Top up Fees!!!!!!!! what do you think???

Top up fees are said to rise from £1,500 a year to £3,000 on our course alone n less help will be given to people from families u dont exactly earn £25,000 a year but arnt earning less than £10,000.

what u think?

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Reply 1

llama boy

SpAnIsH_fLy

Ideally education should be free.

If there has to be fees there should be two conditions.

1) No market system.
2) Complete exemption for some, to avoid ANYONE not applying to any uni for financial reasons.

The current proposals, by failing to meet those two points, are unfair.

TBH, though, I can't see why it can't come out of general taxation or a tax on arms sales, or something..

Reply 2

theone

I think that a smaller percentage of the country should go to uni and all fees should be abolished, but that's just me... :smile:

Reply 3

Helenia

theone

I think that a smaller percentage of the country should go to uni and all fees should be abolished, but that's just me... :smile:

I agree, but I speak from a highly privileged position, so I know I'm kinda vulnerable on this one :eek:

Reply 4

LadyFadge

Are they trying to cut down on people going to University!

Reply 5

pkonline

I think seeing that most young people don't go to uni, its not fair for tax payers to pay the fees of the rich. The proposed system is OK but I think the downside is that different unis and courses will charge different amounts. If we have a fee it should be the same for every uni and course. Top unis shouldn't charge more, nor should better courses.

I think its good to abolish up front fees and charge people after they start earning.

Reply 6

pkonline

LadyFadge

Are they trying to cut down on people going to University!

The whole point of fees is to increase the number of places and opportunities for lots of young people, not just the privelaged few.

Reply 7

LadyFadge

pkonline

The whole point of fees is to increase the number of places and opportunities for lots of young people, not just the privelaged few.

Yeah but by putting up the fees then people that dont have the money arent going to be able to afford it so they wont want to go

Reply 8

MattG

yes but look what will happen if they get the extra funding, its going to be pumped into funding new facilities.

america is a good example, relativly high fees but fantastic resources on average compared to british ones. a eg given was Bath uni campared to arizona uni. bath had a 10th of the books arizona had

Reply 9

Eru Iluvatar

What i dont understand is surely educated people pay more taxes, so they end up giving the government more money over their life anyway.
Why raise tuition fee's, and therefore reduce the number of students who can afford it, who then will pay less tax?!?!

Surely if uni education was free, then more people would go, and more people would earn more money, making the government more income in taxes.

Reply 10

pkonline

LadyFadge

Yeah but by putting up the fees then people that dont have the money arent going to be able to afford it so they wont want to go

Those who don't have the money to go will have part of the fee paid for like the system is now. Plus they'll get a grant plus unis will offer more bursaries. Plus you only pay any remaining fee after you start working and at a point when you can afford it.

Numbers going to uni are now the highest ever.

True noone likes to pay for things that were free before but there is no other option. The Tories will cut places and opportunities for 100,000s of young people to fund they see fit, and the Lib Dems's sums do not add up.

Reply 11

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Personally I don't see there is a huge difference between paying back £12,000 and £21,000 if the repayment rate is the same (and in the case of tuition fees/student loans I think it is - £37.50 a month when earning £20k (around £1,200 in take home pay per month) or £7.50 a month when earning £16k is hardly going to break the bank). Yes you'll be paying back for longer but it's always related to income and I do believe that putting a very real value on a degree will strengthen the efforts some students put into their degrees (and university has always been a case of getting as much out as you're willing to put in).

I'm just delighted that Gordon Brown got his way and student loans are still only going to be charged interest at the rate of inflation rather than at commercial rates...that would have been a scandal.

Reply 12

pkonline

Iluvatar

What i dont understand is surely educated people pay more taxes, so they end up giving the government more money over their life anyway.

But those who didn't go to uni but are as 'rich' would be at a disadvantage ie. paying for a rich guy's education.

Reply 13

pkonline

MattG

That's true. The top unis themselves are crying out for cash to deliver the best education to the best students, and rival the richer unis globally.

Reply 14

J.S.

Top up fees? Well, we should top em up :smile:

More so especially as my undergrad. education is over :smile:

Reply 15

yawn1

Education correspondent at Times has suggested that all those on £100,00 plus either pay £500 extra tax a year or 50% on any income over £100,00 - and NO top-up fees!

Reply 16

*dave*

Im poor and I dont see any problem with it.

The Universities need more money that they are currently getting ... its as simple as that. What people forget is that we are paying the universities not the government.

Id rather pay the extra if it means standards arent going to slip. And anyway, Ill miss out on it anyway :d

And the argument that 'if we are graduates we are gonna be paying more tax anyway' is pretty thin. We will earn more if we go to university, even after the loans are deducted from our wages.

If you want to go to university, its going to benefit you ... so you have to pay for it. Its as simple as that. Youve been educated for free until you are 18, why be greedy and push it to 21. The unis need more money, so we need to pay them.

Reply 17

Nylex

I really don't want to have to drop out, but if it costs that much, I won't have a choice.

Reply 18

MattG

the problem i think that people have is the word "loan"
the idea of a 12 grand loan scares the bejesus out of people,
in reality you need not worry about it,

Reply 19

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Nylex

I really don't want to have to drop out, but if it costs that much, I won't have a choice.

Why?

You won't have to pay it back until you're earning over £15,000...in reality this change means that the very poor get £1000 pa extra in a grant and the middle earners (who have to pay tuition fees ATM) will have £1000pa extra in their student loans to live on.