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Do you agree with the UKIP policy of making STEM subjects free?

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Where do you think this money comes from? Heaven? Hard working tax payers already pay way too much tax, 40 and 45% , what do people in favour propose we raise taxes? Even if we did you would still increase the deficit. UKIP is socially right but economically left( they are clever in disguising). So I don't personally agree with UKIP on that one.( Im a tory)

Where did the money come from in your parents' generation that had free university education?

Reply 21

richpanda

Original post by nathan1276

By charging the people who do pointless degrees more

Reply 22

inhuman

Original post by richpanda

By charging the people who do pointless degrees more

Who are you to decide what is pointless and what is not.

Reply 23

username2808800

Original post by inhuman

Where did the money come from in your parents' generation that had free university education?

Thats why the deficit was high and now its been cut. It was a labour government that introduced tution fees anyway in 1998 , haha

Reply 24

inhuman

Original post by nathan1276

Thats why the deficit was high and now its been cut. It was a labour government that introduced tution fees anyway in 1998 , haha

What is it with people and using a party as an insult. We were not discussing parties, you don't know what party I support (fyi none) so what is the relevance of that statement other than trying to be dismissing if not aggravating?

So why not cut spending on something else? And well still a nice thing to do, take something for free and after you'v used it charge for it.

Reply 25

Llamageddon

No. It's a total myth that STEM courses are automatically better. Our economy requires us to utilise a wide range of skills.*

Also I'm a biology graduate working in public affairs. Most of the people I graduated with are not working in research. That was at UCL. Also most science jobs will go abroad now anyway...*

Reply 26

THE EPIC Panda

What's the point? They might as well say that unicorns riders don't have to pay the congestion charge and every man must own a bird of prey. You have to have power to have influence in how things are run.

Reply 27

James David

Original post by ValerieKR

Almost every study ever shows that investing in education returns the same money back and them some long term (problem is that government only believes in short term because that's what keeps them in power - the government has enough money in its 'savings' to be able to do this ^) (like when the US suddenly found trillions of dollars to bail out wall street, and independently of that to go to Iraq, despite most public spending areas not being funded properly) (but for reasons I outlined above I don't think it should)

if by found you mean borrowed from other nations and sol bonds, then yes, otherwise, no, the us did not fid money on the street

Reply 28

#ChaosKass

I'm a staunch UKIP supporter but this is one of their policies that I do not agree with at all.

No degree should be free, whatever the subject. Higher education is not a right, you should be willing, able, and prepared to pay through the roof for it. The current fees are not enough in my opinion, and should ideally have to be paid upfront.

It is disgusting that lefty liberals are willing to let the taxpayer foot the bill for their three years of partying and drinking.
Why should Barry the plumber pay for your education?
Why should Charlie the milkman pay for your education?
Why should Dave the builder pay for your education? etc...

Tell me, lefty liberals, why on Earth should the working class have to pay for something that doesn't affect them one little bit? I thought you saw yourselves as champions of the working class, yet you want to be able to steal their hard earned money in order to "study" for your sociology degrees.

Reply 29

ValerieKR

Original post by #ChaosKass

It is disgusting that lefty liberals are willing to let the taxpayer foot the bill for their three years of partying and drinking.
Why should Barry the plumber pay for your education?
Why should Charlie the milkman pay for your education?
Why should Dave the builder pay for your education? etc...

Tell me, lefty liberals, why on Earth should the working class have to pay for something that doesn't affect them one little bit? I thought you saw yourselves as champions of the working class, yet you want to be able to steal their hard earned money in order to "study" for your sociology degrees.

Because almost all of it goes to education which benefits the country in the long term. You're grossly overestimating the fraction that goes to leisure and would you really expect them to live for 3 years without being able to afford leisure?

Almost every study ever shows that LOANS given to students returns the government's money in the long term and then some - benefitting Barry, Charlie, Dave and their children.

The returned government's money is what goes to the next generation of students loans (aka Barry, Charlie and Dave of the future won't be paying a penny specifically for those student loans).

And all of that on top of the big no no which is some people not being able to afford to go to university, like in the US. Barry, Charlie and David's children are likely to not be able to go to uni under your argument.

Personally I think that the 'spending ma tax dollars in ways that don't directly support me when they're ma tax dollars' is extremely short sighted in this particular case.

(Earlier in the thread I made clear I, like you, am against this free STEM idea though.)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 30

Rakas21

I don't really think that STEM subjects are any more worthy of special treatment than an Economics or Law degree and many graduates do not go into the field they graduated in.

Instead of allowing government to pick winners i'd much rather tie tuition fee entitlement to the full time employment/further education rate. This would mean that courses pumping out too many graduates with skills employers don't want would no longer be entitled to tuition fees paid by government, while courses which employers lapped up would.

Reply 31

MeYou2Night

Simply, no.

Only "free" degrees should be ones that have a direct benefit for everyone. Doctors and nurses etc for example.

Not some IT engineer who's job wil be redundant in the next 20 years or so anyway.