Should UK students be charged university fees?

Making education free diminishes the quality

Question: Should UK students be charged university fees?
Position‹2 of 2: Yes, the UK should charge for access to its higher education institutions.
Argument‹2 of 4›: Making education free diminishes the quality

Without fees, the service universities can offer would be radically reduced.

The argument

With so many young people going to university it is impossible to ask the government to fund an ever-increasing number of people going to university. To fund other vital services, such as the NHS, some services need to be charged for; in this case, education. If you want to keep quality the same but quantity radically increased then there must be a tipping point, hence why tuition fees help to keep the standard of education high.

Context

Most years, just over 400,000 young people go to university. If we want to keep the quality of education high, we need to charge for higher education.

Premises

[P1]With so many young people attending university, the government cannot fund an ever-increasing number of students. [P2] Funding vital services like the NHS means some services, such as education, must be charged for. [P3] Keeping quality constant while quantity rises requires a tipping point, which tuition fees provide to keep the standard high. [C] Therefore, because making education free would diminish its quality, the UK should charge university fees.

Counter-arguments

There is some question about the cost of universities themselves, with university lecturers claiming that they certainly have not benefited from the fee change. If costs are not increasing by as much as is claimed, then it remains to be seen where this money is going and what it is spent on.

Rejecting the premises

Rejecting P2. There are questions over who the funding goes to and what it pays for.