25 November 2010, Oxford, UK
I went to watch the 'student' protests of the proposed increase in university tuition fees yesterday (it's part of my area of academic interest). I noted that while a balaclava-wearing protest leader standing on the steps of the Radcliffe Camera library invited fellow protesters to "eat pizza in the Bodleian" over a megaphone, two of Oxford's homeless were eating left over pizza crusts from the bin on Brasenose Lane, in view of the protest. I wonder what these to people made of a largely upper middle class group of young people (statistically speaking) complaining that they have to pay more for what is an incredibly privileged lifestyle to begin with...? I am sure they would have simply appreciated the pizza.
Those supporting these protests should realize that money to subsidize higher education doesn't automatically come from a handful of bankers' bonuses, or simply raising taxes. It comes from other social programs and health spending. As a former policy advisor in Canada on these issues, I agree what has been proposed for England is short-sighted & not especially well-informed policy. However, I also think the idea that all students deserve a free ride with regard higher education is not only bad policy but incredibly selfish. Very little of the current and proposed student financial assistance plans associated with the fee increases is tied to means-testing (i.e. measuring the actual financial need of the student).
Those supporting these protests should realize that money to subsidize higher education doesn't automatically come from a handful of bankers' bonuses, or simply raising taxes. It comes from other social programs and health spending. As a former policy advisor in Canada on these issues, I agree what has been proposed for England is short-sighted & not especially well-informed policy. However, I also think the idea that all students deserve a free ride with regard higher education is not only bad policy but incredibly selfish. Very little of the current and proposed student financial assistance plans associated with the fee increases is tied to means-testing (i.e. measuring the actual financial need of the student).
Arguably it would make much more sense for English universities to charge up-front fees (rather than the purely income contingent loan repayment scheme that is in place currently) and for those in need of grants and loans to receive them on a means-tested basis than having a universal program which allows even the most wealthy to receive low interest loans subsidized by the public for the duration of a students' studies? One supposed that the architects of the proposed policy spent a lot of time looking at the Australian Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) circa 1990s, failing to notice how that system is now imploding under the weight of poor, politically-motivated tinkering. One further assumes that little if any consideration was given to the imperfect but largely successful Canadian approaches to the same questions.
Hopefully, for the sake of these Oxford students who need to access their library, that it reopens soon...
