The Liberal Democrats have highlighted plans to scrap university tuition fees and to lower student debt.
They would provide grants of up to £2,000 a year for poorer students.
The party says the plans, funded by a 50% tax rate for those earning more than £100,000, would cut debt for those on low incomes by an average of
£7,000.
The Conservatives have also pledged to scrap university fees. Labour would continue grants of up to £1,000 in England and plan fees up to £3,000.
Figures from Barclays show the average student debt is currently £13,501.
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Hmmm, Labour say they'll introduce top-up fees, keep loans and extend grants further for the less well off.
The tories claim they'll scrap fees but say nothing much about loans and grants.
The LibDems claim they'll have grants and no fees but are unclear about loans.
Frankly I don't see why the majority (who have not gone to university and will never enjoy the levels of salary most graduates enjoy) should fund
this completely (and let's not forget the tax-payer will still be funding the majority of the costs of higher education whatever scheme is used).
For those who dreamt of university as a party and 3 to 4yrs of drunken doss with the last 6mths being a mad cram tough luck, those days are long
over.
Of course it's hard (I have relatives that have just left, leaving this year, there and some a few months, one and two years off of going) but such
is life and it's surely not unreasonable to ask students to invest in their own future just as wider society is doing, hmmm?
So long as there are safeguards for those with low incomes (as there are under this Labour gov) I am fairly happy that this hard-won linkage that the
better-off contribute towards their own education now exists.
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