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You are here: Home > Current Topics > Wanna Argument? > Funding UK Higher Education > Has a university education ever been free? |
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Wanna Argument?Funding UK Higher Education: From Elitism to Mass Market
Has a university education ever been free?Much political controversy was sparked recently when the government announced that top-up fees would be charged to higher education students from 2006. This merely aggravated people who were opposed originally to what was the re-introduction of tuition fees in October 1998. The 1998 flat-rate charge of £1000 for tuition was not new, because up until 1977, fees were payable where a student's parents or spouse had income above a certain level. In addition, students on part-time and post-graduate courses, as well as many others in tertiary education had always been charged fees. In reality, then, it was only between 1977 and 1998 that tuition fees weren't charged and even then it was only full-time undergraduates on university courses who were exempt. 'Well, don't just stand there boy! Start supporting yourself!' A 1953 cartoon in the Scotsman Newspaper. |
