Make the rich pay

The coalition government was once again almost universally condemned last week for its latest announcement on higher education policy, when it suggested that a small number of university places would be reserved for UK students who were willing to pay the full international fees for that course. This would come to around £9,000 for students wanting to study Arts and Humanities subjects, approximately £12,000 for science subjects and up to £18,000 for those wishing to study medicine.

Applicants would be required to achieve the same grade requirements as everybody else, and would not only have to pay higher fees but would also be offered no additional financial support from the state in the form of bursaries or students loans.

Cue, ladies and gentlemen, the predictable outcry from the readers of the Guardian, where this story was first printed, who denounced it as yet another example of the Liberal Democrats betraying their supporters over education policy, and the Tories as once again supporting the cause of rich elites at the expense of everybody else. The proposal has now been dropped by the government, but there is still merit in it that should be explored.

But surely this should be a cause that the left can adopt as their own? Surely this proposal is simply another way to tax the richest in society on their wealth and to help aid social mobility?

This proposal will mean that those who can afford to go to university without partaking in the lottery of the admissions process will be able to do so. Although this may give them an advantage over those students will still have to take part in the admissions process, on balance the benefits that it will offer in terms of social mobility will be much greater.

This will allow ‘normal’ places, previously taken up by wealthy students, to be re-allocated to those who cannot afford to jump the queue in this way. It is important to note that university places, even once fees have been raised, are going to cost more than students are charged for them. The Government therefore has to pay the rest of the cost up to the true cost of the course. Money that was previously being spent, either by the government, in this way, or in the form of student loans, can now be redirected to society’s poorest.

The proposal, though at first sight seen as a chance for the rich to ‘jump the queue,’ is in reality a mechanism to encourage those who can afford to pay outright, to do so in order to allow greater help to be directed at those who need it. It seems fundamentally wrong that those who can afford a university education without the state’s help are still given it regardless of whether they want it or not. If there are wealthy people in society willing to pay the true cost for their education surely we should accept their offer with open arms?

The argument that this will allow rich ‘thick’ kids who have no intelligence but are lucky to have super-wealthy parents to take the place of a deserving child from a council estate is absurd, as those able to participate in this way would still have to reach the minimum standards of ability that anybody else would. A comparison can be made with international students, who universities have always welcomed because of their ability and willingness to pay higher fees. Are we prepared to allow overseas students to act in this way? What is the principled case for excluding home students from this practice? The short answer is: there isn’t one.

If wealthy students are prepared for the state to stop subsidising them for something they don’t need, and as a result we can increase social mobility and the support that we are able to give to the poorest and most needy in society, then this must be a cause that we can all unite around.