Student debt - why poorer students suffer more (Higher Education - Free for all or Fee for all?)

Member Name: h.rayfield

Product:	Higher Education - Free for all or Fee for all?
Date:	12/07/00 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everyone can go to University

Disadvantages: Poorer students end up with more debt

I have just left University, having done four years. I owe over £9000 to the student loans company and I did not have to pay my fees. I have a friend who, under the old scheme, would have been eligible for a full grant. He now has to borrow what would have been given, along with his student loan and the money to pay his fees. After a three year course, he will owe over £10000. This is ridiculous. It is such a huge burden for a 21/22 year old to have hanging over them. I try not to think about how much money £9000 is, but there are times when it does keep me awake at night.

And it is not just me. Nearly everyone in my graduating class had debts similar to mine (at least I don't have credit cards etc like some of my peers).

I believe the reason we have such a huge amount of student debt is because anyone can go to University, you don't even need to have respectable A-levels. I don't believe that everyone should be entitled to go to University, I think you should have to work hard, get good A-levels and then go. Everyone goes to University these days and this is devaluing degrees obtained from "good" universities. It is also placing a huge burden on the economy and students graduating.

Make universities harder to get into and less people will go, thereby freeing up more money to help support clever, but poorer students. The current system makes it hard to go to university for the wrong reasons. Clever, able students who can't afford to go should be given government support, they should not have to borrow more money than those who are better off.

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