All entries for Wednesday 20 April 2005

One reason not to vote Tory

I'm talking tuition fees.

In the past few days the Tories have taken a nose-dive in the polls, giving Labour a bigger lead in the run-up to May 5th. I'm not enough of a New Labour fan to wish them yet another landslide, and if they really are set for one, I'm tempted to vote Lib Dem to give the Tories and the exciting prospect of a hung parliament a chance. But opinion polls have historically exaggerated Labour's leads at election time so I'll stick to my guns for the time being.

As we all know, Labour controversially introduced tuition fees and more controversially still, augmented them with top-up fees. (I'll leave aside the fact that they went against their word in doing so.) The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are both pledging to scrap fees and replace them with loans at commercial interest rates and higher top-rate income tax respectively.

The case for tuition and top-up fees is simple: the government can't afford to provide the funding universities need and rather than have the wider public pay for it, have the people who will directly benefit pay tuition fees. But because education is a right and not a privilege, how much fee you have to pay will be means-tested and reflect how much your parents can afford. This oughtn't put off poorer students from higher education so is fair.

Of course, you can still argue that HE should be paid for by the general public and I'm not going to argue against you. Go and vote Lib Dem. However, what I do find objectionable is the Conservatives' plan for university funding.

By charging commercial interest on student loans the Tories are going to increase the already massive amount of debt students are saddled with when they leave university. And despite any nods to means-testing and scholarships for poorer students, there will ultimately be no fairness to the system. Kids from rich families will get all their living costs paid by their folks, and by not taking out loans, won't pay for their education while those from low- to middle-income families will. They'll be the ones funding our university system, rather than those who can comfortably afford to. That's not right, surely?

Rather than risk huge debt, more talented young people will go straight into work and access to university will reflect wealth, not merit. I say again: education is a right, not a privilege.

Daniel Wilson Craw : 20 Apr 2005 12:00 |  Tags: Politics |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem