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Education at the all the Universities in England used to be free to all students...ie no course fees, all that being subsidised by the state. All you needed to do was have the basic higher school qualifications and perhaps take an interview to be selected for limited places.
All was based on intellectual merit and not on financial resources, for the good of the country in general (and to raise Generals to shoot Indians who revolt against the Empire)
That took a change under the last Government in that students would be asked to pay £3000 each year towards course fees.
In certain circumstances...ie special courses which require more materials or were generally more specialized could possibly rise to maybe £6,000 per year.
These courses, however, would be very few and far between and would not affect most students.
In any case, NO University ANYWHERE would be allowed to charge more than £9,000 per year, for whatever reason and that would be an absolute cap and very unlikely to occur under most circumstances.
NEWS FLASH..
Cambridge University today announced that they will be charging students 9 grand a year for ANY course...
(Of course they are doing nothing wrong and remaining entirely within the guidelines.. )
Betcha Oxford will make a similar announcement this week!
Talk about the "taking it to the lim" age!
Ha...I was going to say St. Andrews as well..
But that's in Scotland, so is still free, even though King James II of Scotland and Prince William studied there.
(I've got a kinda feeling that things might change soon though... )
Still not bad. A top university in the US can cost 50,000 US a year. A "good" university can cost a parent 25,000 a year including room and board. Discounts are available for some great athletes, some poor folks, and some really smart kids. Loans are fairly easy to come by, but they have to be paid back. Many students leave college owing 100 to 200k
My older daughter graduated from a very good university a few years ago. Cost me close to 100k all told. It is a very good school, but doesn't have the juice a name like Oxford has.
A "good" university can cost a parent 25,000 a year including room and board.
I hear what you're saying, Mark...(and incidentally...great to hear from you again Mark...I thought you had gone away...)
Yeah...I kinda felt the same way when I came back from working abroad for an American company in my late twenties and earning a lot of dough and actually got into an argument with my best friend (who was a Socialist) about all these long haired student wasters smoking dope and buying Santana LP's on my taxes while I was working my ass off.
I gotta admit...I've come back from that position now with age and perspective...
Talent just comes from ANYWHERE.
Sometimes when you least expect it.
Britain, (and Scotland for sure) has a different psyche from the US (having spent time there)
The fact that anyone puts up a money barrier to education then limits that talent to those who have the money...well..
Think of it as saying to a child in Africa..."Child..don't be silly...you cannot expect to learn to count and read and write unless your Mommy can give you $1 a day to bring into school...so you go home now and help Mommy with the washing...hurry"
I take a pride in the fact that Scotland was one of the few countries to put education as a basic human right....although I doubt that this principle will prevail as we go on.
I find it as sinful as slavery, personally.
PS: In the States it was an entirely different experience though in the way folk related to each other... It was just sorta..."Hey dude...Check this out dude...I'm up here...so F*** you ...M*****F*****"......
Tuition at the college which I'm currently attending is just $9,070 per year for in-state students, minus some miscellaneous fees and blah-blah which doesn't increase my personal total by very much. If I were attending a school out of state, I don't want to even think about the robbery prices that would cost, even with my crack-team of funding sources (not the parents). I would LOVE to go to Oxford or Cambridge though, even if they have been bit by the greed bug. Hell I'd be psyched to attend just about any good college in the EU.
Children of rich people are not necessarily intelligent people. The government should think about the future.. If they cut out all intelligent people from education who are not rich enough to pay the university... they could miss em in future. Maybe the people who make these rules are children of rich people...or just purely stupid.