Student Debt Soars In UK

Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are accumulating personally large debts as a result of the high cost of tuition fees. In 2008 the Push Survey showed a 10% rise in student loans compared with 2007, suggesting that student loans could top ?17,500 by the time students in all parts of the UK other than Scotland left education. In October 2009, this expectation was proved correct when the Labour government warned families to expect tuition fees to rise to ?7,000 per annum, creating a debt of ?21,000 for students studying for three years, a common timescale.
Scotland Deals a Blow to the Student Tuition Fees Debate
In February 2008, the Scottish parliament abolished local student contributions. As a result of this initiative, Scotland’s student population has reaped huge financial benefits compared to students elsewhere in the UK. A major policy change over student contributions for tuition fees by the Scottish parliament has never been mirrored elsewhere in the UK. As a result in June 2010 Scottish government figures showed that the debt owed by a Scottish student amounted to just a third owed by other students in the the UK.
In real terms this amounts to ?5,970 for Scottish students and ?14,730 for English students. As a result, Scottish students are less likely to be affected by the attitudes associated with high debt when compared to students elsewhere in the UK. A recent research study by the UK based Sutton Trust, "Knowing Where to Study? Fees, Bursaries and Fair Access," conducted by the Institute for Educational Policy Research andInstitute for Access Studies (IEPR/IAS), recognized that a large proportion of students from poorer families are resistant to the idea that higher education may now come at a cost to them personally of ?7,000 per annum.
Education being used to manipulate and widen society's class divides is another damaging consequence of costly tuition fees. One highlighted by a recent proposal to scrap the government target to achieve 50% of people below 30 into higher education as submitted by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). This proposal suggests that such a reduction would reaffirm the value and status of a degree while totally ignoring the importance of access to higher education for all as of more benefit. Such a stance has been taken even though the United States continues to be an example of what can be achieved by increasing the sophistication of a majority of the population.
The AGR proposal would undermine all previous attempts to develop the UK workforce into a modern competitive instrument and ultimately dilute the ability of the UK to compete effectively at an international level. Additionally this proposal seeks to prevent access to higher education for the masses in order to retain an archaic class tradition that is a significant backwards step in today’s world.
While Scotland’s visionary approach continues to support a belief that it is essential to cut tuition fees for students in order to keep higher education attractive. A financially overstretched central government at Westminster cannot mirror the support of students in the north because funding is genuinely unavailable. Yet Parliament recognizes the need to lighten this burden for students and continues to debate an alternative funding source. The answer to a basic question provides an obvious candidate.
Alternative Funding of Tuition Fees for UK Students
A major beneficiary of a well educated population is the business sector which arguably provides a worthy reason why the business sector should contribute towards student tuition fees. A government levy on industry profits of just 0,5% per annum would pay for all tuition fees in the UK. In return industry

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