Middle-class parents should pay more to send children to university, says Lord Patten

[JoolsToo]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/3109388/Middle-class-parents-should-pay-more- to-send-children-to-university-says-Lord-Patten.html

Basically he's saying if you pay to send your kids to private school you should pay for further education.

So we're back to means testing aren't we?

Some kids from less advantaged backgrounds get free places at private schools so you couldn't expect them to pay for Uni and some wealthy parents send their kids to state schools.

It's all money, money, money and how can we clobber the middle classes for more of theirs.

if your parents income is £21,210 or less you can get loan /bursary of up to £3165 pa income above that it is only £2,575pa

sliding scale betwen £18k and £33k whether it is bursery (and presumably not refundable) or laon (thereofre repayable) but its the student who needs to repay th elaon not parents so basing it on parents income a bit odd.

And most students need more than £2575 pa top live on - so rely on job if they are lucky or expensive credit if they are not.

What would happen if the parents refused to pay more - would the middle class children have to pay more themselves?

well my bro isn;t really in a position to pay much more sue to their mortgage (having been one of those people who mortgaged the home to the hilt to get their very gifted daughter into a private school) if she cannot live on her loan plus whatever they can afford to add - she will work/get studetn overdraft (imagine that will get trickier) use credit cards

I'm surprised that the chancellor of Oxford thinks that "middle class" and "affluent" are the same thing.

me too Jules... ivory tower or what!

It seems really wrong to me that the student loans aren't bigger. If you want to get educated and have a place at university then your parent's ability or inclination to support you should not be a factor in taking that place. It is crazy to have to rely on overdrafts and credit cards just to eat and get a roof over your head.

Think Chris Patten has got it wrong btw. He should be raising money in other more innovative ways - it's Oxford ffs.

I think everyone should pay for their own university education, with the proviso that their should be lots of scholarships/tuition grants for the cleverest students.

I did an MBA (which I partially self-funded and was partially funded by my former employer) where nearly everyone in the class was paying a good part of the costs (£25,000 in mid-1990s money) themselves and forfeiting a year's salary and we put a huge amount of pressure on the teaching staff to be good at their jobs. Crap teachers did not last long.

there

"I'm surprised that the chancellor of Oxford thinks that "middle class" and "affluent" are the same thing."

excuse my ignorance,but what's the difference?
although my lack of understanding the distinction is probably geographical and we irish probably have different definitions.
also private schools are infinitely more affordable over here so the majority of middle-class people would send thei kids to private schools.

Its my understanding that in the US, although its normal to pay to go to a private university, its far less usual to pay for a private school. Ofcourse I could be wrong - my knowledge of US education is largely based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Pretty in Pink.

I'm assuming that middle class parents in the US are stashing away money for university while their child goes to the local high school. Perhaps if he could persuade British 'affluent' parents to send their children to the local state school they might have money left over to spend on university fees. I think I can spot a flaw in that plan though...

The sooner we realise life isn't (unfortunately) a level playing field and just get on with it the better.

When my dc were at Uni they got a tiny grant, we helped them out a little, and they got part-time jobs. We were by no stretch of the imagination wealthy. However, the dcs had friends on full grants because their parents were divorced. It didn't seem to matter one jot what those parents incomes were, in fact I know that some of them were indeed 'wealthy'.