Graduate Tax?

Predictably, the proposal of a Graduate Tax has caused some controversy.  The idea has some good points in theory (like Communism) but the FT outlines four flaws which might be a problem in practice.

I certainly don’t like the idea that having a degree could see me paying extra tax for life.  Neither do I like the idea that this extra tax could be funding thousands of Media Studies students and their binge drinking habits. 

Forgive the flippancy in that last sentence, but I think that the Labour target of 50% of people going to University is ridiculous, and attaches a stigma to those who don’t.  I might have been able to scrape my way through a Physics degree, but I can’t do anything practical to save my life.  We’re all different.  I’d much rather see investment in useful non-academic qualifications than University places for the sake of meeting targets which sound good.

I understand that there is a need to review funding for the education system.  But I have worked hard for my qualifications, and as I look out of my window at the many truant kids on my street and think about the fact that taxes pay for their housing and their Sky TV, I can think of better ways of fixing the financial problems than ‘Graduate Taxation.’

Comments

Verbatim said…
They could just uncap tuition fees. But that would raise "tuition fees" which is unpopular...
Fri Jul 16, 07:34:00 AM GMT
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