Tuition fees or not tuition fees?

The issue has dominated debates for too long.

Fees are unfair and discredited, however they are dressed up – upfront, deferred, as a graduate contribution – and it is right that the current Green Paper has ruled them out from the start, allowing a real debate on how we fund our future.

Whatever the future holds for university funding, NUS Scotland is clear that Scottish student support – the lowest in the UK, and still below the poverty line – is in urgent need of investment and reform. We know from our members that they are struggling even with the maximum currently available, so pouring millions into delivering world-class higher education for Scotland will be for nothing if students can’t afford to go, or can’t afford to make the most of their time there.

So-called ‘free education’ may be a badge of pride for many in Scotland but our record on widening access and preventing drop out is a source of shame, and will remain so without improvements to student support. NUS Scotland believes a minimum income of £7,000 for our poorest students is vital to ensure equal access for all, regardless of background, to higher education and all of the opportunities this affords.

However, we would oppose a simplistic approach that would increase student support by cutting numbers. We must protect the numbers of students graduating from our universities to sustain the skills base our economy needs and to realise the full potential of the talents within Scotland. Studying at college or university brings huge benefits to the country as a whole and to individual students and graduates. We must spread these opportunities as far and wide as we can to ensure Scotland is the kind of society we want it to be – fair and socially just.

We recognise that providing proper levels of support for our students will not come free of charge. We firmly believe that the value of higher education to Scotland as a whole should be recognised by additional public funding – let’s not forget we still fall behind much of the rest of Europe in terms of investment in higher education.

It is also time for business, which clearly could not survive without the skilled graduates our universities are providing, to be asked for a structured contribution to making sure these universities are, and will remain open to the most talented individuals – not just the most affluent.

If increased public investment and business are unable to deliver sufficient funding for the student support improvements we so urgently need, then and only then should we consider how a contribution from graduates could help.

Something we are actively looking at is a contribution that finds a way for the richest graduates to provide the opportunity they had at college or university to the next generation of students.

With fees off the table, this would need to be a fair contribution where only those who truly benefit and can afford to, will pay anything at all, and where their money will go directly to student support – ensuring equal opportunities for all to gain this same benefit.

For us, this should be the issue to dominate the debate:  how can we support our students so that income background is no longer a factor in access to, or success in, higher education? The sooner the debate moves on to this, the better for students, the education sector and for Scotland as a whole.

Liam Burns, President of NUS Scotland