Call for university fees re-think

Monday, June 14, 2010

Scottish graduates should have to pay some of the costs of their university education, a think-tank has suggested.

A report from Reform Scotland has argued that higher education is not a free entitlement and that graduates should start paying towards the cost of their degree courses once they earn more than the average salary.

The Reform Scotland paper suggested the Scottish government could continue to fund a set proportion of the average cost of a degree course, depending on the subject.

The rest would be repaid by the graduate, once they are earning more than the average salary in Scotland, and collected by the Student Loans Company.

The report says: "There needs to be a better balance where the individual graduate as well as taxpayers contribute towards education."

The Power to Learn paper also calls for the abolition of the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Council and for the Scottish Qualifications Authority to be made a fully independent trust.

Means-testing student loans should be scrapped so that students can claim the maximum available, the report said.

Report co-author Geoff Mawdsley said: "At present, there are those who are academically able but financially unable to go to university but pay taxes which subsidise those who do go to university.

"While it is true to say that society as a whole benefits from having a well-educated workforce, the individual graduates themselves also benefit from the higher earnings they accrue."