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Jul 15, 2010 09:17

So a tax for people who've been to university. I'm honestly not sure what to think about that.

On the one hand I guess it will have advantages in terms of how it's paid. It will get rid of the effect of your student loan on your ability to have a higher mortgage, for example. It will also mean potentially fewer money problems while actually at uni. ( Read more... )

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ms_rebecca_riot July 15 2010, 21:40:01 UTC
The Labour party's argument here at least is that 'working class people without degrees shouldn't have to pay for middle class people getting degrees' but that argument is wrong because the costs will be passed on to those without degrees when they use a service provided by the newly degree qualified. Ie the cost they charge will reflect the student loan they have to pay off and that will be passed on to the consumer. So pitting groups against each other like this doesn't work. And if you paid for something as opposed to getting it provided free you are less likely to be generous and this will effect social stratification ( ... )

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wonderwelsh July 16 2010, 10:20:00 UTC
I think I see where you're coming from - and I do agree to some extent. I don't think university education should be gratis. Or, to put it another way, it CAN'T be gratis in the current financial climate, even if free university education for all who want it is a nice ideal. Whether this is the right way to fund it though - well, I'm edging towards the conclusion that it isn't.

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embitteredpoet July 18 2010, 16:39:48 UTC
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=414467&NewsAreaID=2&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bis-news+%28BIS+News%29

I thought this speech from Vince was pretty interesting.

I quite like the line 'In any event, a model designed for 10% of the population could not be applied to 40%: hence the move to a graduate contribution.'

I have always been conflicted on this, education should be a right, not a privilege, but I think that Vince makes the right noises about pushing towards more part-time & vocational training rather than traditional three year degrees for more people with lower and lower entrance requirements and smaller and smaller value.

Long sentence. I wish I was in Wales. I'm sorry I'm not.

That is the only time in my life I will ever write that sentence, probably.

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wonderwelsh July 22 2010, 14:21:33 UTC
I'm pretty much on the fence with this one - for similar reasons. Anyway, the point is academic now (no pun intended) as they've scrapped the idea.

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embitteredpoet July 22 2010, 20:03:41 UTC
We can always rely on the Tories not to enact any sensible proposal that might vaguely cost the rich more money.

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