The Student Room Group

How would you fund uni education?

Tomorrow, thousands are expected to march in London in protest against tuition fees and cuts to university funding. The campaign wants to abolish tuition fees altogether and make education free.

Do you think it's realistic for tuition fees to be scrapped completely?

Although the NUS has dropped support for the march, they released guidance about how this could be achieved in the UK.

How would you fund education in the UK if you were in government? :holmes:

Live coverage of the march.
(edited 9 years ago)

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Scrapping them altogether might be a bit too ambitious, but I certainly think reducing them is a cause worth fighting for. I think England should be following suit with Wales and subsidising fees so that students aren't paying more than around £4,000 per year in tuition fees.

Education at all levels is so important, but the Government is making it more and more of an expensive commodity. It's mad to think tuition fees used to be wholly funded by the tax payer and now they're not funded at all. Why should current and future students have to accept racking up approximately £46,000 by the end of university - £27,000 of that being tuition fees. It's mad. The only people who are pro-tuition fees are the ones who aren't in any kind of education.

As I say, I think total abolition of tuition fees is unrealistic - but I definitely think trying to achieve a reduction in the fees is worthwhile. The Government can sugarcoat their loans scheme as much as they like, but the fact is, they're not the ones piling up the debt just for wanting to get a good education.
It might seem like a silly question but other countries such as Austria have free education so how do they achieve it? I believe that if we see a country doing something right we should try and replicate it if we can!
Original post by Queen Cersei
It might seem like a silly question but other countries such as Austria have free education so how do they achieve it? I believe that if we see a country doing something right we should try and replicate it if we can!


University system in Austria comes with its own set of problems, like high drop out rates and overcrowding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Austria#Universities

I guess things aren't simple and it's difficult to replicate what another country is doing given differences in population, structure, economies, etc. :dontknow:
They should either be scrapped or reduced for STEM degrees, so long as the person taking the degree was likely to get it
Reply 5
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Original post by Queen Cersei
It might seem like a silly question but other countries such as Austria have free education so how do they achieve it? I believe that if we see a country doing something right we should try and replicate it if we can!

Well the Norse contries are a better example as they have low drop out rates, and quite simply TAX everyone pays 60-80% tax and everything is nationalised.
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
University system in Austria comes with its own set of problems, like high drop out rates and overcrowding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Austria#Universities

I guess things aren't simple and it's difficult to replicate what another country is doing given differences in population, structure, economies, etc. :dontknow:



Oh darn! I suppose instead of scrapping tuition fees completely a baby step in the right direction could be introducing a lot more scholarships so high achieving students with low income families could have their fees paid. I feel that if uni became free there would be a much wider discussion around which subjects are valuable enough to teach for free as well.
STEM subjects should be free
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Original post by PickleFire
STEM subjects should be free

But what about the news today that art graduates could've stopped the recession?
Am I the only one who thinks that tuition fees should be raised even further? To me, if tuition fees were abolished then everyone would go to university, which would lead to the introduction of more and more of these 'Mickey Mouse' degrees. Also, the government would be unable to pay for university education: even with fees at £9000, two of my local universities are reducing the number of places offered by 1000 each for 2015 entry due to a reduced budget.
No way that STEM subjects should be free. You'll get people abusing the system, or unhappy at university, just to avoid tuition fees. Perhaps introduce more of an incentive to do them, a 10% increase in grants or bursaries - make them free and in ten or twenty years time they'll be crying out for people in arts and humanities, lawyers, English teachers, that sort of thing. Definitely, definitely tuition fees need reducing though, for everyone. Sodding Nick Clegg and his band of merry brown nosing butt-kissers...
Original post by Reluire
The only people who are pro-tuition fees are the ones who aren't in any kind of education.


No, if you look really closely you can sometimes find a sensible student or two.

If any change should be made to the present system it's that everyone should be required to pay their loans back. The present system is mad, as you say, but not for the reason you give. If you work hard at uni, make the best of it and get a good job, your education will retrospectively be priced higher than the same service given to someone who squandered it. This is perverse and encourages waste.
Reply 12
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Just to state I would raise income tax to 75% to nationalise everything and make uni free.
Original post by TimmonaPortella
No, if you look really closely you can sometimes find a sensible student or two.

If any change should be made to the present system it's that everyone should be required to pay their loans back. The present system is mad, as you say, but not for the reason you give. If you work hard at uni, make the best of it and get a good job, your education will retrospectively be priced higher than the same service given to someone who squandered it. This is perverse and encourages waste.


Why does a student become sensible because they support tuition fees?

Under the present system I would agree with you. I think it's astonishing that those who squander their time at university can potentially end up paying nothing of their tuition fees whilst those who work hard are essentially punished with the fees. But this is the issue with the current loans system. The Government is deliberately sugarcoating it to make going to university seem more appealing to students. It's as if they're trying to say, 'well, you may never pay a cent in your life for that degree if you don't earn above £x a year, so you might as well give uni a go.'
Original post by Reluire
Why does a student become sensible because they support tuition fees?

Under the present system I would agree with you. I think it's astonishing that those who squander their time at university can potentially end up paying nothing of their tuition fees whilst those who work hard are essentially punished with the fees. But this is the issue with the current loans system. The Government is deliberately sugarcoating it to make going to university seem more appealing to students. It's as if they're trying to say, 'well, you may never pay a cent in your life for that degree if you don't earn above £x a year, so you might as well give uni a go.'


I don't know if it's so much that supporting tuition fees necessarily makes one sensible, so perhaps I misspoke. It's just that most of the angry student lobby strikes me as utterly stupid. There are intelligent people who oppose tuition fees (I don't think it's a sensible view, but it is sometimes held by generally sensible people), they're just not usually the students who make all the noise/ swear and protest at government ministers rather than debate them, etc.

I agree with you so completely on the second part of what you said that I'm surprised we disagree on the first, although maybe we don't so much. I would certainly prefer a system of lower tuition fees and loans that actually have to be paid back to what we have now.
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
Tomorrow, thousands are expected to march in London in protest against tuition fees and cuts to university funding. The campaign wants to abolish tuition fees altogether and make education free.

Do you think it's realistic for tuition fees to be scrapped completely? (...)


What? a fee for going to school, do I have this right?! I thought that everyone has the right to get free education?
Original post by Kallisto
What? a fee for going to school, do I have this right?! I thought that everyone has the right to get free education?


They do, up until they are 17.
Original post by Arkasia
They do, up until they are 17.


So young students who cannot afford the last school years are not able to get A-levels? do you tell me that the education system in the UK is structured elitist where students with best money source get the best degrees?
Reply 18
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Original post by Kallisto
So young students who cannot afford the last school years are not able to get A-levels? do you tell me that the education system in the UK is structured elitist where students with best money source get the best degrees?

No it is until 19 which meand you get nor re-sit at A-level for free.
Original post by Kallisto
So young students who cannot afford the last school years are not able to get A-levels? do you tell me that the education system in the UK is structured elitist where students with best money source get the best degrees?


...what?

A-levels are for 17/18 year olds. Education is free until 18, and compulsory till 17. University is generally 18-21.

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