lower the tone of Scottish graduates as a whole, not to mention the illegalities of it) there is only one probably option for Scottish universities - raise their tuition prices for everyone to they are on a par with English and Welsh universities. They could not simply raise them for English and Welsh students because it would be discrimination and hinder diversity, so it would have to be one flat rate throughout the UK. Even thought education is a devolved matter, the Westminister government have now made it likely that the Scottish government will have to follow suit, reluctantly and without much scope for further option.
Small fifth point. People would argue that the increase in fees is god for our economy as we are no longer subsidising certain things, however, are there no more beneficial cuts that could be made? I mean, take Trident for example. We have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over. Is that necessary? Surely only enough fire power to destroy the Earth once over is more than enough? A little cut in that spending, not totally disarming the UK but not having excessive amounts wouls save billions.
Welfare. Stricter means testing on every benefit would also save billions and stop any benefit scrounging. Might be hard to enforce, but in the long run it would be more beneficial to our country. Less people scrounging benefits and getting nothing would force them into any form of employment, generating wealth and income into our economy through tax.
Education should not suffer when there is other stuff that can be gone with.
The elitism isn't about those who want to work hard for education V those that don't. It's about those who have easy access to money V those that don't.
But I accept it's a complicated situation.
