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Written by Austin Mitchell
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06 January 2004 |
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Dear Alan
TUITION FEES
Thank you for the information on tuition fees. I hope you`ll be sending more in answer to the series of questions I put to you in my own letters which crossed with yours. However, perhaps I could add a few points which arise from this.
First. It seems logical if bursaries are to be introduced and the total exemption from the £1,125 fee charge to be maintained for the poorest third then all fees should be exempted for this group in the same way. We can`t have it both ways maintaining that the initial exemption was necessary but that the rest can be taken back from higher earnings later. It`s the wealth or poverty of the background students come from that is the dominant consideration not the lottery of later earnings. This is the determinant of whether or not they go to university and how well they do when there because it`s more of a struggle for kids from poorer backgrounds competing with those from a wealthier background whose parents support their little darlings and are anxious to ensure that they aren`t handicapped by a huge burden of debt.
Secondly. With the introduction of the £1000 bursary we`re gradually working our way back to the position we should never have left but did when we scrapped the existing bursary structure. But let`s face it, £1000 is peanuts. t needs to be trebled if it`s to be a real incentive for poorer kids to go. Moreover, it`s not clear who it will apply to, whether it will be tapered by means testing as the old bursaries were and why it shouldn`t be combined with whatever bursaries the universities themselves have been coerced into offering. Why two pots rather than one? Increase the sum and make it easier to calculate what kids are to get by paying it all out of one – the state pot. Moreover, if we`re going to make a song and dance about how fair we`re being in making university students pay their fees just as students in other institutions and part-timers have always had to then we should make all the latter eligible for the bursaries too. Fair`s fair.
Thirdly. Frankly I doubt your argument that fees will range from zero to £3000. What happens to the £1250 they`re already allowed to charge? That will surely continue everywhere. Then who`s not going to charge the max? I assume all the Russell Group are. Indeed some of them already want to charge more than £3000. Who among the rest isn`t going to go for the max. and thereby admit that they`re crap? What discussions have been held with all the universities on this point? What information do you have on what they`re likely to charge? If we believe what they say they`re all in the same dire financial straits so it`s logical to assume that the need for more money is constant.
I can`t help thinking that we`re not really thinking things through because we`re confused about what the intention is. If we really want more participation from the less well off then there has to be more positive discrimination in their favour. If we`re really about establishing a market and a hierarchy of excellence then it would be logical to allow the elite universities to charge what they want but guarantee that the present fee contribution system is maintained, ie. that the state will pay all the fees of the poorest third, the next third a proportion, and the top third will pay all their own fees. That way we`d be giving working-class kids a real advantage at Oxbridge. If we want to provide university education economically to a higher proportion then we should provide incentives for part-time courses as in Scotland and require lower fees or zero fees for those who study where they live. Surely our powers of invention are not exhausted. Or is the intention just to provide an alternative to Treasury funding?
I don`t mind facing up to a middle-class backlash (and we shouldn`t fool ourselves, there`s going to be one) but I`d like to have firmer ground to stand on than this, as well as an argument that I can justify intellectually because what`s being taken from the middle-class is clearly going to benefit the working.
Yours sincerely
AUSTIN MITCHELL |
