Comment: Crippling debt for students

Feb 12 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

IT IS an unpalatable truth that nearly all students will be saddled with considerable debt once they graduate, with the average debt of students in Liverpool topping £15,000.

The Government’s logic is that, because of the favourable, flexible terms on which student loans are made, and because, theoretically, students will gain well-paid jobs once they leave university, the amount of debt should not be insurmountable – even if it is a burden around the necks of graduates for many years afterwards.

But all that could change if the Government goes ahead with plans to scrap the £3,000-a-year cap on tuition fees, according to one of Liverpool’s most senior academics.

Professor Gerard Pillay, Vice Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University, has raised the prospect that students could be stuck with student debt for their entire working life if fees are allowed to rise to up to £9,000-a-year.

A government review is widely expected to allow such a move, as it would solve the funding battle it is having with many universities.

Yet, while this may solve one problem for the Government, it is likely to create many more for students, and – ultimately – for the tax payer.

It could also have serious consequences for the Government’s own stated aim to increase the numbers going to university, and lead – once more – to a situation in which only the children of the rich can afford such an education.

Many institutions have tried to offset the effect of top-up fees by setting up a bursary scheme to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But the frightening figures now being bandied about for tuition fees are sure to deter many would-be students who, quite sensibly, may decide the benefits of a university education are outweighed by the scale of personal debt involved.

Simply transferring the burden of funding universities from the Government to students is a cynical ploy which could have disastrous effects not just for the numbers entering higher education, but the country as a whole.