Letter: Fees for students
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.FROM their comfortable positions, it is charming and natural for Sebastian MacMillan and Ian Johnston (Letters, 25 March) to wish that all the world could enjoy the same privileges at university as they did. Alas, the world, and certainly Britain, is not yet wealthy enough for this to be possible. Given the NHS waiting lists and the deficiencies of state schooling, it is unlikely ever to be so.
For more students, especially those from poor schools and poor families, even to get to university demands fairer sharing of scarce resources. This means that the only way to open the university doors wider is further to reduce costs or to introduce fees. It is then not unjust to expect that those who can afford to make a modest contribution to the cost of their studies do so on behalf of those who cannot. Fees are the instrument of social justice, not its enemy.
In any case, for universities to be wholly dependent on government patronage is to set the clock back to the Middle Ages. Their most cherished attribute is their freedom to oppose conformity and, if it should come to it, the government itself. That prospect makes the current argument about fees look quite small. It would be better for universities to be wholly funded out of fees, leaving it to government to recompense students accordingly. We would then witness a rebirth of higher education in Britain.
Professor Sir GRAHAM HILLS
Inverness
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments