Should We Have A Graduate Tax?
There have been various discussions about bringing in a Graduate Tax, but it would appear according to this report, that Vince Cable would not be in favour of such a tax.
It is a difficult problem, as if you make taxes on high-flying graduates or their loan interest onerous, then they will leave the country and not pay. As we live in an increasingly mobile society, I suspect that thirty years on we’ll start to have problems collecting the smaller student loans that have already been taken out. Remember that a lot of middle-class parents have funded their kids through University in the last few years, so the pressure on the system is not as great as it might be!
The Anonymous Widower 
I dont know the answer. Our elder daughter had a student loan, but the fees were only £1000 a year, paid in advance. We paid her rent and her fees, and it was VERY hard indeed. Our younger daughter graduated last year, we paid her rent, but her fees are retrospective. She owes more than her sister. We cannot afford to pay off either or their loans at present, we would if we could.
Personally, I like the idea of the graduate tax. Although as you say, the graduates could go abroad so they dont pay.
I really dont know what the answer is. But one has to be found.
Comment by Liz P | October 13, 2010 |
The only thing I’ll chuck is in the observations of a school friend, who used to be the admissions tutor at a major engineeering faculty. He analysed all the students and found those who got the best degrees were those who did the degree after working in industry for a few years. Often without Aevels. So he might argue that the current unversity model is wrong.
C always felt that one of the best judges she knew had got his law degree part-time whilst working as a police inspector, before he was a lawyer. Sadly, he died in a road accident going to work!
I do think though we overvalue degrees. I got three things from Liverpool University; a degree in Engineering, streetwiseness and a wife!
Comment by AnonW | October 13, 2010 |
Both Neil and did our degrees as mature students, Neil doing his by day release from his employers, although at one stage we were paying his fees ourselves. I was very pregnant with our youngest child when he sat his finals, thankfully she didnt arrive until it was over. I did my degree via Open University a few years later, which of course we paid for ourselves. So we had both worked and both seen something of life before we went to uni.
One of the problems nowadays seems to be that such high grades are asked for in many cases that young people dont have part time jobs. There are many who have never done a days paid work when they first go to uni, and in some cases dont work at all while they are uni, not even in the summer break. I think that is really bad, both my girls worked in 6th form, and the eldest worked part time in term time, and some holidays, and then did unpaid work in children’s camps for a couple of summers – all leading to her choosing the career she chose. The younger daughter worked all her holidays, via a temp agency, and when she graduated she was sent on a temp assignment by the same agency, and this turned into a promising permanent job, using her degree, and with a training element.
We do need fewer graduates, it is getting ridiculous the things which are now available as degree courses. I think that all degrees should be in a subject which leads to employment such as engineering, or in a subject which is useful to employers because of its range of skills, such as English or psychology. Not that I am biased, we have one engineering graduate, two psychology graduates and one English graduate!
Comment by Liz P | October 13, 2010 |