VAT on uni fees

[567839Y]

So we will probably have a Labour gvt soonish. This means private schools will pretty soon after, have VAT added on to the fees. I think most private school parents have either adjusted to and accepted that fee increase if possible, or they have planned the move to state school.

My point is (as I know others have made but I think it’s more and more of a possibility, the way things are going), once education is made VATable in one area, it won’t be long til others follow. Specifically uni fees. It was Labour who introduced tuition fees initially. It will be Labour who add VAT to them too. I can’t see it not happening once the precedent is set.

It isn’t going to happen and is a complete non-starter.

Long-term, the fees will HAVE to rise - I see no way round this. But it’s the universities that are in dire need of the cash!

I live overseas and am hoping my kids will not want to go to a UK uni as they will get hit with foreign students’ fees, and all the signs are that foreign students are going to get soaked by universities that are desperate to stay afloat and not fire too many people.

I was shocked to see that the interest rate on student loans is 9%, from the day they are taken out.

I am surprised there has not been any big fuss made about this. Seems to have been slipped in quietly. Or have I missed the protests?

You need to follow Money Saving Expert on this if you want to keep up.

I believe they're currently capped at 7.5%: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-england-plan-5/.

Maybe start a new thread for this if you want to discuss, but it's usually brought up in the Higher Education forum rather than here.

I’m not particularly trying to keep up regarding the issue. Last I heard the interest was either interest free or 2% (when I was at uni a long time ago). I was surprised I hadn’t seen the issue being raised more prominently in the news - because frankly it’s daylight robbery for these students. I believe many just don’t think about ever paying it back, it will be a monthly direct debit for ever.

Yes ok not for this thread.

"it will be a monthly direct debit for ever"

This is what I mean about keeping up. It is not a "monthly direct debit". Suggest you go read up about student finance a bit more before diving into debate about it. Yes, it's controversial, but it's very old news. 🙂

Not the point of this thread, but I think Labour will have to spend quite some time defining exactly which educational services will/ will not incur VAT. They already said that independent special schools would be exempt, then back-tracked saying they wouldn't be exempt unless the place was being funded by an EHCP, so charged on a child by child basis?? Then online schools, revision courses, evening classes...

😂🤷‍♀️ ok. Direct debits when they earn over a certain amount (28k maybe). With frankly slim chance of paying it off, then it is written off, at a much later date.

Ps. It is not old news to students who will have the debt now, and in future. It is another way to control the masses, but yes, a different thread. At least it’s not on their credit reports.

That’s exactly the point of this thread, you’re spot on with your questions. Where does VAT on education start, and where does it end.

I didn’t know that they offered a degree in football studies, my son would love to study that! Football is a massive industry with many roles in it. Why so disparaging? Would you scoff at someone studying Ancient Greek?

You sound like a snob @567839Y. I say that as a former comp pupil, Russell Group educated student, employee at Oxbridge.

Paying extra tax is never going to personally be welcomed however you know that those privately educating children are already in a privileged financial situation. You could always send them to state school (93% club) and put the saved fees aside to help with University costs?

Re the loans, it may not be on credit reports if thats correct, but it affects mortgage affordability.

@WASZPy yes, fundamental questions. If the vat was charged child by child is that not discrimination?

Yeah you are so incredibly uninformed it's embarrassing to have started and continued to post on the thread frankly. In other news. we won the Second World War.

Yeah you are so incredibly uninformed it's embarrassing to have started and continued to post on the thread frankly. In other news. we won the Second World War.

😂 Explain please..

As I said, what ever a person wishes to study and rack up student loans on, is their choice.

No you mocked what you perceive to be ‘mickey mouse’ or lesser degrees because you don’t value the subject matter.

VAT on private school fees will be a way that the affluent contribute more to our society.

The media definition of "mickey mouse degrees" actually seems to have widened to include things like English Literature, Fine Art, and Music: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/worst-university-degrees-damage-career-prospects/

VAT on private school fees is a vote winner for Labour, and VAT on university fees is not, so they’re not going to be introducing that anytime soon. However, no-one knows for sure what’s going to happen in the world moving forward and if higher education funding is in a truly parlous state in, say, ten or twenty years time then desperate measures could theoretically be taken. I mean, VAT on private school fees will set a precedent for educational services incurring VAT and this increases the risk of the same thing happening to university fees one day. I’m not actually saying we definitely shouldn’t add VAT to private school fees, just that it does increase the risk of VAT being imposed on other areas of education - and I think it is only fair that this should be acknowledged.

They already do contribute more through income tax. The issue is that there are very few net contributors in the UK and higher rate tax payers are net contributors. We have too many people who take more from benefits than people who pay in through income tax. I'm not knocking benefits just merely pointing out that higher rate tax payers are contributing significantly more already.
VAT is widely acknowledged as being a regressive form of taxation.
Even my prospective Labout candidate now acknowledges that VAT will bring in much less over the long term than is being claimed and that it is ideological rather than sensible.

@twistyizzy kindly stop clouding the issue with facts

😆

Lots of independent school parents clutching at straws here!
It is coming and soon!cut your cloth accordingly!

And you are deluded if you think politicians won't gradually creep this to other areas of education. Once it is acceptable to tax education (illegal in the EU + many countries) then you are opening the gates to all of non-compulsory education.

Taxing private education is very different ideologically from blanket taxing of higher education. I cannot see a Labour government doing the latter.

🤷‍♀️ Many people are too busy cheering about ‘private school fees on rich people’ to care about economic facts, nuance or potential future implications. What can one say. We reap what we sow. Never is that more clear than in GE’s.

Though frankly the choices we have here are both dire. Almost as dire as in the USA, but not quite that bad. At least I don’t think it’s that bad. I hope it’s not that bad. Maybe it is that bad.

@567839Y Well we're certainly reaping what was sown in the previous few general elections in the UK - Brexit, public services stretched beyond capacity, councils becoming bankrupt, nurses and doctors on strike, ongoing railstrikes, moving away from green targets, need for foodbanks rising exponentially etc...
Dire times indeed.