Ed Miliband's tuition fees policy is equitable, good for Britain and good for the taxpayer
Ed Miliband today stood at the Leeds College of Music to deliver a speech which, it is safe to say, has been hotly anticipated – especially by young people and those who could be first time voters.
A lot has been trailed about what could be coming today, but it would appear that despite the right-wing media’s attempts to smear Ed, a promise has been given which can be delivered. More importantly, this would deliver a genuine saving for tax payers across the country from the get go.
So what is this promise?
A £3k cut in tuition fees, you might think, would cost you the tax payer more. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Fees were introduced in January 2004, so just over 11 years ago, with the idea that as a graduate’s earnings went up they would be more and more able to pay off the money that they had in effect borrowed from the government.
As the below graph shows there is a direct correlation between graduate lifetime earnings, the level at which tuition fees are set and the amount which is then paid back to the government through a person’s pay. Indeed, the higher fees go, the more unlikely it is a graduate will pay back the loan in full.
I, for one, am not surprised at this and I graduated in 2012. Since then my pay may have varied a great deal but one thing I am certain of is that, at least in my current job where I pay on average £1 (yes £1!) per month towards my fees, I will never pay back the loan in full under the current system.
As @EvidenceUK so rightly points out, the potential for paying back in full is dependent almost entirely on the level at which fees are set and the potential earnings of a graduate in their lifetime. This may seem self evident but the fact remains, with wages being squashed it is unlikely that anyone graduating within the last three years and the next two (give or take) – should the current system remain – will repay their fees in full.
So what does this mean on the ground? This will entrench the need for educational institutions to spend more and more time on seeking funding from elsewhere, in effect what we’re seeing with the £9k tuition fee levels is enforced “Business-ification” of what were once considered quality educational establishments.
What Ed Miliband is offering is a rebuttal of this, it is education for all which is quality at the point of use and which most importantly will allow the government to have the money returned to them. Yes, of course, there will be many out there who want the Labour Party to go further even so far as to abolish tuition fees completely.
This is a laudable aim, but what Ed is offering is a starting point from which to begin real change both in higher education and elsewhere. A comparable example is that of the railways; many of us want them returned entirely to the public sector but until such a point as the Labour Party are in majority government this cannot be achieved as legislation is required.
Ed has offered a promise which is deliverable under a Labour government, a promise which can be relied upon and more to the point is equitable. Reducing fees from £9k to £6k would mean an average reduction in debt of around £9k per student; alongside this it will cut the burden on taxpayers in the order of £40bn by 2030.
This is not an idle promise, similar to that signed by Nick Clegg ahead of May 2010, these are fully funded allowing the full protection of our universities so they can concentrate on what they do best – offering the best possible education for the next generation. As an aspiring graduate student myself and also someone paying back laughably small amounts of my tuition fees, I for one can sign up to this straight away.
Ed’s HE policy is equitable, good for Britain as a whole, good for the taxpayer and most importantly will mean Britain retains it’s hard fought for reputation for excellence in Higher Education. This policy is reason enough for first time voters and young people to vote Labour.
Owain Gardner is a graduate of York University and co-editor of Labour Left’s Red Book
114 Responses to “Ed Miliband’s tuition fee pledge: another reason for young people to vote Labour”
Adam
Why not scrap fees? It’s perfectly affordable. So why not do it? Scrap HS2 and scrap Trident and you could have free education with change left over. Properly tackle tax dodging and that would get between £30bn-£120bn.
The fact Labour are presenting this as some kind of victory is baffling, especially as Miliband himself said £6K fees were too high, wrong and a ‘choice’ in Dec 2010 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/04/ed-miliband-tuition-fees1
Yet now he’s expecting us to vote for him for lowering fees to not even the 2010 level. So he’s not even reversing the Tory policy. It’s more half measures from Labour.
Labour also commissioned the Browne Review in the first place which recommended these fee hikes, so you’d have thought they’d be agreeing with their own review? It’s just rank opportunism!
Let’s not forget who gave us fees in 1998, despite saying they wouldn’t – Labour! Not content with lying once, they lied again. In 2001 Blunkett said Labour wouldn’t bring in top up fees & yet in 2004 they introduced them. Yet they have the gall to attack the Lib Dems who, whilst admittedly being cowardly and betraying students, at least only lied once – Labour lied twice! And the Lib Dems at least can blame the Tories, Labour had bumper majorities so can blame nobody. They can’t even say times were tough as the economy was booming. In short they have no excuse and cannot get away from the fact we’re in this mess cause of them – they brought them in! Yet they have the nerve to try and pretend they’re the party of students, when they’ve shafted them time and time again.
I really hope students do not fall for this deceit. Students have been used and abused by all parties for far too long!
Faerieson
It would be extremely difficult to defend Blair’s brand of deviant politics. They certainly laid the foundations for many of the coalition’s more damaging moves.
Rather like you appear to be implying, I often wonder if it might benefit the concept of democracy if we simply opted ‘out!’ Increasing numbers of people are either of the opinion that something is not working, or have resorted to forever voting ‘against’ the least desireable, rather than ‘for’ anyone worthy of trust. ‘Opting out’ might at least increase the volume of the complaints.
Enough shouting and maybe someone will start to listen.
JoeDM
A nice little subsidy to well-off middle-class students paid for by taxes on pension savings !!!!
Leon Wolfeson
You don’t understand the issue, I see.
Leon Wolfeson
This has nothing to do with HS2 and Trident. There’s no need to “offet” anything. It’d be massively cheaper in the long run to lower fees.