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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jul/15/the-big-issue-tuition-fees-should-reflect-real-cost-of-degree-courses
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| Tuition fees should reflect the real cost of each degree course: The big issue | |
| (6 months later) | |
| Sun 16 Jul 2017 00.05 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 2 Dec 2017 02.57 GMT | |
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| Andrew Rawnsley rightly questions the economic and political viability of the student loans system (“You don’t need a double first to see university funding is in chaos”, Comment). However, it would be illogical for an institution to break ranks by reducing its fees, as this would be tantamount to acknowledging that its courses are below par. | Andrew Rawnsley rightly questions the economic and political viability of the student loans system (“You don’t need a double first to see university funding is in chaos”, Comment). However, it would be illogical for an institution to break ranks by reducing its fees, as this would be tantamount to acknowledging that its courses are below par. |
| What might be anticipated, however, is a far greater fee differential between subjects. You would query the pricing structure of a restaurant that charged the same for a steak as a lettuce leaf, yet nearly all degree courses levy full fees. This is particularly ironic, because students on subsidised courses, such as medicine, tend to have greater earning potential than students on subsidising courses, such as English literature: another transfer of wealth to the better-off. | What might be anticipated, however, is a far greater fee differential between subjects. You would query the pricing structure of a restaurant that charged the same for a steak as a lettuce leaf, yet nearly all degree courses levy full fees. This is particularly ironic, because students on subsidised courses, such as medicine, tend to have greater earning potential than students on subsidising courses, such as English literature: another transfer of wealth to the better-off. |
| If we must persist with this bizarrely expensive and ultimately counter-productive loans system, universities should be allocated a fixed amount to cover central administration costs and then be required to produce a clearly itemised bill for each student. If they continue to insist that it costs £600 an hour to provide a humanities lecture, then at least part-time tutors will have reasonable grounds to request a pay rise.Dr Mark EllisHuddersfield | If we must persist with this bizarrely expensive and ultimately counter-productive loans system, universities should be allocated a fixed amount to cover central administration costs and then be required to produce a clearly itemised bill for each student. If they continue to insist that it costs £600 an hour to provide a humanities lecture, then at least part-time tutors will have reasonable grounds to request a pay rise.Dr Mark EllisHuddersfield |
| Andrew Rawnsley calls for a national conversation on HE funding. One topic this should consider is the assumption peculiar to the UK that students “go away” to study. A majority do so here (roughly 80%), a minority everywhere else in the world (30% in the US, for instance). Certainly, it is unnecessary, given the huge number of universities we have. | Andrew Rawnsley calls for a national conversation on HE funding. One topic this should consider is the assumption peculiar to the UK that students “go away” to study. A majority do so here (roughly 80%), a minority everywhere else in the world (30% in the US, for instance). Certainly, it is unnecessary, given the huge number of universities we have. |
| Reconsideration would have a number of benefits. First, student debt, much of which arises from maintenance, rent especially, would be slashed. Second, thousands of houses would be released – second homes for students could be reclaimed as first homes for families. Third, it would reverse the loss of social cohesion in areas where student accommodation is highly concentrated. Winners all round!Dr Richard TylerLeeds | Reconsideration would have a number of benefits. First, student debt, much of which arises from maintenance, rent especially, would be slashed. Second, thousands of houses would be released – second homes for students could be reclaimed as first homes for families. Third, it would reverse the loss of social cohesion in areas where student accommodation is highly concentrated. Winners all round!Dr Richard TylerLeeds |
| The university fees system is broken. First, student loans have created a wasteful parallel tax department; if the rationale behind fees is that graduates earn more, a fairer income tax system would ensure that they pay more. Second, the perception of poor value for money is distorted by the fact that students see themselves as consumers, who want as much as possible for their money (occasionally with the implication that they shouldn’t be asked to work too hard). A key goal of university education is to help them become independent thinkers, but giving students more contact hours, fewer exams and more help from staff undermines this goal. | The university fees system is broken. First, student loans have created a wasteful parallel tax department; if the rationale behind fees is that graduates earn more, a fairer income tax system would ensure that they pay more. Second, the perception of poor value for money is distorted by the fact that students see themselves as consumers, who want as much as possible for their money (occasionally with the implication that they shouldn’t be asked to work too hard). A key goal of university education is to help them become independent thinkers, but giving students more contact hours, fewer exams and more help from staff undermines this goal. |
| Perhaps some universities are providing lousy teaching to packed lecture theatres for purely financial reasons, but it’s hard to separate evidence of such from students’ general suspicion that they are being short-changed or from the problems facing academics who are constantly pressured into working harder. The net effect of fees is to undermine the relationship of trust that must be at the heart of education. | Perhaps some universities are providing lousy teaching to packed lecture theatres for purely financial reasons, but it’s hard to separate evidence of such from students’ general suspicion that they are being short-changed or from the problems facing academics who are constantly pressured into working harder. The net effect of fees is to undermine the relationship of trust that must be at the heart of education. |
| Finally, they encourage students to take courses that will allow them to pay off their debt. The long-term effect of that is that we become increasingly short of people willing and able to question the assumptions that market mechanisms are the only ones that work and that economic growth is, in effect, the meaning of life, regardless of the cost to the quality of human life or the welfare of all the other species on our planet.Dr Jim EndersbyReader in the history of scienceUniversity of Sussex | Finally, they encourage students to take courses that will allow them to pay off their debt. The long-term effect of that is that we become increasingly short of people willing and able to question the assumptions that market mechanisms are the only ones that work and that economic growth is, in effect, the meaning of life, regardless of the cost to the quality of human life or the welfare of all the other species on our planet.Dr Jim EndersbyReader in the history of scienceUniversity of Sussex |
| Tuition fees | |
| The big issue | |
| Students | |
| Student finance | |
| Higher education | |
| letters | |
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