The student brigade are out protesting about rises in tuition fees for university. As per usual I suspect they have not looked at the fine print and what it means for them. If the Assembly matches the English proposals they will have nothing to pay back until much later and may never have to pay anything back if they do not hit this higher trigger point.
Also by getting a degree, in theory, the students increase their employability over the span of their working life and will earn significantly more than the humble taxpayers who did not go to university but did subsidise their 4:00am drunken jaunts through the Holylands.
The current students, taking time out of their hectic schedule, to protest at these new measures will in all likelihood not have to pay any of these higher fees. Unfortunately I have not heard from the people it will affect, those currently in 5th and 6th form.
If these new fees do affect the uptake of third level education is it really a bad thing? Walk into any generic call centre or generic office in Belfast and you will find that as many as half of the work force have a degree. Is this what they went to university for? To discuss Marx and Engels around the water cooler?
Perhaps it will shake the current universities and schools in Northern Ireland to focus on what is best both for students and Northern Ireland itself. Does Northern Ireland need so many people studying English, History, Politics, Sociology, Social Policy or Media Studies at university? With such a high supply of cheap places on such courses there would always be enough demand to fill these spaces. By offering these places so easily with such low entrance grades we do our students a disservice. These courses are not filled with the greatest minds of their generation but by those who did enough to get in. University should be about ability not about some misguided right to a third level education. Three years of university should be the springboard to greatness rather than the humdrum of, "Could I take your order sir?".
What jobs do Northern Ireland need? What adds income and ability to our workforce? The ability to discuss at length how Napoleon failed at Waterloo or engineering, medical and accounting skills? Restrict the meaningless degrees and grow those of worth. We need our elected representatives, the universities, employers and the student body themselves to get together and have this debate. We need it now!
The less well off will not be able to afford university with higher fees. Rubbish! If they have the ability they will be able to go to university whether through sponsorship by companies who spot their ability or indeed scholarships from the various universities who spot their ability. By restricting the supply those from a less well off background will also focus their minds earlier knowing that they need top grades to get to university and will weigh out the future employment benefits of their degree choices before applying for a generic course if they had no real prospects at the end of it but would have a large debt to repay.
The greatest hypocrisy though is the great mass of the middle class who seem to be leading this revolt through their own selfish agenda rather than the worry for the working class that they proclaim to be fighting for. The worry that these increased fees may impinge upon their taking of two or three holidays a year and reduce it down to only one holiday a year. University has always been a difficult endeavour to finance for the working class but it shall remain the best way to become socially mobile.
University is not the only career path for students now either. There are increasing numbers of alternative entry routes into respectable careers such as accounting and law. These will actually see you practicing quicker and without the debt accrued at university.
The debate hasn't started but hopefully somebody will argue the case for higher fees.
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