Higher Education Funding

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I supported the Government on Higher Education funding last night.

For someone like me – who has always believed that education should be free – it has been a difficult decision. Sadly, my view of education (free through raising taxation) isn’t on the table – or anywhere near it. That vision was ended when Labour introduced tuition fees and the principle of free education for all fell. So last night I chose to vote for the proposals because they are fairer than either the NUS or Labour proposals. I also could not justify students being the only group in society protected from the cuts.

Not only will paying back be at a cheaper rate than the current system – but no one will have to pay back until their salary reaches a higher threshold than before (£21,000 up-rated annually). Students from poorer backgrounds will have £150 million in bursaries and the maintenance grant which is over £3000 and has increased slightly doesn’t have to be paid back at all. Moreover, for the first time, part-time students (often poor, often missed first chance and often women) will also not have to pay anything up front – removing a real barrier to further education.

However, the key question for me was will that level of potential debt put poorer students off? When Labour introduced tuition fees – I believed poorer students would be put off. That didn’t happen. In fact more students went to university – and more of those students came from poorer families. With these increases I remain concerned – but have received assurances that if there is any sign of a falling off of applications from poorer students – action will be taken.

At this point in time, with the widest gap between rich and poor and social mobility non-existent – I believe the biggest inhibition to children from poorer backgrounds going to university – is that they don’t see themselves in that way and don’t have that aspiration. That is why for me the money we are putting into early years and into the pupil premium is so important. Closing that gap and increasing social mobility has to be the priority.

Lastly – on breaking the NUS pledge – I can only apologise. However, for me, that pledge was super-ceded by my signing up to the coalition agreement and although the coalition agreement allowed for abstention – for me that would have felt like opting out of making a very important decision.

I have listened to local students, local residents, party members, council group members and colleagues – and thank them all for their views. It is clear that everyone cares passionately about education and life chances – and that just because we may have differing views on how best to go forward – we all do care.

0 thoughts on “Higher Education Funding”

  2. I am afraid that this blog entry misses many of the points of this bill. Firstly, government recognises that education has a public benefit, but only in STEM areas. Secondly, this is privatisation of the University sector, an extreme ideological shift for the country. Thirdly, the ‘concessions’ proposed to safeguard access for poorer students shift the financial burden onto the u iversity. Those universities with high percentages of poorer students will have to keep under the cap and engage in pile them high sell it cheap education. The elite universities (like the one I work in) will have no incentive to take on poorer students. As a former admissions tutor for a popular undergraduate programme I understand the reality of university admission, more than former oil man Browne.

    There is no point being in power if you persist with these I’ll thought out policies. This is not merely a question of increasing personal debt, there is so much more to this bill than that.

  3. Oh Lynne, I’m so disappointed.

    How you can say that a deal hammered out with the Tories behind closed doors supersedes a signed pledge to the electorate is beyond me.

    You can tout the ‘progressive’ elements of the policy until you’re blue in the face (and some of them are, although I would question its central thrust), but you did something so important and destructive yesterday that it makes the policy itself essentially irrelevant. You broke a direct, unambiguous personal pledge to the people who voted for you.

    If I – a 31-year-old life-long Lib Dem – am unable to swallow this betrayal, I can only imagine how the students who only recently put their trust in you must feel.

  4. Thanks for at least making an effort to defend your vote. Unfortunately it’s not enough.

    Your claim that your pre-election pledge was superceded by the coalition agreement is a disgrace. People like me voted for you based on what you said before the election. That is your mandate. Nobody voted for the coalition agreement. Nobody voted for the coaltion. And, after last night’s betrayal, nobody is going to vote for you.

  5. “Sadly, my view of education (free through raising taxation) isn’t on the table – or anywhere near it. That vision was ended when Labour introduced tuition fees and the principle of free education for all fell.”

    So why did the Lib Dems campaign to abolish tuition fees for years after that? Remember http://www.scraptuitionfees.com?

    “…but have received assurances that if there is any sign of a falling off of applications from poorer students – action will be taken.”

    You can’t argue on the one hand that introducing tuition fees set an irreversible precedent, and simultaneously argue that action will be taken if not enough poor students go to university. The problem with policies like this is that they are rarely reversed, revisited or revised. I don’t see how an assurance to help poor students is worth anything, given the whole country was previously assured the Lib Dems would oppose tuition fees. By the time the data is available, anyone who made those assurances will be political history.

    The worst thing about this is that I really do think increasing tuition fees will destroy the Liberal Democracts. I can’t imagine what the party will need to do in the rest of this parliament to convince the electorate it can be trusted. I no longer feel I have any party I can vote for with confidence.

  6. I wonder if you have any idea how many votes you have lost on this issue. By breaking your pledge on fees you have broadcast your lack of integrity to your electorate, and believe me, they’ve noticed.
    Pledges are not ‘super-ceded’. What an extraordinary piece of nonsense. On that basis presumably you also think it would be acceptable to lie in court so long as you’d cross your fingers when you took the oath.
    If you are not prepared to stick to promises, don’t make them! Just think of the small rainforest that would be saved if you and your party only distributed leaflets containing promises you intend to keep

  7. Lynne,

    There are some minor errors in your final paragraph, which I have attempted to fix:

    “I have listened to local students, local residents, party members, council group members and colleagues – and ignored them altogether. It is clear that everyone cares passionately about education and life chances – and that just because we may have differing views on how best to go forward – we all do care about having shiny red boxes and grand ministerial titles.”

