Stop the Cuts - National Demonstration

Let me put it this way. Imagine you're a student or soon-to-be-student. You are about to start university just like everyone before you has. You will get the same services as everyone else before you (this isn't true, as you'll likely get worse services, but..). However, all of a sudden, you are being asked for 18k more than anyone else who has gone before you. In fact, many of the people who went before you paid nothing and they are the ones who want you to pay 18k more. ...

Of these ones who went before and paid nothing for their education, many went on to get jobs and pay tax and so between then and now have been paying for all the free education that other people have been getting since then.

The next batch of students will get a debt against their names with rather gentle tax-like repayment terms, but won't have to pay as much tax for the education of those who come after. So yes, tomorrow's students will be worse off than the 'free' education generations, but no, the difference isn't as big as the headline value of their loans.

Obviously the ones who do rather well out of this are those who have had their degree for free, still have most of their tax-paying lives ahead of them, and now won't have to pay as much for other people's education as was paid for theirs. I agree that this is shit, but note that this group will still have to pay:

• for the bits of direct grant not abolished by the government
  
• to put up the money the students will be borrowing (at least until the govt. sells the debt)
  
• about as much tax as the economy can bare to dig us out of the current crisis.
  
  

so needn't start rubbing their hands with avaricious glee just yet.

Personally, i think there are plenty of problems with the govt.'s policy, but i'm getting fed up with the opposition's failure to accurately identify them.