Miliband's promise to lower tuition fees - do you believe him?

I think electorally it is a dangerous thing to do, pensioners vote in far greater numbers than any other age group. However, taking a cynical view, attacking some of the privileges of the better off pensioners may play well across a broad enough group of other voters to outweigh the disadvantages.

I am a bit concerned though that the policy is not just attacking truly wealthy pensioners. A pension pot of £1m sounds huge, but it's not untypical amongst many professional people to have pension pots that size. I'm not saying they are hard done by, as top people's salaries have risen steadily and at a much greater rate than others, but it's also true that dedicated professional people like doctors or academics offer a lot to society, as much as business people do and certainly more than many politicians.

I wonder if this is a case of cynical tax policy coming through. The truth is that the deficit is big and cannot be funded if Labour continues to avoid confronting the big corporations and global tax evasion/avoidance. There is no commitment from Miliband to really change the many tax giveaways that the Brown years gave away to the big companies. As long as that remains the case, they are going to have to hammer the middle class, not the rich, to meet the gap. That's what this policy seems to be about.

It completely misses the point. The situation has to be looked at from first principles if we are to understand what is really happening and what should be implemented in the future.

1. Where exactly does the £9,000 a year go?

2. Is there really a free market in university education? Superficially there is plenty of competition and consumer choice for most subjects as several universities offer similar courses. Competition usually has the effect of driving prices down - or at least creating a variation in prices - but it doesn't occur for tuition fees.

3. Is it technically possible to reduce the cost of a degree? Engineers have managed to reduce the costs of electrical machinery through innovation so can innovation also reduce the costs of education?

4. With tuition fees at £9,000 a year does it throw open the door for private universities to offer degree courses for less? If so, then is this what Labour really fears?

5. Does snobbery play a part in deciding tuition fees? If one university offered a degree course for just £2,000 a year of comparable quality to that offered by another university for £9,000 a year then will it be looked down on by employers and lack prestige simply because of the price tag, or its graduates automatically deemed to come from lower class families who can't afford the 'real thing'?

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Give me one example of how labour could put us back into recession.

If he does it, they had better reimburse those of us who paid £9000 for three years. Until there is that promise, I will vote conservative.

It's a good idea. The Tory minister behind the Conservative-Lib Dem rise in tuition fees admitted that the Tories "got their maths wrong".

By reducing tuition fees, Miliband increases the amount likely to be paid back and takes a bit of the debt burden away from students who are incredibly stressed by it. This is beneficial to me and Labour's policy will be brought in just as I go into university.

And, Labour and Miliband will follow through: Miliband knows that he can't do a Clegg, because he's seen what happened to Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

Labour continue to get my vote.

Second this. It is no fair for the people who have had to pay £9000 in the last three years


Posted from TSR Mobile

Labour have unrolled an election promise. Miliband was on all channels this morning promising to reduce tuition fees to around £6,000.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31640592
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/25/ed-miliband-to-woo-younger-voters-with-pledge-to-cut-tuition-fees

He's trying to win our votes (eg, the 'young vote') - the big question is, will he be believed?

Nick Clegg of course notoriously failed and lied on this issue. Will Miliband do any better?

EDIT: I suppose to be fair, Clegg did not exactly 'lie' on the issue, he simply dumped it when he entered coalition, because he couldn't persuade the Tories to accept it. Perhaps I should say he is widely seen as having lied on it.

He is obviously saying whatever he needs to say to win votes. So obviously, it is not believable. You can't make a promise that you cannot guarantee to fulfil. Has he actually researched into the feasibility of it? I don't think he has.

I have a feeling that if he does it, he will just take money from somewhere else (let us say fundings to universities, or people's maintenance grants/loans or similar).

He is obviously saying whatever he needs to say to win votes. So obviously, it is not believable. You can't make a promise that you cannot guarantee to fulfil. Has he actually researched into the feasibility of it? I don't think he has.

I have a feeling that if he does it, he will just take money from somewhere else (let us say fundings to universities, or people's maintenance grants/loans or similar).

Why wouldn't he just take the money saved by not giving as much in fee loan?

The thing is universities need to be paid and as far as I understand 6K is not enough.

Sure.

So give them the £3k saved by not giving a £9k loan.