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Following the debate held by The Yorker and Club of PEP last week, Andrew Nichols writes about the social implications of raising the cap.
Generally I am apathetic towards student politics but the recent debate held by The Yorker and the Club of PEP regarding top up fees touched on an issue that actually affects us all. We as students have all decided to accept the current financial situation on offer, which means most of us will be saddled with debts of around £25,000 by the time we finish university.
However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that this system is untenable. It has been argued by the former head of the university funding system that in order to maintain academic excellence, fees could rise to £5,000 a year by 2010. Lord Patten, the chancellor of Oxford University, believes that caps on fees should be lifted altogether and universities should be able to set the level of fees themselves.
My fear regarding a rise in fees is to do with the wider social impact of university education.
The reason most of us are at university is that we believe it will lead us to more worthwhile, better paid careers; the statistics show that this is correct and that graduates over the course of their career will earn on average £100,000 more than non-graduates. Therefore it seems rational that we should be prepared to pay for our university education and in order to maintain excellence, better universities should be able to charge more for their services. After all, graduating from a top university is reflected in better employment opportunities.
Nevertheless, my fear regarding a rise in fees is to do with the wider social impact of university education. York University claims it has 80% state school admittance which is higher than most comparative universities, but even bearing this in mind York can often seem like a middle class refuge. Despite the best efforts of the government, university education is still seen as the preserve of the middle class.
This is understandable as it is far easier for children whose parents, mentors and adult company were graduates to appreciate the benefits of a university education and to them £25,000 can be seen as a worthwhile investment. In contrast it is a challenge for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to be convinced that university is a place for them and that spending £25,000 over three years will benefit them in the long run, especially when all around them they see people earning money.
If fees for the best universities were substantially higher than they currently are, this would deter the brightest pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds applying to the top universities, fulfilling their potential and consequently giving to society the skills a top university education gives a student. I don’t see any problem with increasing tuition fees but it must be matched by an increased effort to educate bright, disadvantaged pupils to the benefits of university education, as well as a system of grants and bursaries in order to make university a viable option for all. Otherwise we will sleepwalk into a two tier university system with only the wealthiest prepared to pay more for the best universities. The consequences this could have on social cohesion and social mobility would be dire.
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