Damien Cosgrove, Kent and east Sussex Socialist Party
An average student in England now graduates university with £53,000 worth of debt. It’s no wonder then that studies show that tuition fees deter those from the poorest backgrounds from going to university. The total debt of new graduates has increased by 10% in the last year, as more students have had to borrow money just to get by as maintenance loans don’t even cover housing costs in towns and cities across the country.
Tuition fees have been increased since they were introduced by Tony Blair’s ‘new’ Labour at £1,000 in 1998 to £3,000 in 2004, then to £9,000 in 2012. And Keir Starmer increased them again last year. At the same time, the earnings threshold at which graduates start repaying has moved downwards. Under the most recent threshold you will begin paying back your student loan once you earn £25,000.
Fees are ‘justified’ on the basis that you are more likely to leave university and find a better-paid job. Research from the Social Mobility Foundation found that working-class graduates were likely to earn around half that of graduates with parents from a professional background, with 61% of the better-paid graduates stating that connections through family or friends help them secure their first job outside of university.
Tuition fees and marketisation turns education into a cost-benefit analysis for working-class people. Many friends of mine have rejected the idea of university because they simply cannot accept thousands of pounds of debt with no guarantee of better employment chances at the end of it.
We need an education system that is free from inequality. Education should be about more than just employability yet this is what the capitalist system we live in reduces it to. Education should be free and accessible so that all those who wish to learn skills, academic or otherwise.
Education should be fully funded with living grants for all, for anyone who wishes to pursue it, at all levels and at all stages of life. Everyone should be free to pursue their passions and interests, regardless of how much this benefits those at the top.
