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@moth
Fairer how? The government's proposals actually look a lot like a graduate tax when you start to read the details:
Repayments are linked to earnings, and are at a marginal rate of 9% on income over 21k. That's equivalent to 1.44 pence in the pound for someone earning 25k, 2.7p for someone on 30k, 4.3p on 40k, 5.2p on 50k or 7.1p on 100k. Earning less than 21k? You pay nothing.
The interest varies with income too, from 0 below 21k, up to inflation + 3% if you're earning 40k or more. And they write off whatever's left after 30 years. It looks even less like a real loan than the ones they were handing out when i took my degree.
One of the objections to a graduate tax is that it becomes an incentive for graduates to leave the country to escape it. This looks to me like a graduate tax with that flaw potentially fixed. The other way it's not like a tax is that it won't take money from those who have already graduated or are studying now. Are you objecting to this because it won't cost you?
I don't have a settled view on what should be done about funding universities, but I hope those who do are not confusing what's actually been said with the idea of saddling students with commercial loans for these amounts.
I've voted Lib-dem at times, and admired some (but not all) of their policies, but even if i was sure fees are the right answer, i'd still be sick at the way they've gone back on their pledge on this.