There’s a not an easy, concise answer as to why so many formerly left-wing Labour MPs support tuition fees and the phasing out of grants. But support tuition fees they do:
Education Minister Margaret Hodge said in their defence, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”.
Many of these former socialist politicians experienced their formulative years 30 years ago. They went to university during the 60s and 70s when times were different. Education was free, graduate job opportunities much better, and student debt meant working for the summer.
Back in the 60s and 70s if you’re dad was a coal miner or a shop keeper or a welder chances are you would become one too, there were little prospects for anything better. Universities were the preserve of the weathy and upper and middle classes. The old government arguments in favour of expanding university education were to make a more equal and meritocratic society.
Today’s politicians became interested in politics at university, which for many in government was Oxford or Cambridge. Good, established universities. They met their partners at university, and they owe their life and career to their university education.
All this politics would be academic, except government, and Labour MPs sees students now as they themselves were back then. High flyers. High earners which fall into the highest income bracket and should be taxed by tuition fees as such.
Of government MPs only a few studied scientific subjects. Very few understand the financial implications of tuition fees, or how the graduate job market has changed drastically since they graduated. Instead of looking at evidence objectively they tend to cherry pick stats which support a vague idea of how the job market should work.
They don’t appreciate that employers only valued graduates as an elite, the government doesn’t understand supply and demand economics. As more and more went to university the value added has dropped, as has the perception amongst employers that graduates are smart or skilled.
One widely-quoted survey by Universities UK found average additional earnings of £160,000 over a working life. Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said the report “confirms what we have been saying for some time now – that graduates, on average, earn more and are more likely to be in a job than those without degrees, and that higher education
is likely to be the best investment a student will ever make”.
None of these stats are valid. They never take into account the higher IQ, the ethic of hardwork, or the superior socio-economic background of graduates. Predictably, Universities UK is actually organised and funded to represent the UK’s universities.
Which explains the high student debt, and the government’s apparent indifference.