Should The British Government Pay for Student Tuition Fees?

An insight into the argument over rising tuition fees in England- and a focus around the main question being raised- Should the British Government pay for Student Tuition Fees?

I strongly suspect that many students across the country, much like myself, are wondering how on earth they are going to survive later on in life when they are bogged down by the current downward spiralling jobs market and on top of that, student loan debt, let alone survival through University life its self!

From a very young age I aspired to go to university- mainly due to the respect that a few letters after your name gave you back in those days. However, now I am much older, with a greater understanding of todays economic climate, and the harsh realisation that I cannot afford to go to university without condenming much of my later life to repaying such loans. I can't help feeling some negative feelings towards the British Government for not only refusing to pay student loans completely, but certainly for rising them to even more astounding heights.I am also very jealous of any Scottish or Welsh students at the moment!

So let's examine the argument- if the Government were to pay for students to go to university, would it work?

Well for starters it would only serve to worsen the current economic climate- more debt means more cuts and less Gov funding elsewhere. However, countries such as Scotland, Greece, Finland, Norway & China have all managed it. I suppose some critics would argue that Scotland is a much smaller country than England, Greece are currently experiencing the some of the worst economic problems seen in any EU country recently and finally that China is not a democratic country and has some of the worst human rights records on the planet. However, China is certainly one of the most technoogically advanced countries on the planet- so maybe paying for students to go to university has it's benefits later on i.e. more people with degrees= more people working in skilled areas of the market= better development.

Some may argue that without tuition fees in place, anyone who meets the grades would be free to go to university and a degree would lose it's value. Certainly we have seen similar circumstances recently where companies have been swamped by students with degrees in this, that and the other, but this happened whilst fees where in place- so apart from funding for university institutions, do the fees play any other role??

I'd wager that a very small percentage of the Countries population can actually afford the £9000 tuition fees that univesities like Oxford & Cambridge are planning to charge next year. I have several friends aspiring to apply to such top universities, and they and their families are very worried about these rises.

Suurely it is better to not charge tuition fees and have more skilled workers than make students try to pay off a loan that most cannot afford?? At least with more skilled people, opportunities abroad will open up, and make for a more prosperous relationship with other countries.

I personally feel that although in the current climate, the Goverment cannot afford to pay for tution fees, the new increase should be reversed and the Government should definately look at a strategy for gradually lowering the tuition fees and eventually scrapping them altogether. I think that the Government have not considered the future impact, only the short term costs and implications.