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'High quality' unis to increase tuition fees

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Education is a right!! It is not to be bought! It should be openly available to everyone, no matter of their economic background. Their intelligence, desire to learn and the effort the candidates put in to enter the university of their dreams is phenomenally high!

This standard is increasing every year. The standard of universities' education - I don't know about, but the tuition fees are incredibly high at the moment - too high!

What will increasing the tuition fees help with? Who will it benefit??? (Apart from the top universities themselves and the government)

This is unacceptable. Students should get a vote on this!! Just to prove to the filthy stinking rich Tories that there are some (most of the country) people that have parents who earn less than 6 digits a year!!!

To put figures on this... the longest undergraduate course at the moment ( I think ) is the 6 year Medicine course at Oxbridge, UCL and Imperial. This costs £54,000 at the moment!!! Plus living fees!

A lot of secondary private schools at the moment have f***ing insane fees!!! E.g. Manchester Grammar School - £12,000 a year ( roughly) for SECONDARY school. So, Year 7 - 13 = £91,000 !! ( I don't go to this school btw )
Add the uni fees on top of that!!! And you see my point.
Original post by looseseal
I agree that the worth of a degree has been somewhat diminished by the ubiquitousness of universities in the present age. However, you also have to remember that we're generally moving towards a more high tech economy as the more menial jobs become exported to less wealthy countries. As such, the increase in the number of people going to university inevitable as our country developed.

Also, once again, I'm not sure you've fully appreciated the connection or lack of connection between what you're advocating and what your ultimate aims are for the education system. You say you want to decrease the number of students going to university but then suggest that an increase in fees is the proper way to achieve that outcome. In fact, since the increase in tuition fees, more students have gone to university than ever before so it's quite clear that such a system of continuous increases isn't effective.

Additionally, it's funny that you cite the cost to the taxpayer as a reason for reducing the number of students entering into worthless degrees (liberal arts ones as you put it earlier) but these degrees usually cost less to provide than the actual cost of the students tuition. In reality, STEM subjects are the greatest cost to the tax payer and actually cost a lot more to teach than what the students pay for in fees. The students studying "worthless" degrees are in actual fact subsidising them. Just something I thought you'd like to consider.

In terms of your desire to bring more value back to doing a degree - I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment but I think there are much better ways of achieving such a goal. Bringing back polytechnics and actually funding further education (something that the current government have continually cut since getting into power) would be the first step on providing another route to a career aside from university education. Making apprenticeships and vocational courses more available and more valued (like they are in countries such as Germany) would need to be top on the priority list - way before increasing tuition fees to high levels. Combine this with restricting the number of places universities are able to offer on "non-essential" courses and we may start getting somewhere.

Reducing the solution to "let's increase tuition fees to prevent those scrounging students from going to university" is a ridiculously limited way of looking at such a complex problem.


I didn't say anything about increasing tuition fees, I was responding to your silly proposals of making university "free" for everyone.

The number of people going to university has increased largely due to the ever increasing presence of useless, non-rigorous degrees in subjects that do not provide any necessary skills for the workplace. You can get CCC and go to university these days. That is, simply put, absurd, and needs to change.

The proper way to decrease the number of students attending university is to outright scrap or significantly limit a large proportion of degrees, or at the very least, stop offering government loans to students wishing to study them. In tandem, there will have to be an increased focus on alternative routes into careers, some of which you have already mentioned.

The cost of provision of certain degrees has nothing to do with the taxpayer, you're confused here. The taxpayer is only affected by whether or not students can feasibly pay back their tuition and maintenance loans once in employment. If Science subjects cost a lot more for the student, then perhaps they may end up being an increased tax burden. That isn't the case however; most degrees regardless of earning prospects cost the standard 9k a year, and it's the students pursuing degrees like Medicine and Engineering who will often be able to fully pay back their debt following higher salaries and more secure employment.

Your general approach to higher education is misguided. It should not be a universal necessity to achieve a basic level of education required for entry level jobs; that's what school is for. What University should be is a place where students wishing to pursue specialised/vocational, or academically rigorous careers, can gain the relevant knowledge and skills, which school obviously does not provide. Almost by definition, this is going to be a relatively small proportion of the population.
Original post by Snufkin
The tax payer already does fund postgraduate degrees (via research councils).


That's a small percentage of research PhD's, not all of postgraduate degrees.
Original post by Ishan_2000
Education is a right!! It is not to be bought! It should be openly available to everyone, no matter of their economic background. Their intelligence, desire to learn and the effort the candidates put in to enter the university of their dreams is phenomenally high!

This standard is increasing every year. The standard of universities' education - I don't know about, but the tuition fees are incredibly high at the moment - too high!

What will increasing the tuition fees help with? Who will it benefit??? (Apart from the top universities themselves and the government)

This is unacceptable. Students should get a vote on this!! Just to prove to the filthy stinking rich Tories that there are some (most of the country) people that have parents who earn less than 6 digits a year!!!

