Sorry for not being online, no more coursework, but bogged down with work. should be bk on in septem...
Sorry for not being online, no more coursework, but bogged down with work. should be bk on in september some time. buster24_uk1@lycos.co.uk (06.08.04)
Member since:28.10.2002
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An article i wrote for my college's Student Mag. -----------
Student Fees
In the government's plans for the future of education for England and Wales, they announced in January that they wanted higher education annual tuition fees to rise from £1,125 to £3,000 in just over 3 years time, in 2006, rising as well with inflation. These plans have sparked controversy not only amongst the student masses, but also among the M.P's themselves in Parliament, causing a divide in the Labour Party. The average cost of a degree is now nearly £20,000; do you want it to go any higher?
*A Change to the Up-Front System of Fees In these controversial plans there was also talk about making students pay their course fees once they leave university, as opposed to the current system of paying up-front, the government says that the graduates should contribute something back for having gained the degree.
The argument against this and the general system of fees is that it is based on an assumption, the assumption that the graduate's future career has a higher salary. The other argument against these fees is that, graduates in general pay back tens of thousands of pounds more in income tax than non-graduates; this is more than ample to cover the cost of their degree.
*The Need for the Rise in Fees The government says that the need for this colossal rise in fees is due to the fact that they want us (students) to pay tuition fees which are more like the actual cost of providing the course, o.k., fair enough, why shouldn't we pay for our courses?
The argument against this is that the £400 million that has already been raised from tuition fees to be put back into further education hasn't, which is something that the Chief Executive of the H.E.F.C.E. (Higher Education Funding Council for England), Sir Howard Newby, has admitted. So why should students have to pay tuition fees to help cover the cost of courses when the fees don't even help the course or your education.
*Higher Rate of interest on Student Loans The government also wants to raise the interest rates on student loans as they claim it is just subsidising middle class graduates with cheap loans, when they can afford to pay more. The poorer student; they get cheap loans and are much more less likely to pay the entire amount as they can default on the loan if they do not reach the threshold of £10,000 in 25 years.
The argument against is that the average graduate income is around £17,786, considerably higher than the £10,000 threshold, and therefore a graduate is more likely to go over the threshold than a non-graduate, so they are more likely to pay back the loan, even if they are from a poor financial background. The fact that the loan defaults after 25 years is only based on the old loan, so if you happen to be someone who gets a loan under the new scheme, then you are required to pay back the loan until you reach 65, quite a few years more than the current figure of 25 years.
Facts -In 1992 only a third of students owed money. Now 90% are in debt. -Since the elimination of grants, student debt has increased by 544% and now totals over £5 billion. -Applications to medical school from students in the poorest social groups have decreased by 50% in five years. -Parents are now paying more than £500 million towards university costs every year.
Scary these student loans my sis got into allsorts of bother with hers Good write up
Sonia xxx
jesi 21.04.2004 22:40
can't really say much - my son is paying off his student loan - he'd have liked to pay more than what requested to get it off his back quicker - but no facility., ~~~(:-)-{{:::::|||||<
Oct 4th, 2003
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