Higher Education - Free for all or Fee for all? Reviews

Certainly the prospect of paying for University education, for our son in the future, is a daunting one. The only advantage we have over many others is that we have spent the past seven years paying private school fees anyway, so we know first-hand how large the money-drain is, and will be. We are not wealthy parents; only one ...

I agree in principle that students should contribute to the cost of higher education, but I think it should be the student that pays not the parent. And pragmatically that means letting the students pay it back afterwards as they do with the loans. I don't think parents should be forced to pay for their adult offspring or else what was the ...

I am hoping to go to university. I am lucky as my husband`s wages are low so I would not have to pay tuition fees but there are many students who are not so lucky. If I was 18 (knowing what my parents thought about university and how it wasn`t for the likes of us), I would have serious problems. There are students whose parents refuse to support ...

As a parent on a low fixed income ( disability benefits)I am not in a position to offer much financial support to my daughter, now starting her second year at University..And although she qualifies for a full LOAN and has her tuition fees paid for by the LEA it barely covers her rent..And like so many students she must take paid employment to ...

Now I’m not sure how this works. You raise your children as best you can, want to give them the best start in life, coax them through primary school and then help through traumatic adolescence. And you think it’s been all worth while, now higher education takes over and will help put them into their rightful place in society. That is ...

I had to pay for a couple of my modules while studying for a degree.. at first I thought 'because I am paying for these with my own money, I might work harder' That was never the case.. I studied in the same way as I did while the tution fees were being paid for by the Local Authority. So it definitely doesn't make you ...

There have been a number of problems, which militate for reform. 1) Higher education has been underfunded - institutions are unable to take students who are eligible for a course because they do not have the money to provide adequate teaching. In many institutions they are already unable to provide adequate teaching for the students who ...

In its truest form both capitalism and communism produce the same results and so it doesn't matter which method you use. In reality neither system works. Both of these policial theories are played out with the funding of education and neither providing an answer. The basic problem with university fees is that it they are affectively being ...

Okay, here's where I stand on paying for education. Free education is okay in theory, but in reality, it just doesn't work. Like as in so many other things, there is always a minority who abuse the system. I know several people, who were still studying into their late 20's, not because they were studying anything complicated, but ...

What a hypocritical government we have. The centre of the election promises was "education education education" yet what was one of the first things they did? Took away the right to free higher education. I was very lucky in that I had already started my course when such a ridiculous system was brought in and I know that loads ...

I missed the cut off point for getting money from the government for my education by two years either way. On the one hand, I have just finished my first year of university and, unlike those two years above me have, now owe the Student Loans compant £4480. My sister will be getting thirty pounds a week just to stay at school and do her A-levels in ...

Education should be free. The tuition fees are going up to £1050 for next year (2000-2001) and I've just learnt that the min loan has gone up as well (£2795). I think that everyone should be able to have the same amount of loan, but those less well off should continue to have some of their fees paid for. Just because my parents earn above the ...

The tuition fees here in the UK are indeed relatively high compared to anywhere in the world though. Since the 1st time I touched down upon the land I can certainly feel the extreme expenses to comply with in the duration of my studies. As an overseas student, I had not been givern any scholarship in any form whatsoever. Not to ...

It is my belief that everyone should be entitled to a free education, and that includes going to University if wanted. We don't pay to go to school, so why pay for University? I understand the economics, but it is to the benefit of the whole country for more people to gain a higher standard of education. Graduates earn more than ...

I think that this is a highly complicated issue indeed. I am a postgrduate student studying for a phD, so I have quite a wealth of experiences in the system. I have effectively had to pay for all of my education. I recieved no grant for my first degree and so my parents had to finance all three years, mY masters was self funding and i had to ...

I myself come from a relatively large family, 6 of us. My elder brother started university at the beginning of this academic year, and so had to get a student "loan" rather than a "grant". Now no students get money to help to pay with their higher education costs, but instead have a loan, which they must repay. For this ...

Would Mr Blair not agree that these university fees that he now insists on charging have meant that there are many cases of elitism becoming more and more prevalent in our universities. This is most likely derived from the fear that once a university loan is taken (because the student can't afford fees), you will not be able to pay it back. ...

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 ...

Might as well get straight to the point here. I talk in general terms and I accepttnat some students come from poorer backgrounds and need help. But, expenditure on higher education by government is a transfer of earnings from poor to rich as it is the rich who benefit most. As such, it is a form of regressive spending and needs to be ...

The recent newspaper report about britsih and european students possibly having to pay £8000 for a science degree is a frightening prospect. I graduated in 1997 with a degree in Materials Technology and Chemistry and have now jsut finsihed my first year on an Optometry degree. I always wanted to do the Optometry degree and was expecting to pay ...