In information released this month 9 out of 10 universities in England are to charge the maximum tuition fee of £3,000 when they are allowed to raise their fees next year. Only eight have opted to charge lower fees, according to the figures on fees and bursaries from Office for Fair Access (Offa).
The spin on the introduction was that variable fees would enable universities to encourage take up on the less popular yet still important courses. The reality check is that a cash strapped higher education service will get as much money as can given the chance. Commenting on the figures Southampton Itchen’s parliamentary spokesman David Goodall, said
“This is a tax on learning.”
And he added
“I know from job interviews I did with graduates last year that their debt level was anywhere between £14,000 and £18,000. These top-up fees will only increase their hardship, decrease the incentive to go university and so decrease this countries ability to complete in the international market place”
Commenting on the proposals the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Education and Skills Phil Willis MP, himself a teacher and headteacher with over 30 years professional experience, said
“The decision to go to university should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay. Only the Liberal Democrats would abolish all fees and ensure that universities are properly funded.”
Liberal Democrats would:
This is a positive agenda to invest in young people, because students are a source of the nation’s future wealth, not the source of the nation’s present taxation.