my tuppence-worth - and I'm inspired to reply mostly because I notice that MistakenTourist you list your location as Manchester and I spent some very happy years at the University of Manchester (91 - 95) and then a couple of years at Sprit Studios on the sound engineering course) - the problem that will become more and more apparant is that prospective students from less-well-to-do backgrounds will be put off from going at all in the first place - and if they do then they'll be looking for courses that have a better chance of a faster payback in career terms (more students for technical courses? more specialist courses for finance? hmm).
In my day (cue "new world symphony" - or the good old Hovis ad as us Brits like to call it :-)) the uni course (not the sound engineering one) was free and I got a grant (not huge but meant you didn't have to max out on student loans) so made my choice of arts degree viable while I worked out what on earth I was going to do later. Because I didn't have to spend fifty hours a week in a lab/on a course that demanded full time and more attention I was able to devote a large amount of time to music - cue the mixing/creating addiction that I hold and love to this day.
So net result - furthering knowledge for knowledge's sake and opportunity to develop ourselves into people that may choose to pursue interests that by and large won't ever pay the bills and spend time - god forbid - enjoying ourselves - during the formative years which is the first real opportunity where we can meet all types of different people from around the UK/world and realise that we are in fact mostly the same - will be greatly diminished.
The universities claim that the increase is needed to maintain high standards. May well be the case. Additional government funding is certainly going to be key but with the benefit of some oversight to make sure that the institutions are being run efficiently so that the money isn't wasted.
Utopia - the above government commitment/oversight combined with some - rigorous - means testing to keep the courses free for students who need it. Sliding scale for families better off.
And a graduate tax that will apply to students who go to work for the corporations who will benefit most from the highly skilled candidates that the system can offer - paid for mostly by the corporations themselves, not the students concerned.
*puts soapbox away and gets back to work*
:-)
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