Should university be free?

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I think uni should be free for students studying subjects like science, economics , technology , maths , medicine as these are very important subjects that move forward our economy. Subjects like history are great but wont be very beneficial to our society so they should pay £3000. Also if you disagree remember that people without children would be partly paying for your uni education and its not fair for them to have to pay for someones interest that wont ever affect them or the future.

How are science, maths and economics degrees going to benefit the economy in a way that a history degree would not? I only ask because a large proportion of the jobs open to science, maths and economics degrees are open for someone with a history degree. Yes you could argue that research gives advancements in X area but about 1 in 100 people who do a physics/maths degree will go onto be a full time academic, and I imagine the numbers arent that much better for chemistry or biology

Reply 21

Bart12345

No. Too many people go to university to make it free.

The price of universities can only be subsidised by taxpayers - and too many people aren't taxpayers because they're going to university.

Also too many people study **** subjects that are guaranteed to not put them in a job earning above the off-benefit threshold, and the lack of government (willingness to) intervention in stopping this or controlling the flow of students into some subjects.

Or otherwise universities should be split into learning/knowledge and vocational. The main purposes of university in the modern world is to put people into employment. Those who seek the former route should not have subsidised university.

A report from FT once said that there are more students in the UK graduating law each year than there is a demand for law-related professions in the entire continent. You can replace all solicitors in the UK with new law graduates every 3.5 years.

The reason that Germany has free university is because they have less than half the rate of school leavers going to uni as we do. The rest go into work and pay tax to subsidise all of it.

Maintenance grants should be reinstated, indexed to ±60% of accommodation costs, but the system beyond this is politically unchangeable.

Quick reminder that when uni was 'free', the only people who could go to uni were the brightest in society. We're talking about the top 15-20% of grades nationally. Forget going to uni if you've only ever achieved BBB and below, let alone if you've only done BTECs.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 22

Trinculo

Original post by Papa.Snape

It should not be free. I'm not sure whether the price should be lowered or not though.

If university was free, dropout rates would be so damn high and people wouldn't care about attending lessons as much as they didn't have to pay for it. University s something we have to work for, and if we didn't have to work that hard, the ideals of it go. Plus I wouldn't want to fund someone who will dropout after 1 year and barely attended classes.

Who are the people politically driving the idea of free university? Corbyn’s Labour.

What is the general mantra or Corbyn’s Labour?

“Vote for me. You can have everything you want and someone else will pay. You don’t have to do anything for it. You deserve it.

“If you don’t get what you want it’s because democracy is broken.”

Reply 23

beady556

Original post by toniator23

k but like childcare doesnt need to be taught at uni and anyone that wants to do it should hav to pay

Arts subjects teach people how to structure arguments, express themselves fluently and undertake extensive research among other skills. These are all things that we need in many, many jobs - such as law, government, business etc.

Reply 24

AVDarc

Original post by mojojojo101

Everything should be free for everyone.

Have fun living in a world where businesses won't prosper. I think you meant Universities should be free (I hope you did xD), but do know that there are huge costs in running one. Salaries for Staff, Lecturers, Departments, Equipment, Electrical/Water Bills, and all of the trips and events made for courses. I can go on and on, the government isn't obligated to fund the university at a 100%. A University is a business too, you won't go to Tesco or any other supermarket and expect things to be free? No offense but I find your statement absolutely ridiculous.

Reply 25

beady556

Whereas around one in 20 school-leavers went on to university in 1960, more than one in three do so now.

Reply 26

Bored123456789

Original post by mojojojo101

Everything should be free for everyone.

Calm down, commie.

Reply 27

AVDarc

Original post by Guru Jason

A lot of German unis are free and even the ones you pay for are only a few hundred euroes a semester. In an ideal world, yes all education at every level would be free.

There are actually not that many free universities in Germany, unless we are talking about the Public ones, which they also charge per semester. A sum of about 400-800 Euros per term, plus you will have to pay for everything (transportation, accommodation etc.). And honestly there aren't that many public ones either, mainly Private ones, the Government cannot keep funding 100% of University's cost, they are not entitled to. Remember, a University is a business, they make money to pay their employees and cost and make a profit on the side. I also assure you that you won't find many universities in Europe that are free :smile:

Reply 28

mojojojo101

Original post by AVDarc

I don't give a **** about business...

Things cost money because people need to be paid a wage, they need a wage so they can meet the needs of their survival. If everything is free then they no longer need wages to support their lifestyle and the cycle repeats.