To put figures on this... the longest undergraduate course at the moment ( I think ) is the 6 year Medicine course at Oxbridge, UCL and Imperial. This costs £54,000 at the moment!!! Plus living fees!

A lot of secondary private schools at the moment have f***ing insane fees!!! E.g. Manchester Grammar School - £12,000 a year ( roughly) for SECONDARY school. So, Year 7 - 13 = £91,000 !! ( I don't go to this school btw )
Add the uni fees on top of that!!! And you see my point.


Sigh Im an international applicant and its even worse. The annual fees are almost 3x that of what local students pay.
Absolutely stupid this, suppose though they will do it as long as people pay it but it's wrong.
Original post by Student403
I'm still p***ed off that, although I'm a UK passport holder and have lived there for several years, just because my parents came out to the middle east for their work, I have to pay 26k a year.


What about those international student who want to study in the UK,they have to 13-19K per year just in uni fees, that's ridiculous mate :angry:
Original post by Azhar Rana
What about those international student who want to study in the UK,they have to 13-19K per year, that's ridiculous mate :angry:

Yup I'm being classed as international and have to pay 26k a year.. :L

What's more.. My course is a 4 year one lol
Original post by Student403
Yup I'm being classed as international and have to pay 26k a year.. :L

What's more.. My course is a 4 year one lol


That's sad :console:
But don't let money stop you from continuing your studies, go on. You will be able pay them off eventually :smile:
Original post by Azhar Rana
That's sad :console:
But don't let money stop you from continuing your studies, go on. You will be able pay them off eventually :smile:

Thanks man :smile: InshaAllah
Original post by VV Cephei A
That's a small percentage of research PhD's, not all of postgraduate degrees.


I didn't say all postgraduate degrees. I'm just making the point that the tax-payer already does fund some postgrad degrees. And that is a good thing.
Original post by Azhar Rana
What about those international student who want to study in the UK,they have to 13-19K per year just in uni fees, that's ridiculous mate :angry:


Well, it does make sense to charge more international students, than the country's tax payers.... But fortunately for the rest of the EU, this has been expanded to UK and EU applicants. It is very similar to in and out of state fees in US Universities.
Original post by Snufkin
I didn't say all postgraduate degrees. I'm just making the point that the tax-payer already does fund some postgrad degrees. And that is a good thing.


That really has nothing whatsoever to do with the scenario I was outlining.
Original post by alexkol
Well, it does make sense to charge more international students, than the country's tax payers.... But fortunately for the rest of the EU, this has been expanded to UK and EU applicants. It is very similar to in and out of state fees in US Universities.


Eventually Intl students end up paying taxes too :redface:
Original post by Azhar Rana
Eventually Intl students end up paying taxes too :redface:


What do you mean?
Reply 174
I think the Tories have increased the tuition fees for one reason. This is to primarily ensure "their type" people don't experience hardship after university, i.e avoiding those BS jobs.
Original post by alexkol
What do you mean?


pay some of it through part time job, food, goods etc. kinda? Correct me if I am wrong?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Azhar Rana
pay some of it through part time job, food, goods etc. kinda? Correct me if I am wrong?


Yeah, that's a different story...And this goes to healthcare and other services as well and they should be tiny compared to someone's parents that have lived and worked there for their whole life...
Original post by MAnnaMM
How do you suggest to get that sort of mass of people to co-operate on something like this when it directly affects their future? How would you convince people to postpone their plans for education, to take year(s) our of their life before going to university, especially since a lot of them would have pressure from their families to go to uni in the next year? We are not able to "refuse to pay it"- I for one am applying for a healthcare position (dentistry), and there is no way around university to get into my chosen career like doing an apprenticeship, and this is the case for a lot of careers. I'm not against the idea of boycotting in principle, but in this instance I think yours is an extremely unrealistic suggestion, and one that implies that the fees are our own fault.


Its up to you. I just thinks its idiotic to protest widely and often violently against something but still go ahead and pay it that doesn't depend on your physical and mental well being.

To a certain level the fees are your own fault. If you feel that strongly about it you should make a stand and vote with your wallets. 260,000 people applied to university last year. Since fees more students are applying not less...

Would you still pay it if fees for example hit the £100,000 mark for three year course?
Original post by alexkol
Yeah, that's a different story...And this goes to healthcare and other services as well and they should be tiny compared to someone's parents that have lived and worked there for their whole life...


Wow, I would definitely agree to that.
Original post by VV Cephei A
That really has nothing whatsoever to do with the scenario I was outlining.


You said bachelor degrees are worthless because too many people do them (not true, and frankly not worth debating). You then suggested the taxpayer would have to begin funding postgraduate degrees because bachelor degrees are "no longer sufficient" - I merely pointed that the tax-payer already funds postgraduate degrees.

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