To think that top universities and in demand university courses should be free?

[queefeey]

Do you think that top universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial, et al. should be free for students?

I do not see the government funding ex-poly courses to be worthwhile, unless of course they are funding for a skill that is in need.

Courses such as medicine or nursing ought to be free too. Then perhaps if someone fancies 3 years of very little work doing their passion that is not a worthwhile investment of government money, then they can get a loan like now.

All courses and all universities aren't equal BUT we need to be careful not to classify certain courses and certain universities as useless - not saying anyone here has but I've seen that suggested before on threads about HE. Higher education can be valuable in many different ways and for some people it can be transformational. That experience doesn't have to come from a top course at a top university .....I speak from personal and professional experience.

The OPs idea assumes that people are entering HE from a level playing field when that isn't the case.

bubbles there are so many factors that influence rankings and there are numerous league tables. That's quite a simplistic view point.

bubbles the current loan system does not give students enough money to live on in any part of the country. There is an expected parental contribution which isn't made explicit and the majority of students have to work all year round.

I can see there's an argument fof public service type roles eg nursing, medicine, teaching being free, or some kind of bursary attached (that you'd then have to pay back if you went straight off to teach in independent school). But making all courses at top unis free is not fair - it just helps the middle classes who already fill these institutions.