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Make high-earners, not students, pay for our crumbling higher education system.

Paul Twigger - Vice President, Liverpool Students Union | 14.01.2004 12:26 | Analysis | Education | Indymedia | Liverpool | London

Parliament will be voting on the Higher Education Bill on the 27th January; if passed it will severely penalise students and put many prospective students off univeristy. There are alternatives which the government is unwilling to listen to. Great Britain is a democracy and we have a voice... let's make ourselves heard.

The proposed introduction of top-up fees will go nowhere near to solving the higher education funding crisis, in fact quite the opposite. Many students from less well off backgrounds will be put of going to university but, more critically, students from "middle England" will be hit the most; those students whose family income will be greater than the Governments proposed income limit will be forced to pay the full £3,000 fees, which most universities plan to charge, and may not receive a great deal of support from their families. These are the students who will be put off coming to university in increasing numbers. As the number of university entrants drop, university funding will drop also; all in all a vicious cycle that can be solved through a simple system of progressive taxation.

If the £3,000 top-up fees are introduced in 2006 the government will have to fund these sums for several years out of public money before the system becomes self funding. A simple progressive tax on high income earners will create enough cash to fund our universities now - and it is now that our education system desperately needs this money. A mere 3% increase in income tax on earners of over £100,000 a year will create enough cash now to make our higher education system what it should be, instead of a 50% income tax levied on graduates who earn over £35,000 a year.

Of the 300,000 people who earn more than £100,000 a year, 82% are graduates and this number is likely to increase in the coming decades; this is the most simple, effective and intelligent way in which we can fund our universities for the benefit of future generations. High income earners already receive tax incentives and other benefits from the government, a 3% increase will barely effect their disposable income, as opposed to taking half of everything a graduate earns once they reach a pay scale of over £35,000 who, to be frank, cannot be classed in today’s world as ‘high earners’.

The government needs to completely rethink the whole idea of how we can fund our higher education system and give both our students and universities a true alternative to this scandalous bill; I look forward to the 27th January when the government will be defeated by its own back-bench ‘rebels’.

Paul Twigger - Vice President, Liverpool Students Union
- e-mail: lsuptwig@livjm.ac.uk
- Homepage: http://www.l-s-u.com

Comments

Display the following 56 comments

  1. here we go again — random
  2. What about the working class familes... — Thomas J
  3. Education should and must be free to all! — Prolier-than-thou
  4. ok then — random
  5. info — random
  6. Missed the point, nobhead — Prolier-than-thou
  7. Why the fuss? — WhatHasThisToDoWithRevolt?
  8. give the money to the kids that need it — translator
  9. Free Education — Paul Twigger
  10. youre so clueless — random
  11. It's in the detail — read chomsky
  12. Random hahaha — ZZ
  13. Reinforcing manufactured reality — dh
  14. Random you wanker — Prolier etc
  15. answers.. — random
  16. The economic issue............ — Timbo O'the 'Pool
  17. Yeah whatever, random — psssssssssh
  18. where is the thread going? — translator
  19. and so goes it.. — random
  20. what is the core problem? — translator
  21. where are the protests? — random
  22. how is this? — read chomsky
  23. iam awake — translator
  24. mistakes.. — random
  25. Best article on the general difference between poor working class and well-off — Timbo O'the 'Pool
  26. Maybe — ZZ
  27. zz — random
  28. money saved? — translator
  29. missed something — translator
  30. re: 'mistake' — read chomsky
  31. social class is not a science — translator
  32. Some interesting and useful debate here.... — Timbo O'the 'Pool
  33. yer — random
  34. Working class are a minority in Higher Education! — Kai Andersen
  35. well said — read chomsky
  36. Class is both cultural and collective identity. — Kai Andersen
  37. think about it — translator
  38. just a foot note — translator
  39. unite!! — read chomsky
  40. Let me make it clear... — Kai Andersen
  41. Unite the left? — Kai Andersen
  42. what have i done? — translator
  43. On the issue of Arthur Skargill — translator
  44. common goals — read chomsky
  45. forget the abstract — translator
  46. Be consistent in your argument... — Kai Andersen
  47. Arthur Scargill is a Socialist and just to put the record straight... — Kai Andersen
  48. to set the record straight — translator
  49. typical left — translator
  50. Genuine Class Analysis — Timbo O'the 'Pool
  51. We'll agree to disagree then shall we? — Kai Andersen
  52. Genuine class analysis — Kai Andersen
  53. lets face facts — translator
  54. Class again.. — Timbo O'the 'Pool
  55. You need to be consistent and clear thinking talk about muddled! — Kai Andersen
  56. why we disagree — translator