Be careful what you wish for
I had mixed feelings upon hearing that a group called Education Not For Sale is calling for a national demonstration against top-up fees and for student grant. As somebody who organised my sixth form college’s participation in the national demonstration against university fees in 2006 I admire the campaigners’ commitment to extending educational opportunity to all. However, I believe they are both misguided and naive if they believe that a student demonstration will persuade the Westminster government to drop the policy of tuition fees. Furthermore, by wasting their energies demonstrating against tuition fees, the members of ENS are ignoring opportunities to truly extend educational opportunity to all.
ENS’ campaign to extend support for students whilst at university through a universal grants scheme is admirable. It is undeniable that some students struggle financially whilst studying and the lengths to which some students have to go are harrowing: research by Kingston University showed that 6% of students knew students who work as prostitutes. The current funding system in inadequate, forcing many students to work long hours in part-time jobs, leaving them unable to spend sufficient time studying. Whilst some part-time work is sensible, working excessive hours also prevents students from getting involved in clubs and societies, or undertaking voluntary work experience, making it harder to develop the leadership and organisational skills sought by graduate recruiters. Therefore, I agree with ENS that all students should campaign for the introduction of comprehensive, universal student grants.
The U.K. is a world leader in higher education with our institutions making an enormous contribution to the economy and society: according to the THES, of the top 100 universities in the world, 17 are from the U.K. However, if the UK wishes to guard this position then significantly greater investment in Higher Education is required: The United States, which dominates the world rankings, invests 2.9% of GDP in Higher Education compared to just 1.1% in the U.K. To demonstrate the stark comparison; Harvard’s annual endowment fund is greater than the total public funding for all universities in England in any one year. Therefore, if the U.K. wishes to retain its status as a world leader in Higher Education, we will have to invest more money.
Students will have to contribute to some of this increased investment. University education is fundamentally different from primary and secondary education: access is determined by past achievement, and hence is not a universal benefit from which everyone benefits. Whilst society gains from having a highly educated population, it is undeniable that students themselves benefit from going to university. They have the intrinsic pleasure of studying a subject which they enjoy, have diverse social experiences, and in the long-term benefit financially: on average, female graduate lifetime earnings are £ £157,982 higher than for someone who goes out to work having achieved two A-levels. The corresponding figure for males is £141,539. Therefore, I believe that it is unjust for the taxes of hard-working cleaners, caterers and carers to be spent on educating potential high earners.
ENS laments the underfunding of Higher Education, whilst failing to acknowledge that the Labour Government’s motivation for introducing fees was to reverse the trend of deplorable neglect under Conservative administrations. Labour has continued to support Higher Education, spending more than £7bn a year, an increase of 23% in real terms since 1997. Moreover, Labour has recently introduced student support for all students with a parental income below £60,000. Therefore, whilst the current funding system is not ideal, it should be remembered that the government continues to provide the vast majority of funding for Higher Education and offers support to poorer students.
I share the concerns of ENS that opportunity of a university education continues to be determined by parental wealth. However, the principal cause of low participation of poorer students is not student poverty, but poverty of aspiration and achievement: when A-level grades are taken into account, students from deprived and wealthy backgrounds are equally likely to go to university. Therefore, the key to improving student access is ensuring that students from deprived backgrounds are in a position to achieve the high A-level grades required by universities. Rather than subsidising the education of future high-earners, I believe education funding should be supporting organisations such as Teach First, who transform talented graduates into exceptional teachers in areas of social and economic deprivation, and the Sutton Trust, who support projects that provide educational opportunities for young people from non-privileged backgrounds.
If we are to move towards a system of funding for higher education that is both high-yielding and equitable then the government should replace fees with a graduate tax, whereby graduates would pay an additional 1 or 2% rate of tax than non-graduates. This would eradicate fears of debt that deter some students from applying to university. Moreover, as the tax would be paid as a proportion of income, students who receive the greatest financial benefit from their degree would contribute the most, making the system socially just. Moreover as repayment is spread over lifetime earnings, graduates would contribute significantly higher amounts than under the current system of deferred fees whilst never having to pay high annual amounts.
Therefore, whilst in an ideal world Higher Education would be free for all at the point of delivery, due to increased student numbers, this is no longer realistic. Students must not adopt the dogmatic cries of ENS that any form of student contribution is inherently unfair, but should work with organisations such as the National Union of Students to lobby the Westminster Government and the Scottish Executive to increase student support so that all students receive some form of maintenance grant. Furthermore, if our universities are to remain world class whilst accessible to all then we must adopt a Graduate tax.
- Joe Coward is Director of thepolitics.co.uk
