"Nick Clegg backs tax on university graduates"

[Air]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education...graduates.html


Such a stupid proposal. Nick Clegg is such a fucking joke, I completely regret voting lib dem ugh.

[Jasmine]

^ EXACTLY

[Adam]

Jesus christ, doesn't sound like the most logical thing in the world. Uni is expensive enough without continuing to pay a tax after you have graduated. Surely the reward will come later when the graduate has a graduate job paying a higher rate of tax anyway from higher earnings?!

[Air]

Jesus christ, doesn't sound like the most logical thing in the world. Uni is expensive enough without continuing to pay a tax after you have graduated. Surely the reward will come later when the graduate has a graduate job paying a higher rate of tax anyway from higher earnings?!

It's meant to replace tuition fees. So rather than paying upfront (or taking out a loan) you pay for your tuition afterwards through a tax on your earnings.

The reward from high earners would come twice: once from the high income tax they pay, and secondly from the high graduate tax they'd have to pay.

Ridiculous

[Mitch]

How ridiculous. Lib dems are a joke.

[Gav]

How about abolishing state funding of non-academic degrees and then making academic degrees free? Up until recently, University was free.

[Air]

How about abolishing state funding of non-academic degrees and then making academic degrees free? Up until recently, University was free.

How do you define what constitutes an academic degree?

[Gav]

It's a moronic idea anyway, because the money from your income tax goes towards University Education anyway (as degrees are subsidised by the Government anyway - what you pay is not the total cost of your education). Every time you introduce a new tax, you introduce a new layer of bureaucracy.

---------- Post added at 05:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------

How do you define what constitutes an academic degree?

Degrees which are academic.

[Air]

Degrees which are academic.

Doesn't answer my question at all...

[James]

How about abolishing state funding of non-academic degrees and then making academic degrees free? Up until recently, University was free.

Oh no you di'nt

[Billyboy]

How about abolishing state funding of non-academic degrees and then making academic degrees free? Up until recently, University was free.

omg, we agree on something

tbh I don't see how this would be much different from the current system from a students point of view, you just pay and extra tax instead of loan repayments

[Air]

omg, we agree on something

tbh I don't see how this would be much different from the current system from a students point of view, you just pay and extra tax instead of loan repayments

Except you'd end up paying more for your degree if you're successful...

[Anna]

After adopting social mobility as one of his priorities in government, Mr Clegg says the tax is the best way to encourage more working-class children to go to university.

Imo, as a working class child attending uni, Nick Clegg if a prick. I would never vote for him, or David Cameron for that matter.

[Gav]

omg, we agree on something

I've decided that I'm not going to elaborate on what I feel an 'academic degree' is, as I think everybody knows damn well what I mean.

[Mitch]

I kind of agree with Gavin.

Government funding should depend on the benefit of that degree to the country. In a way this sort of already happens - look at nursing degrees for example.

[Air]

I've decided that I'm not going to elaborate on what I feel an 'academic degree' is, as I think everybody knows damn well what I mean.

Superficially yes, but it's very difficult to justify what is and isn't academic.

For example... would you give funding to somebody who wanted to study film at the university of chichester? (http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/services/cou...tail.cfm?ID=43)

But what about if they were studying film at Cambridge? (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2007050402)

Also, what about people who are funded to study academic degrees and then go into a job that doesn't directly utilise that degree? I.e. my boyfriend has a degree and PhD in biology but is working in politics - should the government have helped fund his studies?

If you're going to subsidise education you have to subsidise it all, there's no suitable way to do it otherwise.

[Bekki]

all i have to say in response to gavin and his bullshit about academic degrees is i know graphic design graduates who are earning more dollar than people i know who graduated in the same year who studied english

just sayin'

[Gav]

all i have to say in response to gavin and his bullshit about academic degrees is i know graphic design graduates who are earning more dollar than people i know who graduated in the same year who studied english

just sayin'

Why should Graphic Design be a degree? The premise is not that the government should stop all funding of subject X, but that degrees are by far the most expensive of qualifications. I'm sure a BTEC, NVQ etc would be much better suited to someone wanting to study Graphic Design.

