As everyone probably knows in 2010 the British coalition government removed the £3,290 cap per year on universities, at first they decided to remove it completely but then they proposed to set the cap at £9,000 per cap. This was nearly triple the original amount that students had to pay per year, undoubtedly this sparked a major nation-wide protest particularly in central London against this review, which led to sporadic bouts of violence, causing a lot of disruptions and chaos across areas of London on different days. But it is not entirely the government's decision to increase tuition fees, they only set the cap. Universities themselves are deciding to increase the tuition fees but then again this is from cuts in public spending (education) from the government, so who shall we point the blame at?
Whether this was morally right or not is not my place to say, but I will explore the reasons behind the review.
One of the biggest reasons that contributed to the increase in tuition fees by the universities was massive cuts in government spending on education, this meant that universities were underfunded so they were not as able to improve facilities as they were originally, this meant students were less likely to go to the chosen university, leading UK to lose their world class status in terms of higher education.
The financial crisis led to the reduction in money spent on the education, which was only exacerbated by inflation which meant that students were still paying roughly the same amount as they did 6 years ago, but because of the rate of inflation (which was at a low of 1.1% in 2004 but peaked at 5.4% in 2009) this meant that improvement on facilities required more money to purchase and most probably professors and other employees of the universities were demanding an increase in pay due to the rise in prices.
Even though this meant that students would find it considerably harder to pay off their financial debt once they finished university, the government did make it easier for undergraduates to be able to gather their sums and pay it off. They agreed that incomes from £21,000 had to pay 9% towards their student fees, once your income starts increasing and it hits £41,000 they will have to pay 3% real interest on top of the inflation.
In the most basic terms universities are trying to earn some more pocket money to be able to continue to maintain their high profile status. And whom to blame? The financial crisis for persuading the government to reduce our most esteemed universities's pocket money.
One of the biggest reasons that contributed to the increase in tuition fees by the universities was massive cuts in government spending on education, this meant that universities were underfunded so they were not as able to improve facilities as they were originally, this meant students were less likely to go to the chosen university, leading UK to lose their world class status in terms of higher education.
The financial crisis led to the reduction in money spent on the education, which was only exacerbated by inflation which meant that students were still paying roughly the same amount as they did 6 years ago, but because of the rate of inflation (which was at a low of 1.1% in 2004 but peaked at 5.4% in 2009) this meant that improvement on facilities required more money to purchase and most probably professors and other employees of the universities were demanding an increase in pay due to the rise in prices.
Even though this meant that students would find it considerably harder to pay off their financial debt once they finished university, the government did make it easier for undergraduates to be able to gather their sums and pay it off. They agreed that incomes from £21,000 had to pay 9% towards their student fees, once your income starts increasing and it hits £41,000 they will have to pay 3% real interest on top of the inflation.
In the most basic terms universities are trying to earn some more pocket money to be able to continue to maintain their high profile status. And whom to blame? The financial crisis for persuading the government to reduce our most esteemed universities's pocket money.
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