So uni fees are going to increase?

[nearlylovemyusername]

University sector calls on Labour to raise tuition fees to ‘stabilise the ship’ (ft.com)

Given paywall, the essence it this:

"One former university vice-chancellor said the fact that Labour had acknowledged the sector was “in crisis” indicated that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Phillipson, who have not ruled out a tuition fee increase, were likely to act.

“The short-term pain of putting up fees could be blamed on the Tory inheritance . . . and then traded against a transition to a better deal for young people, which Labour can deliver before next general election,” he said."

So it won't be limited by VAT on PS, uni fees will be up, potentially significantly and repayments for higher earning grads will go up much more - this is what artical says.

I agree the US unis on the whole offer academics more financial remuneration. The attraction of Oxbridge is its prestige rather than monetary gain, so as an intellectual hub for the exchange of ideas and the level of cultural capital it is second to none.

There was an American academic a while back in MN asking about renting/buying a house in Oxford as she had been offered a research post by a team there which she’d always admired. Eventually she decided not to pursue her dream because her US uni job was too well paid and her family would not have the same lifestyle in Oxford, private schools, big house etc. Her US job was solely teaching undergrads which I can imagine as a serious academic gets pretty boring quite quickly. I wished I had replied to her and told her the intellectual and cultural capital in Oxford her family would experience would make up for the private school and big house etc and she should pursue her dream.

Blair was forward thinking and clever. He saw that the NHS needed to change, as did education . It's why I think he got votes from all parties. His pragmatism deserted him when it came to overseas dealings which is what derailed the party

“ in Oxford her family would experience would make up for the private school and big house etc and she should pursue her dream”

good goddess, really? I’m sure she also had dreams about her housing and opportunities for her kids!

As a quick example, two of the Cambridge colleges were endowed by Henry VIII’s grandmother.

Slightly tricky for even a Russell Group uni to pull off the centuries of investment growth this brings…

Blair also came to power at a time when the UK was financially buoyant and he reaped the benefits of Thatcher’s employment and industrial reforms which he acknowledged. Blair therefore had lots of money to spend on the NHS, education and other other public services. Was the money spent spent well though? I remember in the NHS everyone in our office being given a laptop, expensive PR companies overseeing small local health campaigns, lots of catering for meetings etc and in my dcs schools every classroom had a interactive whiteboard which was rarely used as the staff didn’t have the know how or it broke down.

Depends on your priorities I suppose. I’d rather have the intellectual and cultural stimulus and live in a smaller house in Oxford and have my dcs go to a state school there. But then my dcs are all state school educated and have turned out fine.

Ok doke.

Do you also remember being able to get a GP appointment on the same day, nobody waiting more than 18 weeks for an operation, everyone having an NHS dentist? Those were the important things, not a few sandwiches at meetings.

I remember those fat years @blossomtoes. Before the financial crisis of 2008 our economy was doing very well.

Now in 2024, Brexit is costing us 100 billion a year according to Sadie Khan. And Covid cost us 400 billion. So we don’t have the money. It’s a very different situation the current Labour Party will be coming into. We should all be realistic with what is achievable or we are setting them up to fail.
We have to invest in Education. Higher Education is a very important part of the U.K. It has to be a key priority, there is no doubt about that. Bill Gates gave a ton of cash to Cambridge university because that is what is done in the US. Private benefactors help out. We also need to develop that culture here more and more to help social mobility. We already have a massively thriving charity sector that does so much. I am just saying our unis need to get better at asking for money too and using it to help poorer students.

Do you also remember Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown, he left a note for his successor after the 2010 election: ‘There is no money left’

Do you also remember Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown, he left a note for his successor after the 2010 election: ‘There is no money left

That is very disingenuous. Every previous chancellor office left an "amusing" message to the successor. It was tradition and never abused until the Tories used it against Labour. It was never supposed to be leaked as broke the tradition.

Now the Tory message could be "you are totally screwed and I hope you don't find our dodgy dealings".

Really good article here. I think she makes a good point. We need to be talking about the state of state schools more than the vat on private school fees. Talk about why it is being proposed.

"putting your children first should not mean doing so at the cost of other children, especially those in less fortunate families."

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jun/23/the-schools-debate-is-asking-all-the-wrong-questions-eva-wiseman

People have rewritten the Labour years based on the Tory failure. We are still reaping the rewards of PFI which effectively already privatised many parts of hospitals, education, and other public establishments. I remember all too well the first thing Blair did was renege on his tuition fees pledge.

Before the financial crisis of 2008 our economy was doing very well.

The financial crisis of 2008, was that the bust after the boom, after the promise of no more boom and bust?

No the first thing he did was cut single parents’ benefits. I remember shouting at the radio. PFI didn’t privatise any public service, it was essentially a public sector mortgage and there was nothing wrong with the principle (which actually originated with Major’s government). The problem that arose with it was that the providers were much better at contract negotiation and ran rings round their clients. All the negotiation should have been done centrally with crack accountants and lawyers of the same calibre as the providers had.

After a global financial crisis. And this is what happened afterwards despite austerity. Fuck knows where all the money’s gone.

Is higher education at any cost whatever course worth it though. My son and partner met at university the very first day, both left with honours. He walked straight into a job two years ago, she has been trying for two years without success to find a job so works in a shop.

He's going back to university part time for another three years which means he'll be much better paid. They've accepted he'll be the main breadwinner if they ever hope to buy a home and have kids.

She says she did the wrong degree, but what 18 year old knows any better.

We know where the money went. £400 billion on Covid. And £100 billion per year on Brexit.

Where did it go between 2010 and (let’s be generous) 2016? When public services were cut to the bone?

“She says she did the wrong degree, but what 18 year old knows any better.”

Usually those kids with parents in good jobs who themselves were graduates know how to guide their own DC. So the kids without that support, need help to make the right choices.

“Where did it go between 2010 and (let’s be generous) 2016? When public services were cut to the bone?”

Between 2010-2016 it went on austerity and repaying the country’s debts. As widely known.

This.
When I was at university in Grance most people went to their nearest uni and lived at home it was not the whole lifestyle partying etc that students expect here.
Tony Blair wanted 50 % young people in uni because he thought it would he more likely to make them Labour voters after indoctrination by the lefty ‘academics’ and also because he had never met of people who weren’t graduates.

You might say that I couldn't possibly comment 🙈.

We'll could be mixing with the parents for years to come.

Blair reneged in October 97 when he began talking about tough decisions about student tuition fees with Blunkett, noises about single parent benefits being cut weren't made till a month later, but it's not the sort of puerile thing I'd try to correct someone on.

And no PFI is effectively a hire purchase agreement which is essentially privatisation. It's nothing like a mortgage because there are long term construction and service contracts associated with it.

And it's a terrible principle with lots wrong with it because private companies can't borrow at preferential rates like Governments can, thus it's always going to be a more expensive way to do things than the way things were done prior to 92 regardless of contract negotiations. The only reason the Government did it was to make its books look better than they are.

Brown's shambolic handling of the finances didn't help either!