Ed Milliband is the new leader of the UK Labour Party

[Scruff7]

Kasz216 said:

MrT-Tar said:

Kasz216 said:

So... it really is a tax that if you get a degree, you have to make a higher taxrate for the rest of your life regardless fo your job.

That's like.... literally the dumbest policy decision i've heard a major party have in... god knows how long.

I mean... I can't get over how dumb an idea that is.

It's like telling your citizens "Hey you better not try for higher education unless you have a job lined up before you even enroll!  Otherwise your probably going to be working the same shitty supermarket job as everyone else but paying a higher tax rate on it!

I'm pretty sure the graduate tax is in place of top up fees.  So in my ways it will encourage many from lower class backgrounds to go to university.

That's... the exact opposite of what it will do are you kidding me?

If you want to encourage lower class background people to go to college you give them tuition assistance.

All this does is greatly hurt the poor... because it's an actual education tax.

The rich don't have to worry because, they're rich.  People who are pretty sure they'll be high earners or have some cash, no worries cause they have a cushion.

The poor though... well they're fucked if they fail then.

Seriously the UK doesn't have tuition assistance for the poor?

 

I mean, imagine what such a tax would do to Philiosphy majors and other "worthless" majors when it comes to making money.  Those fields are going to rapidly plummet.

I think you're missing the main reasons behind the Liberal Democrats proposal.

In the past, University used to be totally free, it was paid for through taxes so everyone paid for University whether you went to one or not. Unfortunately, this was an unsustainable model, and sine university was only really available to those who were already from better off backgrounds (there were much less spaces, and less universities) it was a pretty elitist system at which only the richer could achieve.

They scrapped the Government Grant and replaced it with Student Loans. University is still heavily subsidised, but you end up with £thousands of debt, which you pay straight from your pay-cheque. For mine, i pay back £200 a month and will continue for another 4 years. it's therefore like a tax until you finish paying it off, and the interests, although favourable, go up as soon as you graduate. If you have assets you can not take the loan, or pay it off straight away. Most of us cannot afford that, so end up having to pay over many many years, while accruing interest.

There is a degree of means testing which pays for all or part of tuition fees, but not for Loans.

The new proposal, put forward by Vince Cable would mean that you would pay back much less per month as a % of salary, but you would pay it for the whole of your life. Considering that people with degrees earn much more on average than people without, it would be very affordable, and you wouldn't be saddled with thousands of pounds of personal debts afterwards.

It would put everyone on a level playing field, and those people from poorer backgrounds would be able to afford university as those from richer backgrounds can, they would be able to compete for higher paid jobs and wouldn't have to worry about debts which historically have been shared throughout the whole family.