Fees are fairer

The Government's concessions on top-up fees make the objectors' arguments look even thinner. It is difficult to argue that less advantaged students will lose out when the grant is to be increased to £1,500, students will receive bigger maintenance loans and anyone with a debt after 25 years will have it written off. State money, therefore, is to be provided for the disadvantaged so that they do not suffer under the reforms. The funding mechanism for students in Britain has historically been regressive. Taxpayers' money has been used to fund degrees for the better-off so that they are in a position to benefit further. The dustman has been subsidising the education of putative merchant bankers. That anomaly needs to end.

The Government's concessions on top-up fees make the objectors' arguments look even thinner. It is difficult to argue that less advantaged students will lose out when the grant is to be increased to £1,500, students will receive bigger maintenance loans and anyone with a debt after 25 years will have it written off. State money, therefore, is to be provided for the disadvantaged so that they do not suffer under the reforms. The funding mechanism for students in Britain has historically been regressive. Taxpayers' money has been used to fund degrees for the better-off so that they are in a position to benefit further. The dustman has been subsidising the education of putative merchant bankers. That anomaly needs to end.