A group of 17 university students’ unions have called for a 30% reduction in their tuition fees (worth £2,700) to compensate for the loss of education caused by the Government’s lockdowns. They are willing to accept higher interest rates on their loans in exchange for this discount. The Guardian has the story.
[The group,] led by the London School of Economics and the University of Sheffield, [has] written to the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, and the Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan, to propose that the Government funds a 30% tuition fee rebate for all students this year by increasing interest rates by 3% to 6.2%, meaning it would be repaid only by the highest earning graduates.The letter stated: “We are asking for immediate financial justice for Covid-affected cohorts of university students. In an ideal world, education should be free; however, in a year when students are calling for compensation on their fees, we have created a fiscally neutral solution to adjust tuition fees, supporting students with a one-off payment.”
The student leaders, who are all from research universities in the Russell Group, based their calculations on modelling from the London Economics consultancy. It suggested that increasing the interest rate on student loans would mean that the £1 billion cost of the 30% rebate would be paid for by high-earning graduates, because loans are written off after 30 years, rather than the taxpayer or graduates on low incomes.
The average male graduate would pay £6,500 more in loan repayments over their lifetime, with the very highest earners paying up to £29,800 more, but female graduates on average salaries could repay the same amount because their lifetime earnings are lower.
The pandemic meant most students were barred from their campuses from the end of the autumn term until May 17th, so they missed out on in-person teaching, access to facilities such as libraries, and social and extracurricular activities. Many were frustrated to find themselves unable to access rooms in halls of residence and flats they had already paid for…
Some students have voiced their anger with universities this year through rent strikes, building occupations and socially-distanced protests…
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Universities have a strong track record in delivering excellent blended tuition, and we have been clear from the start of the pandemic that the quality and quantity should not drop.
“The Office for Students will be monitoring to ensure this is the case, and universities should be open about what students can expect.”
Another letter sent by a group of 19 students’ unions told the competitions watchdog in April that students have been “mis-sold” degrees. They demanded tuition fee refunds. Prior to this, the Government responded to a petition asking for a reduction in fees saying: “[We are] not considering a reduction in maximum fee levels to £3,000.”
The Guardian report is worth reading in full.
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Why should we (not “the Government” which has no money of its own) fund a 30% rebate? Why not just withold the money, with the universities taking the hit as the private sector has done?
Spot on.
The education industry along with our bleeding sainted NHS have been an utter disgrace throughout the Scamdemic and with only a few commendable exceptions proven to be spineless.
Yes, the universities and the NHS cheerleaded the lockdown and the suppression of low-cost safe and effective treatments – they should at least pay their fair share of the cost of those policies.
“A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Universities have a strong track record in delivering excellent blended tuition, and we have been clear from the start of the pandemic that the quality and quantity should not drop.”
What utter bollocks. The detachment from reality is immense.
Even a certified moron knows that the quality of education has been shockingly compromised by the idiocy of the Big Panic. To pretend otherwise is just lying, reminiscent of the worst sort of totalitarian propaganda.
This isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact, gleaned from both staff and students at Russell Group and other universities.
Spot on.
The D of E comment is Pravda esque.
Utter groupthink garbage.
So the LSE is happy with a situation where the debts “would be repaid only by the highest earning graduates.”
Great, let’s “educate” the masses and tell them they can have it for free by not bothering to aim for a well paid job. Yeah. It’s exactly this kind of backwards thinking which leads to these “intelligent” people walking around in the fresh air with surgical masks on their faces.
Yadda, yadda!
It would be 6.2 per cent plus inflation, I believe. It’s going to be a staggering percentage of, effectively, graduate tax on English students only.
On a related point, why would anyone start university this year? We know the experience will be a nannied nightmare, with little proper teaching. Defer entry. Get a job, any job. Read and learn in your own time.
Exactly. I have a 14 year old son and unless things go back to how they were I doubt if I’ll be encouraging to go to university in 4 years’ time!
Unless the lad loves academic study entirely for its own sake, he’ll be infinitely better off with an apprenticeship.
Even if he is truly academic, he won’t get anything worth having from universities if they are anything like they are at the moment. Except possibly the Open University.
Excellent advice!
The country is bankrupt
Why are they preventing people going abroad? To prevent money leaving the country
Remember the 1970’s and Healey going cap in hand to the IMF
Healey introduced a £50 limit on taking money out of the country
This time there will be no IMF bailout as the IMF is also bankrupt
The party is over
Gimme a discount but jack-up the interest rate?
What kind of innumerate nonsense is this?
These buffoons should be given failing grades in whatever course they are on.
Which rather points up the sub-standard quality of the education these youngsters are receiving from the Bliar “educashun, educashun, educashun” legacy system which he imposed on this country.
Majority of students will never repay the fees so it’s not that helpful
Better to offer them a free extra year of proper teaching and full university life
Michael et al, please ask Glen Bishop the second year Maths student at the University of Nottingham to calculate why this is an incredibly short-sighted idea.
As loyal Outer Party members, academic and non-academic higher education staff have been instrumental in driving the Covid orthodoxy, and not just within universities. It is significant that so many of them crop up on the creepy committees currently running the country.