Thoughts on Top-Up Fees and Grants

Celia and I, many of our friends and several leading politicians got full grants whilst at University.

We now have a government, some of whom got those full grants, who now want to introduce a system that will load tomorrow's students with large amounts of debt.

Will it give Universities more money?

As the government has made a lot of concessions, I doubt it!

Two things need to be done :-

1. There needs to be serious questioning of whether we actually should send 50% of students to University.

All my academic friends, say it is far too many!

I say that perhaps it isn't, but that many of that 50% would be better going later or using the Open University.

2. Waste and unnecessary spending needs to be cut by the government, so that the Universities and students can be properly funded.

I am not cutting out part-loans, because now that taxation is well below the rates paid in the seventies, students can afford to pay something back.

But not the amounts they are facing in the future.