  8. “…although the coalition agreement allowed for abstention – for me that would have felt like opting out of making a very important decision.”

    Would that not have actually have supported your claims in this post? You have shown support for a flawed policy. Abstention by you and you colleagues would have at least sent the message that what you are claiming in this post is actually true.

    You know full well that alternatives do exist. I was planning to return to university due to changes in career but this means I no longer have the funds to do so. But it is not about me, but about questions as to the entire future of this country.

    Of course you are correct when you say “… I believed poorer students would be put off. That didn’t happen. In fact more students went to university …”, except that I never believed it. I was at that blunt end and knew what was happening. Students were already leaving university with significant debt, but mainly stuck on high interest overdraft and credit cards. The sudden availability of sensible loans, and the availability of these to many who failed to get grants before actually ENABLED these people to go to University. It was not the success of charging, but of providing adequate finance. An even better result would have been achieved by central funding.

    Education is the future of this country. What are your plans for all those students who will realise that their future lies abroad post graduation? What about the raw talent that decides university is no longer for them? Will you provide significant additional funding to the likes of the Open University so that people can study part time while working to avoid what you have done to them?

    And I do mean what YOU have done to them as voting FOR is what you have done. Abstaining would have supported your position. Defeat for the coalition would have meant that the policy had to be rethought in a sensible manner rather than rushed through. Change is needed: knee jerk reactions never work.

    It is a sad day for this country and you should be ashamed to be a driver of that. I would have had respect for you if you had abstained, but not this.

    You well know that alternatives exist and this is very much short termism. We need a highly educated country. Shame on you.

  9. Yes. The price of participating in government was giving up certain principles. At the end of the current term, Libdems will have to show that, overall, the good outweighed the bad. You will need to demonstrate where Tory legislation has been ‘moderated’ by Libdem involvement and where Libdem policy has been implemented.

    The country’s future needs are likely to be best met by able and highly educated engineers, scientists and mathematicians. Perhaps to encourage these generally under subscribed courses (because they are difficult!), fees here should have been reduced?

    Paula

  10. You lied to me, you stole my vote. You have no mandate, you got elected by fraud. You like to think you are oh so principled but look at yourself, you are a disgrace. I personally am going to work night and day to have you kicked out.

  11. Thank you, thank you, Lynne!

    Your brave decision to vote with the government was the right one. We have, at last, a return to fiscal sanity. There are a lot of people out there in your constituency who believe that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that students should have to bear some of the burden of the budget cuts. The concept of “free education” is a ridiculous, frivolous one, like free food, free clothes, and free cars for all. The student protests yesterday are NOT an indication that the population’s views, only that some young people get exited by violent, pointless, out-of-control behaviour.

  13. Congratulations Lynne on making what I believe to be the correct choice on this issue. In a representative (as opposed to direct) democracy those in government must make long-term decisions for the good of the whole country and in a coalition this means compromising with those with whom power is shared. I believe that the Liberal Democrat influence on this bill is strong and that Tories would have produced a much less progressive solution had they been governing alone. The solution provides a good balance of support for Universities and opportunity for potential students of all backgrounds. It eases the burden on public finances and goes some way towards creating a market-driven higher education system fit for the 21st century.

    You, and the party, will face condemnation from those who disagree with this position and rebuilding trust will, I fear, be a long, hard struggle. I hope that the party will learn from this episode that sweeping pre-election pledges are a mistake – they are appropriate for small protest movements but not for parties that aspire to be in power. As a life-long supporter of the Liberal Democrats I sincerely hope that we can move past this issue now and continue to provide a strong progressive and liberal influence within this coalition government.

  14. My mother has campaigned on your personal behalf for many years – even at the age of 72 she was leafleting for you. I have been a lifelong supporter of the lib dems, spreading the word as a student candidate in a mock electon in my days at fortismere.

    My mother has left the party. I will be joining labour. Goodbye.

  15. This is not okay.

    You should have stuck to your principles and continued to campaign for the rich to pay to fund education. The higher rate tax payers should be paying more, and that money should be used for education and healthcare.

    The issue here is that you let a lot of people down, and your blog post is not sufficient to persuade me that you made this choice for any reason other than furthering your political career.

    I appreciate this is not a forum where you feel able to respond to individual constituents, but I would like to understand how best to contact you as I would like to discuss this matter face to face.

    A Student AND a higher rater tax payer

  17. Are you going to allow yourself to be consoled by voices that talk of the merits of “compromise”, of giving up on principles, of “grown-up” politics? Will they drown out the terror of knowing that you have given away a part of yourself? For what? A leader that wears the expression of someone reduced to the lowest common denominator?

