The coalition policy on raising tuition fees is the right thing to do.
Firstly, Britain is a fairer place with more people having the opportunity to attend university. It offers a chance for the majority of people in this country to educate themselves for its inherent worth and to learn the skills to do a job that will be more financially beneficial and offer a greater choice of career. It is an access to opportunity and credit must go to the previous Labour government for this radical widening of higher education. The sign of a truly great policy is its endurance and all parties agree that higher access to education is right.
But the more people that go to university the more it costs the government. So there are two solutions to the funding gap. Either raise general taxation and the whole country pays a share in educating the youth which is vital for the future prosperity of this country. Or the students pay for it themselves either through a loan or graduate taxation.
The first option through general taxation is unfair although there is some appeal. It does benefit the entire country to be more educated and skilled but the main beneficiaries are the individuals themselves. There is aline to be drawn between the common and the individual good and I think it is here. It is right that everyone pitches in to fund state education up to 18 free for all. The same can be said for healthcare, defence and other state duties. But higher education is not one of these.
Once a person becomes 18 they are an adult and they are responsible for the choices they make. The important thing is that higher education remains a viable choice and not that it is provided for free on a plate. The cost of university both encourages responsibilty for the decision and a choice to invest in your future. The current policy allows that option but does not hand it to students on a plate, it is the right decision.
The bill on Thursday will propose no up front payments, in fact no payments until a grauate earns £21,000. This means if you earn less than that your entire life you never repay a penny - university is free. if you earn more than £21,000 then you pay a small amount back per week at a tiny rate of interest. It will take a long time to pay back but it is a negligible amount and the less you earn the less you pay, the more you earn the more you pay. It is a very fair taxation.
A so-called graduate tax would do exactly the same but this policy is more prcatical and fairer as it tracks the cost of tuition to each individual so they pay for the investment they have made in themselves. If university funding was to be funded entirely out of general taxation then it would still add taxes to people's wage packets.
It is the fairest possible outcome for tuition fees and the Labour party was right to introduce fees in the first place and then order the Browne report. The Conservative party is right to follow and the change in stance by Labour is wrong.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats are a total hilarious shambles. Even the architects of the policy Vince Cable and Danny Alexander flirted with abstaining even as prominent government ministers. Many Libe Dems will vote against inclusing former leaders Menzies Cambpell and Charles Kennedy, some will abstain, some are calling for a delay and others will vote for. The party are an utter spineless, cowardly embarrassment. They want to govern but only when it is easy. They have designed a policy and are now trying to disown it. Disgrace.
They, of course, were thriled to be sweeping up the student vote during the election by emphatically and repeatedly claiming they could abolish fees. This was astonishingly cynical and irresponsible behaviour by a major political party. It was purely to eat up as many votes as possible. The passion Clegg shows fo the scrapping of fees despite the fact that we know he was having doubts about the policy and knew it to be unworkable is telling. Even Gordon Brown refised to rule out a VAT rise before the electio even though he knew it was a vote winner. Even he wouldn't go as far as to promise something he knew to be preposterously impossible to keep. (The Lib Dems bombastically taunted the Tories for a potential VAT rise during the election before, needless to say, voting for one in June.) The Lib Dems betrayal and deceit over this policy is breathtaking.
Please watch the following selction of videos from the election campaign;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc8i8ujDHHI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXw7yqHfxDI&NR=1
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We don't agree on politics very often Mr. Dale but you've got this spot on. Can't disagree with you at all!
ReplyDeleteThese new policies are being made by people who can either afford their private education or got it completely FREE - and in most cases both! Fair my arse. You're way off the mark here Sam. It is just wrong. Principles are everything and this will be fought for as you are seeing.
ReplyDeleteRay Eck
The whole point of opening up HE (with the consequent explosion in student numbers and unfeasible cost) wasn't to make us a fairer society with more opportunity for all - it was to get more people out of the 'working class' bracket and into the 'middle class' bracket; in other words, to make them more likely to vote Tory, the same as council house sales.
ReplyDeleteAn equally valid solution to the funding issue would be NOT to give HE to completely lacklustre students. As A levels are now a complete bloody mess, I think the smartest way of weeding the buggers out would be for the universities to have their own entrance exams.