As the government announces that University fees are likely to increase to circa £9,000 a year, as a nation we have to ask ourselves if what we are doing to the youth of today is really all that fair. Yes, of course cuts across the economy have to be made and this includes essential public industries such as education, health and emergency services, but is it justifiable to laden down young teenagers and twenty-somethings with debts that could easily grow to £40,000 before they've even graduated? Particularly when their job prospects on leaving university leave little to be desired at the moment.
I attended university a little over 10 years ago and yes I spent too much money in the first term, I ended up living on baked beans on toast for the last month before the next student loan installment kicked in, and I had 3 jobs to see me through my 3 year degree course. I still walked away with a double whammy of debt - the overdraft and credit cards I'd used to fund my social life and the student loan I'd used to fund my course fees and accommodation. As a child from a middle class family I wasn't eligible for any sort of student grant - hence the excessive use of the overdraft. But my debts totalled £13,000, maybe £15,000. A large sum don't get me wrong, but still only a third of what the latest generation of students are likely to face.
Walking out of University with a debt that totals £30,000 - £40,000 can be crippling and is a fairly hefty motivation to miss out on University all together. Whilst high earning families may be able to front the additional charges, middle class and working class families are likely to do a detour around the University pathway, and opt for trying to secure some form of employment instead. And that's such a shame for a country that has pushed the important of higher education, and that houses some of the top Universities and greatest intellects in the world.
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