Original post by Chaz254

Calm down, commie.

Nah, I'm good :wink:

Reply 29

Trinculo

Original post by Bart12345

The last bit about grades is completely untrue.

The funnelling happened at the 11+ with grammar schools and then only small numbers of people even doing A-levels.

Pretty much anyone with any A levels went to university. Prior to the 90s, BBB would have been considered excellent results and would have gotten you a medical school interview easily.

Something like a third of all university entrants (remember this was before the ex-polys) had less than CCC for all degree subjects and it wasn’t unheard of for medicine (I only say medicine because it’s the subject that the research tended to focus on)

Reply 30

Guru Jason

Original post by AVDarc

Well it may have changed since I was there. I mean it was 8 yrs ago now.

Reply 31

dandiprat

I have always been happy to pay for university fees. I guess I mainly base that on the accounts from my parents (who had free university education), who saw a lot of students drop out, find themselves kicked out, or wasting their time (mainly the latter). They say a lot of it came from a lack of the incentive to work as hard at it, since university was just handed to you for free. My mum alone transferred between three universities, because she kept disliking her courses or failed her foundation degree, and her sister jumped between two, both she dropped out from. Even my dad dropped out from his course, as well as three of his friends. It was a pretty widespread trend, from what they could tell, and a waste of public money when you think about it.

"free"

Free doesn't exist. It's a matter of who pays it and how, and I think that the person who directly benefits from higher education should pay most of its cost.

Reply 34

AVDarc

Original post by mojojojo101

Wrong. Things cost money because they require money to obtain. Food, you need crops and land, which all costs money to maintain and grow. Farmers sell that food to make a profit in order to grow their land and prosper. If everything was free in this world, then who would be working? That's right, no one. Technology wouldn't exist the way it does. Do you think for the last couple thousand years of humanity's history was achieved due to stuff being free? If so, then you are living in the wrong world my friend :smile:

So take your ******** socialist view somewhere else. Even communism's theory of everyone being equal and paid equally is better than this nonsense.

Reply 35

Trinculo

Original post by Rits21

It totally should be free. No one should have to pay for education, I consider it a basic right. Having to pay for it (and such huge amounts in the UK) makes it a capitalist selective discriminatory elitist thing. And as for the funding, remember that some of the best universities in France like Dauphine or Sorbonne, as well as in Germany, are totally free or almost, you just have to pay a small meaningless amount (and even there, I’d rather pay 800€ than 20000£) yet you get the same quality education as in the uk, or even better.

1. Just because you consider something a basic right, doesn't mean it is.

2. At what point does education cease to be an entitlement? Secondary education? Undergraduate? Postgraduate? Doctoral?

Reply 36

AVDarc

Original post by Rits21

Then go to France/Germany and pay your 800 euro education. Also I don't recall a Uni in the UK being at 20k, that's kinda over the top. At most 14k for INTERNATIONAL students. Local students pay between 8k-10k on average.

Reply 37

Huw M Thomas

Historians will look back at these days and think we were mad. Investing so much time and money in the education bubble that provided very little true knowledge and left people slaves to financial debt.

Reply 38

Dysf(x)al

Original post by jjh87

Please be 100% honest. Yes I am guessing we would all love it to be free, but would like to hear people's opinions on this subject! :biggrin:

Lower maybe. But if you make it free, people who really shouldn't be going to uni will go "for the experience". Heck, that probably already happens. Maybe offer more subsidies for students who do well?

Reply 39

yt7777

Original post by Bart12345

...Forget going to uni if you've only ever achieved BBB and below, let alone if you've only done BTECs.

You also mention that too many people are studying **** subjects yet you say if you've only done BTECs then university shouldn't be an option, BTECs offer a solid vocational education in Computer Science, Engineering and many other subjects, these are 2 very strong and employable degree subjects. So I really don't agree with that.

I did my Computing BTEC back in 2012 and it provided me with a good grounding to get my Computer Science degree (top 30 uni) and get onto my MSc (top 10 uni). As well as this I work as a Software Engineer and have over 1 years experience through internships, of which 2 of my employers stated they preferred employees with vocational qualifications like BTEC instead of all academic. Vocational qualifications are just as strong.

In response to the actual thread, I agree university should be free but it does need to be more selective, pretty much anyone can go to uni now even with straight D grades (and lower!) it is possible to get into low ranked universities still costing 9k per year, if it was more selective then 'subjects that do not lead to any career path would be less subscribed to, allowing people who achieve highly to go to university for free and study something that will actually lead them to a good career.