Rise in Tuition fees and Education Cuts.

I haven't used this blog in a good while, over six months in fact. I have gotten rather attached to another blogging site called Tumblr, but I can't post my political/religious views or at least I wouldn't feel comfortable doing so.

Right, first off I want the very few people who actually read my blog to understand how angry I was when the proposed plan to triple University tuition fees in the UK, due to government cuts on continued education. The average annual fees were usually around £3000, so raising it to £9000 seemed unreal. I'll admit, I was ready with my picket signs, my 'disastablishmentarianism' attitude and a head filled with government conspiracy theories.

This rise in tuition fees weren't going to affect me. These plans were to be put in place in 2012, and I am attending University next year- but that wasn't the point. I thought of my friends in the year below, I thought of my bright, younger sister but me being a keen sociologist thought of the recreation of the class system.

Surely the rise in tuition fees would mean that only the upper-middle classes would be able to afford such an education? Dooming the working class to lack of opportunity and resulting in jobs that pay not even nearly as well as a career founded on a degree? This proposition would mean we went back to "The rich stay rich" and I was fuming.

I then spoke to my dear friend Chris who lives in Philadelphia and is also planning on going to University next year, but is staying in the states. I vented to him about the horrendous rise in fees and his reply is simple:
"In the states we pay $1600 on average. How much is that in pounds?"
Oh crap. That's about £9000.
However, he did tell me that there were a lot of grants that students can get from Universities, and asked why there weren't similar programs put in place in the UK.
Oh crap. They do do that.

So I was unintentionally and gently pushed off my political high horse by one of my best friends. I had heard the debates on the television, I had numerous debates myself with my parents and grandparents and yet one boy making a harmless comment through me off.

My solution? More focus on vocational subjects in schools. My school in particular puts a huge emphasis on the importance of attending University to bump the numbers up and make the schools reputation appear as if more intellects were emerging from the premises. Everyone wants to be rich, and a degree seems to be the way to do this.

BUT ANYWAY. Turns out it doesn't effect Welsh citizens now anyway, and it's been passed in England, so they're going to have to pay a fair bit for their edumacation just for being English.

So really this blog was slightly pointless :)