STUDENTS PAYING FOR EDUCATION 5 TIMES OVER

It recently occurred to me that students are now paying for their education 5 times over.

1. I pay for it by not claiming any welfare benefits for the time I am in higher education.
2. I pay for it through my hard work and toil to get the qualification.
3. I pay for it through the time spent studying. I could after all get a lower job and be earning or doing something less boring instead.
4. I pay for it through paying higher taxes or more taxes on my graduation as presumably I should get a better job.
5. 1.      I pay for it through the repayment of the student loan.
   
   
   
   
   In England I must tuition fees too!
   
   
   Therefore what is the UK Government actually putting into this equation? Is it not having its cake and eating it?

Re: English Student Taking Scottish Government to Court Re Being Charged Fees to go to University in Scotland

No student within the UK should have to pay for the right to go to University. After all when they qualify they should get a higher paid job thus paying more taxes and therefore paying for the education in that way.

However...

Finland offers free education to all foreign students, irrespective of where they come from. If Scotland was recognized as a nation and had control of all of its income, I would be happy to see Scotland being as generous as the Finns. We are still a region of a state called the UK and control less than 20% of Scotland’s. Under the circumstances, the Scottish Government is being generous in providing free education for all students living in Scotland, irrespective of where they come from.

It was Westminster which decided English-based students should pay for their higher education, not Holyrood! Once Westminster had decided to use this model to fund higher education there were Barnett consequentials which meant that Scotland's (and Wales' and Northern Ireland's) education budgets suffered a shortfall. The only options were/are to follow the Westminster model and charge fees for all students, or follow the Westminster model and charge fees for all students whose domicile is under the direct governance of Westminster.

The money has to come from somewhere because it is no longer coming as part of the block grant, so we can only do what Westminster decrees, i.e. charge students who are normally resident in England a fee. Why give them a discount at the Scots expense?

Unless I'm mistaken, some states in the south of Germany (which have fiscal autonomy) charge tuition fees, whereas those in Northern Germany do not. Students who parents live in Southern Germany need to pay fees, even if they go to Universities in the North. Those who parents live in say Berlin do not pay.

Situations akin to Scotland and England exist all over Europe. It's called DEMOCRACY.
This legal 'challenge' is absurd.

Student Funding

Correct me if I am wrong but if higher education actually works then students would be paying more tax anyway and therefore pay for their education that way. If this cannot now be afforded then perhaps there are too many students getting degrees, or income tax should be higher for everyone.

Students all ready pay for their education in the following ways...
1. Through paying more tax after graduation having got a higher paid job.
2. Through their time and hard work through the achievement of their degree.
3. Through taking time out when they could be earning a proper wage, or indeed receiving benefits which they would not have to repay.
4. Through repaying their loan for living costs, which if they were on the dole they would not have to repay.

Now the Government wants them to pay for a fifth time i.e. through repaying excessive fees!

The only way to fund students in higher education is through the immediate return of grants or a benefit at a higher level than you would get if you were on the dole. It is ridiculous to penalise people over and over for trying to get the skills that the country will need in the future to flourish.

As for the Liberal Democrats who supposedly opposed fees. It is funny how they have abandoned everything they believed in as soon as they saw that if they did so they could get into power.