Universities Charge What The Government Allows Them To Charge Shock!

So, it appears that some universities will be charging the maximum possible in tuition fees that the government allows. Fair enough, I reckon. A degree from a decent university is worth much more than £9k. What does bother me, though, is the government then whining about universities charging the maximum.

I’m sorry, but what precisely did they think was going to happen here? That most universities – entities that need to make money – would charge as much as possible in many cases was 100% inevitable. To think otherwise is completely naïve. Yet the government seems to have been precisely that. There seems to be a certain incredulity that money-making organisations would choose to, well, make money. This talk of only charging the maximum in “exceptional circumstances” is nonsense on stilts – after all, what could be more of an exceptional circumstance for a university that having large amounts of its government funding removed?

Just to be clear – I’m not concerned about tuition fees, or the substantial rise in them. In many ways the new system is fairer since it is being financially able to pay back the cost of a university education is now categorically the criterion for being expected to do so. What does bother me, though, is the terminal stupidity of a government that allows organisations to make money, and then gets the hump when they do. The coalition need to get a grip. They need to be far more astute and political than this. Fundamentally, they need to remember the basic point that their policies have consequences, and if they don’t like those consequences, then they shouldn’t pursue the related policies in the first place.

How not to get the best from a University Education

This was all observed at York Uni last week: a female student came into one of the study areas. She found a desk, sat down, and got a bag of crisps out of her bag. She proceeded to crunch her way through them while unpacking her books. Having finished her (rather loud, for a silent area) meal she then rested her desk, and went to sleep. For a good hour. Then she woke up, packed up her books, and left the room. It was then that I saw that she was clutching one of those "No to 9K" posters.

Now, I can see why she wouldn't want to spend 9k a year on having a room to sleep in on a campus when the need takes her. That's not good value for money. But honest to God, having a kip in a study area not what a university education is actually about. Truth be told, in an institution like York, 9k is actually good value for money, given the good facilities and (generally speaking) the excellent level of teaching on offer. The point is that this girl - and any other student paying for the opportunity to go to a good university - is that you get value for money by making the most of your time at that institution. Or to put it another way, getting a degree is actually about more than eating and sleeping.