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From: J
Category: Other stuff
Date: 18 May 2004
STUDENTS are now leaving university with debts of up to £12,000.
They are expected to pay back these absurd amounts when they start earning over the pitiless threshold of £10,000 per year. The problem with student debt is set to continue and will no doubt be exacerbated by the latest labour force of tuition fees.
The solution to the financial problems within our universities and for those who would like to study, cannot be solved by increasing the burden of debt. Britain is already a debt-ridden country and it would be disastrous for this trend to continue.
The problem cannot be solved by the labour proposal of increasing the levels of students entering university.
From my own experience, universities are being turned into factories of education where you are literally dragged through the system and then tossed out at the other end with no transferable skills to offer employers.
Students are being misled to believe that a degree will bring them higher earning power than nongraduates. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that you could earn more as a plumber than being a solicitor.
The solution is not to go down the Charles Kennedy approach by pushing the financial burden onto the tax payer. Neither is the solution to the problem going to be achieved by the 'Blair' approach by increasing tuition fees to extortionate levels and forcing students into the red.
The only solution is to cut the levels of students going to university and to shut down departments within universities which are offering nonsensical courses which have no relevance for the student or the employer.
The cuts in department funding and teaching staff in particular could be used to cancel out tuition fees and to offer grants to students intending to study for specific courses such as medical degrees.
It would be much better to have an army of trained doctors and nurses than an army of meagre souls armed with degrees in the social sciences!
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