Should University Tuition Fees be free for all those who wish to study?

[-Danube-]

In some parts of the world such as Scotland it is free to study within University, much like the rest of your school life. But in many other places around the world such as England and the USA you have to pay. The English Government has just announced that from September 2012 all students could pay up to £9000 a year rather than the current £3000 a year fee. Many students are outraged by this, but in America there is no such cap on fees for University and they can charge upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars to study at the countries best Universities.

At first glance you would think University being free would have no down sides, but if there were no fees then there would more than likely be more people studying at University, thus more people with a Degree and ultimately everyone would end up with a degree and you may as well have just left education when you were 16/18 and go find a job.


DEBATE!!!

[Conservative,]

Yes it's a high change. But this summary failed to explain the main cap will be at £6k with only the best universities who are willing to offer extensive monetarily help to poorer students are able to charge £9k.

Also compare to the USA it is nothing on what the top universities charge.

There is nothin to get so angry about,
every politician lies if there was a riot every time a politician broke a promise this country would be in anarchy.

Move on, save up shut up.

Oh and also they have upped the threshhold to pay your debts from £15k a year to £21k.

So I don't see what all the fuss is about people need to learn to deal with things they're not happy about.

[Samantha]

Looking at it, I can see that many people will consider it a bad decision by the government, in which they riot and protest about the sudden changes. Surely, some people should get better oppurtunities than others, for example, my parents don't work - my mum's disabled my dad's her carer so how am I suppose to afford the 9000 pound tuition fee? I can't. I have always said that if I go to university I would head up North to Scotland anyway!

On the other hand, Scotland shouldn't be allowed to charge in the future anyway as university and college in Scotland is compulsary I'm sure, where if you are smart enough you can opt for university and stay on until you're 21 or go to college and also stay on until 21.

Anyway, I don't really agree to the charges made, but I had no idea how much it was for a year at university or anything like that, I never got told, I didn't listen to the news thus it shouldn't concern me. However, it will if I do wish to go onto even further education, I think they have a right to charge for tuition, they need to make a lot of money to provide the services they provide.

[Conservative,]

Looking at it, I can see that many people will consider it a bad decision by the government, in which they riot and protest about the sudden changes. Surely, some people should get better oppurtunities than others, for example, my parents don't work - my mum's disabled my dad's her carer so how am I suppose to afford the 9000 pound tuition fee? I can't. I have always said that if I go to university I would head up North to Scotland
anyway!

On the other hand, Scotland shouldn't be allowed to charge in the future anyway as university and college in Scotland is compulsary I'm sure, where if you are smart enough you
can opt for university and stay on until you're 21 or go to college and also stay on until 21.

Anyway, I don't really agree to the charges made, but I had no idea how much it was for a year at university or anything like that, I never
got told, I didn't listen to the news thus it shouldn't concern me. However, it will if I do wish to go onto even further education, I think they have a right to charge for tuition, they need to make a lot of money to provide the services they provide.

They would give you grants due to your financial situation and you could try for scholarship. Also your student loan wouldn't have to be paid off if you don't earn £21k or more.

So everyone can afford it tbh.

[Inseriousity.]

Yes it's a high change. But this summary failed to explain the main cap will be at £6k with only the best universities who are willing to offer extensive monetarily help to poorer students are able to charge £9k.

Also compare to the USA it is nothing on what the top universities charge.

There is nothin to get so angry about,
every politician lies if there was a riot every time a politician broke a promise this country would be in anarchy.

Move on, save up shut up.

Oh and also they have upped the threshhold to pay your debts from £15k a year to £21k.

So I don't see what all the fuss is about people need to learn to deal with things they're not happy about.

I think bold one is probably the reason I'm against it. The marketization of education is doomed to failure because they go on the idea that schools are like markets. Bad markets close, good markets thrive. A good theory that is probably true for actual markets but in practice it's not the case when it comes to schools. Good schools thrive but bad schools continue to stay open. Bad schools go on a downward spiral and the kids caught in the middle are often disadvantaged as a result. To add this principle therefore to universities where the top universities will be able to charge more than the not-so-good universities will just add to that. Keeping it capped means that every university, at least, has equal opportunity to succeed rather than go on that downward spiral.

Also another reason I'm against it is rather than keeping it equal for everyone, it seems Scotland will continue to get it for free? Why not introduce fees to Scotland and that way, it's 3,300 (or whatever it is) for everyone rather than 9k for England and zero for Scotland? Maybe I'm missing something but just a general opinion.

As for bold point two, personally, I think British people moan, moan, moan but they never actually do anything. I think we should act a lot more.

[Conservative,]

Scotland have control of their own budget and they decided to spend it on free tertiary education if you lived in scotland.

In my opinion we should either Crete an English government solely for english issues or dissolve the welsh Irish and scotish parliaments because as you said it's stupid to have one set of fees and laws in one country then completely different in another.

[Special]

not free but certainly cheaper than they are now...

[Shar]

If they remain at £3,290 (I think) you have to pay right now I wouldn't mind, but asking us to pay up to £9,000 is a joke. I'm from a working class family and my parents try their best to provide us with shelter and food. They are not lazy at all and anyone saying that people are too lazy and should just save up need to look at all sides to this. Asking under-privileged people to pay a ridiculous amount of money should have led to more protesting than the present. I will be participating in the walk out day on Tuesday. Students need their voices heard, we might not make an immediate change but we got to try. Less moaning and more action is the way to go.

[Mathew]

England is home to two of the best universities in the world - Oxford and Camebridge. Once you start allowing people into Universities for free, you're going to have pretty much everybody going from GCSEs > A-Level > Degree, simply because they can and people will take advantage of it.

If we were to have free universities, you'd have degrees being worth the same as A-Levels because everyone would be continuing in their education.. simply because they can. People would take advantage of the freebie. If you're paying a fee to get into University, you'd be more inclined to try your hardest and put the effort in. If you got into a University for free, there's a higher chance people would slack and use up taxpayers money.. and once you start slacking you're taking up someone elses space who could have tried harder.

I see University as an investment in your future. University should be considered the highest education and only a select few people who are willing to invest in their future should go for it. It should never be your average education, imo. The quality of teaching is much higher, the content is much higher and the reward is much higher. Why should people expect the taxpayer to pay for it?

May I also add, the price tag of £9,000 is the very maximum - it's not the price that all Universities will charge!

[Hayleigh]

I think Every uni should have the same cost but not expensive because tbh Theres some people who are really gifted and talented and yet they come from poorer backgrounds whereas someone whos had tuition all their lives and aren't that bright but come from a richer background can afford to pay plus supply any other money needed/wanted .