University challenge

Jan 15 2009 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT IS an unpalatable truth that nearly all students will be saddled with considerable debt once they graduate, with the average debt of students in Huddersfield reaching £20,000.

The Government’s logic is that, because of the favourable, flexible terms on which student loans are made, and because, theoretically, students will gain well-paid jobs once they leave university, the amount of debt should not be insurmountable.

The thinking was always a bit dodgy and becomes even more doubtful with the scrapping of a £3,000-year-cap on tuition fees.

While higher tuition fees may solve one problem for the Government, it creates many more for students and – ultimately – for the taxpayer.

It could also have serious consequences for the Government’s own stated aim to increase the numbers going to university, and lead – once more – to a situation in which only the children of the rich can afford such an education.

Many institutions have tried to offset the effect of top-up fees by setting up a bursary scheme to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But the frightening figures now being bandied about for tuition fees are sure to deter many would-be students who, quite sensibly, may decide the benefits of a university education are outweighed by the scale of personal debt involved.

Simply transferring the burden of funding universities from the Government to students is a cynical ploy which could have disastrous effects not just for the numbers entering higher education, but the country as a whole.