AIBU to think that it would have been fairer to introduce a graduate tax than increase tuition fees

Income tax ensures that those who earn more pay more in tax. There’s no more to it.

Tax graduates and they’ll go overseas.

Higher education and going away to university aren't the same thing.
In other countries not only are a large proportion of students weeded out by tough first year exams. There are other ways to get higher education including technical colleges (which can later be made up to a degree). Bear in mind NVQ Level 6 qualications include many things that aren't 'degrees' but they have to meet the same standards.

In the UK, not only do students live away from home, students failing is seen as an issue on part of the university. They are customers who have 'bought' a product, and expect what they e paid for hence everything is watered down.

University should be for the academic. Everyone else goes a different route. That doesn't mean that the latter is any lesser.

BTW anybody who wants to go to university definitely can.. even if they get D's in the A-levels for their chosen subject. We have one of the most educated working age populations in Europe. Has it translated to increased productivity? Nope. Does the general public demonstrate a good propensity for critical thinking? Nope. So what benefit have the degrees brought?

Even something like a FE college where students can do a year close to home would save loads.

How would a graduate tax work for international students?

I think the current student loan system is better but the interest rates are way too high and penalise people who earn less and can’t pay it off as quickly. The answer would be to go back to charging minimal interest so that it’s fairer for all.

What about them? There are so many jobs now being done by graduates where a degree is unnecessary. Employers would just have to stop demanding graduates if they were no longer a glut on the market.

Probably Art Schools and Drama Schools too.

People who pay up front for their tuition don't pay the least: they pay less than someone who takes out a loan and pays it back over a period of decades, but they pay much more than people who work in very low wage professions or become long term SAHPs, or acquire disabilities that prevent them from earning, or move abroad.

If you asked the government whether they'd rather everyone pay 9,250 up front or whether they'd rather everyone take out the loan I know what they'd pick.

And not all people from wealthy families go on to become high earners.

I’m not saying it’s a good idea particularly, I’m just saying it is obviously possible to fund universities through taxation. It used to be done, it could be done again.

Courses at polytechnics and colleges of higher education were funded also. No tuition fees and a maintenance grant was awarded, same as for universities.

They’d have to stop demanding if fewer people had them.

Fewer people in the UK may have them but what about workers from other countries?

Not only would they need to ring fence the graduate tax, they then need to allocate it to the individual college attended by the tax payer. And some will have gone to multiple universities.

Paying it in fees is the easiest and cheapest way of guaranteeing the funding straight away.

Perhaps the employers need to change?

valid argument as to why they should but they won’t.

They’d have to stop demanding if fewer people had them. 🤷‍♀️

I'm not saying they don't contribute, I'm saying it's unfair that people who just scrape into the higher rate tax bracket end up paying more for their education than people who are on six figures by the time they're 25.

Perhaps the employers need to change?

Degrees really are not necessary or relevant to a lot of careers. They now do the job that A' levels and similar used to do - just signal to the employer that you have some brains and are not completely lazy.

I think society would work better if only 5% of people went to university, and the norm was to get a good technical or practical qualification whilst working from age 18, basically apprenticeships for everyone.

You do understand that a banking and finance are a significant part of the UK’s GDP?
You, personally, may not rate their profession, but they do contribute.

In other countries higher education is considered to be a good thing and "making the right choices". It's just here that staying in education is considered to be a negative thing.

What do you class as a “Mickey mouse” degree.

I would rather only 15% of teenagers went to university as was the case when I went and that we had fewer universities.

unrealistic in a world where so many employers demand degrees.

That would cost money. So the colleges would lose. The point in raising the fees is to raise funds for the university.

What is the point of a costly bureaucratic delay?

I dont like the idea of a graduate tax as the current system does have a supposed end point and I don't really see why one graduate has to pay for another graduate.

I also think the current system means the university a student picks gets the funding. With a tax, politicians could chose different priorities for funding. Which I know could mean a paternalistic limiting of choice away from bad choices, but I dont think that always works.

They could also just decide that the 1% tax is now a 5%, 20 years down the line.

And if it's like other taxes, they could end up not ring fencing it anyway.