"Tuition fees"
"6k or 9k"
"Only rich kids will go to university"
"Elitist education"
"Social mobility"
These are some of the common phrases in the recent debate about increasing the tuition fees for universities in the UK. I am in a privilege position, not only that all these changes will not affect me as an international and final-year student, this is also one of the rare opportunity for me to observe and follow the debate without having to take a stance.
In following all these debates, the main argument seems to be, "By allowing universities to increase the tuition fees from 6k to 9k, this will effectively stop or discourage students, especially those from lower and middle income groups, from going to university". In other words, it was perceived that with the increase in tuition fees the number of students entering university will decrease, especially those from lower and middle income groups. But, it is also important to point out that students will be given a loan if they got a place in university and will only repay the loan after they started working and earning a certain level of income. The gist of the argument is therefore, "with the increased tuition fees, students will have a larger debt to repay in the future and hence this will discourage those students from lower or middle income group from even thinking of going to university".
This left me wondering, "Is this really the case?"
Personally, I do not think so. My rationale is that during the period that university education in the UK was free (or zero fees), the participation rate was significantly lower than the period when there was a 3k tuition fees. Is fees really the problem that is discouraging students from going to university? Let us not forget that the UK higher education system has traditionally been an elitist form of education, even during the period of zero fees. It was after the introduction of fees that the higher education sector in the UK went through the period of massification.
Therefore, I do not think that the fees or even debts are the factor that hinder or discourage students from aspiring to go to university, and perhaps the debate might have been "barking on the wrong tree".
