- Question
Should UK students be charged university fees?
Just over twenty years ago, higher education was free in the UK for any student who secured a place on a university course. Flash forward to today and students graduate with an average debt of £50,000. Critics claim this is wildly unfair and inhibits social mobility. Others claim that high fees improve equality. With both sides aiming to reduce inequality, why do the positions on implementing fees and reducing grants contradict each other?
No, the UK should make higher education free for students.
This position holds that UK higher education should be free for students. It argues that education is a public good and a human right the state has a duty to fund — that fees burden students psychologically, wrongly monetise learning, and undermine social mobility.
Yes, the UK should charge for access to its higher education institutions.
Others believe that charging for education is the only certain way we can guarantee a constant source of funding for universities, and that it is fairer to only charge those who use the service for accessing it.