[Neil]

Why should Graphic Design be a degree?

why shouldn't it?

[Steven]

This is lame. Although, to be honest, I don't really need to be doing my degree to learn Spanish. Hmm.

[Nadia]

all i have to say in response to gavin and his bullshit about academic degrees is i know graphic design graduates who are earning more dollar than people i know who graduated in the same year who studied english

just sayin'

English is another example of a degree that isnt particularly useful or beneficial to society so not surprised that graphic design students are making more then them

[Tim]

English is another example of a degree that isnt particularly useful or beneficial to society so not surprised that graphic design students are making more then them

I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but your wording is unacceptable.

English degrees are particularly beneficial to society because the only thing you can do with an English degree is teach English/Literature/Language Arts. Your only option with English really is to pay it forward. Yes, graphic designers make more than teachers but I don't think we need to be judging what's beneficial to society and what is not. Just imagine what would happen to our education system/society if Language Arts was removed from the curriculum.

[Bekki]

I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but your wording is unacceptable.

English degrees are particularly beneficial to society because the only thing you can do with an English degree is teach English/Literature/Language Arts. Your only option with English really is to pay it forward. Yes, graphic designers make more than teachers but I don't think we need to be judging what's beneficial to society and what is not. Just imagine what would happen to our education system/society if Language Arts was removed from the curriculum.

I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but your wording is rude.

'unacceptable'?

[Steven]

Where did you hear that the only thing you can do with an English degree is teach? Maybe that's for America but here, you can do a ton of stuff with any degree really, doesn't matter what it is.

People would often say to me that history is academic and drama is not, as an example of what the difference is. However, at university, both the historians and the drama students have to: write essays, research, do outer reading, make references and quote academics in their field, and use footnotes - whatever. So, how is it that drama is seen as unacademic when they are both doing the same thing. Heck, on top of that, drama students even have to perform. I just hate all of this pomposity and superiority regarding what constitutes academic and what does not.

[Fiona]

ooooo, i dont know how i feel about this.
with the student loans, you dont start paying until you earn over a certain amount anyway right? and its perportional to the amount you earn to how much they take? so surely thats very fair.
but i do see where clegg is coming with this one, i can see how the high costs would put people off uni, but then if someone ends up doing really well, they'l end up paying lots more. how long would they tax for?

i dont think i really have a form opinion mainyl cos im just skipping around with no tutition fees and a wad of bursury in my pocket.

[Bekki]

Where did you hear that the only thing you can do with an English degree is teach? Maybe that's for America but here, you can do a ton of stuff with any degree really, doesn't matter what it is.

People would often say to me that history is academic and drama is not, as an example of what the difference is. However, at university, both the historians and the drama students have to: write essays, research, do outer reading, make references and quote academics in their field, and use footnotes - whatever. So, how is it that drama is seen as unacademic when they are both doing the same thing. Heck, on top of that, drama students even have to perform. I just hate all of this pomposity and superiority regarding what constitutes academic and what does not.

such a good post. i feel like i need to defend degrees like mine because people look down on people doing arts, but like you said, i still have to write essays, research, infact one fucking hell of alot of research, not just for references for essays, do outer reading etc etc. my exam process is different to a lot of degrees but i still have to put in so much work.

infact ill even go as far as to argue that i think i did more work this year than some of my friends who do history and english

[Neil]

idc what you wanna define as academic but why should whether something is academic be what determines whether it is beneficial to society and worthy of government funding?

does anyone genuinely believe art and design are unessential to society? like, seriously?

[Nikolic]

I see where Gav is coming from. There are some degrees which I think should be reclassified to different qualifications.

Everyone now thinks it's their god-given right to a degree, they have definitely lost their premium.

[Tim]

I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but your wording is rude.

'unacceptable'?

That comment was meant to be rude because I'm not standing for someone rating what's beneficial to society, as Neil just said.

[Nadia]

That comment was meant to be rude because I'm not standing for someone rating what's beneficial to society, as Neil just said.

rofl you're such a drama queen, "im not standing for someone rating whats beneficial to society" ...ever heard of priorities? surely you can understand the rationale behind governments being selective over what faculties should recieve more funding then others