English students continue to invade the streets of London, violently protesting against the increase in University tuition fees proposed by the Cameron-Clegg government. Is there something true in students’ protests? And to what extent can they be considered reasonable? According to the Cameron-Clegg government’s plan, each English university student could have to pay out up to £9000 per year for a bachelor’s degree, from the current £3290 per year. Yet, the increase in fees is not indiscriminate and it is balanced by a very efficient system of state-funded loans calculated according to the income of the borrower. In a press release published on 3 November, David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, tries to bring the truth about what has happened. Willetts explains that the ceiling for tuition fees has been set at £6000 per year, which, under special circumstances, could reach £9000. However, the reform establishes that taxes can be advanced by the State and, afterwards, they are to be repaid by students at favourable conditions. This repayment should start when the graduated student will begin to have an income higher than £21000 (the threshold has been raised, compared to the current £15000) and it will extend up to 30 years. In addition, the repayment would have soft interest rates according to the income. For instance, who earns £21000 a month would be charged an interest rate equal to zero.
Apart from students protests, the plan proposed by the British government definitely does not change for the better or worse the social structure of the British university system. On the contrary, it leaves it almost untouched, changing some technical aspects of it. The two pillars of the British university, that are the top schools’ system and the considerable social gap between poor and rich students, are still there, untouchable and stronger than before. This also guarantees that British universities will continue to be among the best and the richest in the world, although they have considerable social costs. Hence, students’ protests are incomprehensible, if it were not for a political aspect. Taxes were raised, with all pros and cons discussed above, by LibDem, a party which has always gained many of their votes from students. The strong point of Clegg’s party has been, for around 20 years, the abolition of tuition fees. The fact that LibDem has played a part in a plan which goes in the opposite direction has angered students. And this is quite understandable.
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