11th October 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
I think the mad rush for tutors at the start of year has calmed down now. Obviously I should want that to continue for as long as possible, but the upside is that it takes the workload away from me a bit.
Last week lots of students started at university, and, possibly for the last time ever, this batch of undergraduates will have their tuition fees subsidised. I’m not totally sure how I feel about the new system, and found Labour’s new stance on tuition fees interesting; that they would lower the maximum to £6,000 a year. I have two half brothers stating university in 2 and 4 years, so I should probably feel angry that they will each be leaving university up to £18,000 more than I was in debt, but I’m not really so forceful about my opinion on tuition fees.
I find a lot of the protests a little strange. The main argument seems to be that, in an ideal world, everyone would have the opportunity to attend university for free, and I would agree, but in that economic-less utopia, I would also have a solid gold toilet. My point is that every decision any government makes is an economic one, weighing the benefits of a policy against its costs, and from that point of view, it’s difficult to justify subsidising every university course. The provision of pre-university education is subject to the same scrutiny, and the existing consensus is that this should be free. I agree with that, and think that it ensures our society has a certain basic level of education which each individual needs to function in the modern world (I’ve stolen that line from a recent statement by the Japanese government on their educational reforms). I don’t feel the same way about university education though. I definitely think that tuition fees should be lower, or non-existent for a proportion of students, based on their ability and desire to pursue an academic course, but for anyone not successful in winning one of these subsidised places, I think they should have to pay for further education; even if one of those students paying is one of my half brothers.