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My Sunday musing: A short thread on UK Undergraduate tuition fees and the wisdom of asking for a fee waiver. tl;dr UK tuition isn't a loan, it's a tax+subsidy in disguise; fee reductions will only help the future richest students, and won't help students or Universities now.
(prompted by the NUS campaign mentioned in this) /2 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/17/lecturers-warn-they-will-strike-if-forced-to-resume-unsafe-teaching
Tuition fees are not a "loan" in any traditional sense. A student accepts a place at University, and the Govt pays a sum of money to the University on the student's behalf.
The student undertakes to make payments against that sum after they graduate... /3
The student undertakes to make payments against that sum after they graduate... /3
... when they begin earning a salary above a given threshold. This is really important. If you are not earning, or you are not earning enough, then you do not make payments. If you have not paid it all off in 30 yrs, it is written off /4
The repayment conditions are based on treasury calculations that assume that *not all of it will be paid back*, and that percentage (the RAB) forms the Govt subsidy to HE. Critically (AIUI - big caveat) that value sits in the *future* so doesn't count to current national debt. /5
So what will the effect of a cut in tuition fees be? Who gains from it? Remember that payment starts at a salary threshold, and continues until paid off, or for 30 yrs, whichever comes first. /6
For students who graduate to very high salaries, they will pay off their debt early and may thus pay less overall. But most importantly, those who were never going to pay it all off anyway, *will gain nothing* and will continue to make those payments for the full 30 years /7
For universities, as much, if not more, work is going into teaching than ever before. Developing online learning is expensive, in both facilities and staff time. Fee waivers cannot improve student experience. /8
It's really important to consider this - a "fee reduction" doesn't benefit either students or universities, because that's not how it works. What we all need is support for what we need to do *now* and creative solutions to HE funding in the future. /end
