Middle class familioes to pay more for students

In a move of incredible blind stupidity, and groping to claw back mobey from the banking fiasco, the CBI's higher education task force has come up with a plan to make the middle class pay more, yet again,

Essentially :

• The £3,100-a-year cap on fees should be lifted, suggesting that a rise to £5,000-a-year would deliver £1.25 billion more for universities;
• Student loans, which are subsidised by the Government at present, should be charged at commercial interest rates – significantly increasing the amount graduates will repay;
• The threshold for grants should be lowered. At the moment, students from families earning less than £60,000 are eligible for a partial grant, but the CBI says that this should be lowered to £38,000. Only students from families earning less than £17,910 should receive a full grant – instead of the present £25,000.

The latter would hit middle class families the hardest.

The utterly ridiculous goal of getting 50% of school leavers in universities (most of which are mickey mouse nedia studies courses), will leave the universities filled with children of rich people (ie politicians), and the children of single parent, ethnic minority, lesbian and gay parents.

The rest of us (the silent majority) will still struggle to send our children to universities, where they will be saddled with £30,000 of debt on graduation, in the hope that they will be able to make a decent living and contribute to the coffers of the country.

Frankly, whats the point. This countries higher education system is going down the pan, no matter what any think tank comes up with. The only reason for the crackpot 50% goal was to reduce the number of school leavers hitting the streets, and reduce the unemployment statistics. Oh yes, this recession has been building for a lot longer than anyone thinks!