What’s it all about?
Ministers vote tomorrow on whether to increase the tuition fee cap; currently standing at £3,290. Should the coalition’s proposals be accepted, universities will be able to charge up to £9,000 per year.
The tuition fee debate has been a source of tension since the fees were introduced, under the Labour Government, in 2004. However since the spending review on 20th October, which announced cuts of 40% to the higher education budget, discontent, both within Parliament and in the student world, has accumulated significantly.
Before the 2010 election the Liberal Democrats pledged to phase out university tuition fees over six years. Members of the party even signed an NUS pledge opposing any future rises in fees. Since the formation of the coalition, Nick Clegg has made a U-turn and has now suggested that "to govern was to choose". With the public purse strings drawn ever tighter, the government has decided to invest in early years education and make drastic cuts to the teaching budget.
Are universities really as strapped for cash as they say?
So, are our universities really as strapped for cash as they say? Fees account for about 29% of universities’ funding, 35% comes from the government and the remaining income is made up from sources including grants, endowments and investments. Suppose the average undergraduate degree costs £7,000; £3,000 comes from the current fees; the rest comes from other streams and the government. Consequently, one way to compensate for the 40% cut in government funding is to pass the cost down to the student in the form of increased fees. Many are concerned that this could deter less well off students from applying to university.
Many people are still dissatisfied at the proposals with regard to the provision for less well off students. A significant proportion of students already carry debts amounting to tens of thousands of pounds into graduation and future undergraduates may accumulate up to £38,000 of debt. Disgruntlement boiled over into protest and students have taken to the streets.
How did we get into it in the first place?
The number of applications for university courses has grown, year on year, for some time. The Labour government aimed to launch 50% of school leavers in higher education by 2010, and steadily increased investment in higher education during their time in power. Many universities have been struggling to break even, possibly mirroring the economy’s unsustainable premise of continuous growth. A debt driven economy based on this forecast expansion, from the corridors of power to Curry’s electrical superstore, has essentially crashed. We’re left staring into yet to be paid for widescreen TVs, wondering where it all went wrong. The cuts that the coalition government believe will bring the nation back on track would push many universities to the brink of bankruptcy, if they could not compensate for the shortfall in funding. The money raised from tuition fees will simply meet the deficit created by the cuts in the teaching budget.
How should we respond?
You can choose a lens, to shape how you view the situation, for a start. One perspective suggests that the greed of the past is catching up with us. We’ve enjoyed an economic policy based on continuous growth, with graduates who enjoyed free university places, who have gold plated their retirement with generous final salary index linked pensions, whilst the credit cards caught up with everyone else.
The temptation for us is to keep looking out for ‘number one’. Try and secure our own future. The problem is: attitudes like that got us into this mess in the first place. In these times of economic uncertainty, the values of generosity and self-sacrifice stand out more than ever before. And, the fact remains that we are still amongst the wealthiest people in the entire world, even if that means we have to pay for our education over the next 30 years.
The challenge is to live in the midst of the tension. Engage with today’s problems; access to higher education and tuition fees need to be discussed and addressed. We need to acknowledge the multifaceted and complex nature of the issue, and also get some perspective on where we fit into the grand scheme of things. Let’s expand our worldview; we’re living in a time that could see huge cultural shifts and people are searching for a better way. Jesus had some interesting thoughts on that. Let’s figure out what being a follower of Jesus means in society today, discern our unique contribution, and model a generous, more sustainable approach to life. If we do nothing, we’ll learn nothing, and we’re likely only to repeat the cycle.
