- Question
Should universities be free?
The debate around funding university education is as popular as ever. Many people think universities should be free to increase equality and job prospects for young people. Others think only STEM subjects should be free. Yet other people think universities should not be free at all.
Universities should be free and fully funded
This position holds universities should be free and fully funded by the state. It argues a degree is now essential for most jobs, that free education spares young people heavy debt, widens access and social mobility for poorer students, and restores opportunities older generations enjoyed.
- University is increasingly essential for most jobs and shutting it off for lower classes shuts them off from a lot of jobs
- Increasingly specialised job fields mean more and more people require a university education
- Free university would restore intergenerational equality and give modern young people the same opportunities as older generations
- Free university education increases social mobility for the lower classes
- Free universities avoid young people being saddled with high levels of debt
University tuition should remain the same but maintenance loans should be increased
This position favours keeping tuition fees unchanged but raising maintenance loans. It argues income-contingent tuition is repaid only above an earnings threshold, so the true barrier is living costs — which force poorer students to work — and that bigger maintenance loans would fix that.
- Parents shouldn't be obligated to pay for their childs education
- Neither loan is paid back until you're earning over the threshold anyway, but maintenance loans determine your ability to live at university
- Those who have to work part time to fund uni are at a disadvantage in their studies compared to those who don't
University STEM degrees should be free
This position holds that STEM university degrees should be free. It argues that the cost and debt of demanding science, technology, engineering and maths courses deter entrants from fields facing shortages, and that where the degree is a strict job requirement, charging for it is a toll on entry.
Universities should not be free
This position holds that universities should not be free. It argues the economy needs vocational skills more than more graduates, that paying makes students value their education, that graduates' earnings premium means they should bear the cost, and that free degrees would devalue the credential.
- The economy needs more vocational skills than university graduates and there should be push towards that rather than university education
- University degrees are a premium product and should be charged as such
- The high cost of university makes students value the education more
- Graduates earn a higher wage so it's only fair they pay towards that privilege
- If university was free then far more people would have a degree, making their worth reduce