| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re Brillian article - | |
| Posted by: | Brenda OSullivan | |
| Date/Time: | 11/11/10 10:15:00 |
| The idea that the imposition of student tuition fees is in some way a betrayal of the current generation of students by older generations is just daft. We did indeed benefit from free further education but a relatively small number of us did because the number of our generation who went into tertiary education was far smaller than it is today. All parties quite rightly ignore the complaints about mickey mouse degrees at mickey mouse universities and continue to advocate an expansion of further education opportunities but this is expensive. This has to be paid for and facile comparisons with the banking bailouts indicate that perhaps more emphasis should be made on expanding the economics departments of universites. The support given to banks during the global economic crisis shouldn't be seen as an expenditure item in the Government's budget. It is a balance sheet change and if history is any guide the tax payer will end up making a surplus on. Most of the bankers' getting bonuses will work in areas unconnected to problems in the money markets that led to the necessity for the bail out. All our basic services would collapse if you took away the contribution to the Exchequer that the City of London makes - it is internationally our most successful and competitive industry and without it we would be a complete economic basket case. We could look at increasing the budget for tertiary education. I don't know what the numbers are on this but I do know that a Labour administration looked at them and decided it wasn't feasible. The Liberal Democrats campaigned on the basis that it was feasible but when they got to look at the books they quickly decided that it wasn't. Increasing tax or reducing spending elsewhere to fund further education would be effectively a wealth transfer from the less well off to the middle class which is probably why nobody wants to do it. In defending the policy I am not betraying the younger generation. I have children, I hope they go to university and the financial burden of tuition fees is likely to ultimately directly or indirectly fall back on me. |