    Real politics IS about not being afraid to win and take the power you are given. But this only has meaning if you are talking about taking genuine risks with this power. And a genuine risk is to take the risk of following through on your principles. Making a situation different. Changing the coordinates. Making something new. There is no guarantee of success, but to hold you head high, you must be willing to take the risk.

  18. Pingback: Tweets that mention Higher Education Funding | Lynne Featherstone -- Topsy.com

  19. In your first paragraph you claim that you have always believed that education should be free.

    You have just voted to triple the cost of a degree course, to be paid back at a ruinous level of interest over a lifetime.

    The rest of your blog was just hand-wringing, self-justifying cant.

  20. You need to resign. You have lost mine and a vast majority of peoples respect on this issue. You are clearly out of your depth.

  22. I am extremely disappointed that you decided to vote in favour of this measure.

    I fear that you will find it very hard to to convince those who voted for you in the past that you, and your party, can be trusted on anything you tell us in the future. I am also concerned about what effect this will have at a local level in Haringey when your colleagues on the council come up for re-election. Sadly people will associate them with you and any good works they have done within their wards will be forgotten in the rush to punish you, Nick Clegg & Vince Cable.

    So not only have you let down those of us who voted for you, those of us who work in Higher Education and all those who are now going to have to think long and hard about going to University and if so how they will afford it, but also your own local colleagues and closest supporters. I imagine that Hornsey & Wood Green has just shot up the list of desirable seats for would be Labour MPs. I hope that being a minister is worth it – as I said, I am very disappointed and thought you were better than this.

  24. The header at the top of your website states “fighting for Hornsey and Wood Green”. Please change this immediately to “ignoring the people of Hornsey and Wood Green, just boosting my ego”.

    You’ve broken every promise you made pre-election, not just this one.
    You’re a disgrace.

    Your legacy will be: 2005-2009, a local MP who professed to be hard working on behalf of the community, but once power was taken in 2010, was exposed for being a liar, a hypocrite and a shameless ego maniac, who deceived her constituents.

    I urge everyone to sign the petition as put up by Mr.Bubblebath last night and get this corrupt MP recalled.
    Furthermore, let’s all spend a couple of quid producing basic leaflets to spread the word.
    You stole my vote, I am so upset, I could cry.

  25. Lynne, a pledge cannot be “super-ceded”. It was unequivocal and expressed an explicit intention of voting behaviour on a specific issue.

    I cannot sign a contract on a mortgage and then, when the economy tanks and I can’t pay, keep my house.

    Similarly, you must have the principles to come to a by-election and see if your electorate, which overwhelmingly voted for you on this issue, still trust you and allows you to step away from you contract (you signed it!).

    I moved heaven and earth to come back from a business trip just so I could vote for you in May. I told friends and family that you were the only option.

    I feel so debased and ashamed this morning. You will never, ever regain what you lost last night. We will now have to work to rid this constituency of your poisonous, careerist betrayal.

    I hope you are at least ashamed of what you have done.

  26. This will trap people of my generation form poorer families into poorer paid work (should I graduate), as higher earnings will equate to higher payback, in exactly the same way as you took away family credit & subsequesnt allowances from those who actually earn more than £40k pa.

    Your Condem party will simply not allow people on poorer incomes to aspire to a better standard of living. It’s a right wing ideology that’s in place, nothing to do with the ‘state of the economy’.
    As has been pointed out enough times on here recently, there’s over £120bn in unpaid taxes that you should be going after- but how many of these businessmen have belonged to the Bullingdon club?

    You’re weak leader Clegg who banged on about broken promises in his election broadcasts should be made to pay back every penny to those foolish enough to have donated to his party.

    Lynne Featherstone, you have chosen your own personal ambition over people’s interests.
    Can you hear us? We want you removed immediately.

  27. Lynne,
    Total support for your action; to govern is to choose as they say and I am certainly glad that LD ministers did not make the choice available to abstain as this would have made our position in government risible. It was a no-win situation and you made the best of it.

    On the unfairness of FREE TUITION:
    Why should some kids get fast-tracked, free, to higher incomes than others?
    It would be fairer to have a voucher system where ALL school leavers are allocated a sum they can draw on for their further education whether that be in training courses, university, work experience, or whatever.

    Many kids are not ready emotionally to take the A-level/University route at sixteen. If a couple of years later they realise the need for qualifications they must pay up-front on junior salaries for part time study.

    I am proud that we libdems have levelled the playing field so the 40% of students who are part-time get the same loan options, and only contribute from good graduate incomes.
    I don’t think the tories would have done this on their own.
    Don’t lose sleep over it!
    Elizabeth. (F/E teacher, retired and LD councillor)

  29. Lynne, you know that I have not been a supporter of yours in the first place but that does not diminish my dismay at your support of the Government over trebling university tuition fees. In short you have mortgaged my daughter’s future.

    Today’s newspapers quote one Liberal Democrat minister as saying “Thank God that’s over”, such shallowness – I anticipate my daughter will be paying off these bills until the 2060s, a terrible legacy of the Liberal Democrat’s time enjoying ministerial office.

    The best defence you try to give is the measures to help poorer students, however this reminds me of the policy of ‘bustitution’ in the 1960s where comprehensive rural bus services were supposed to replace closed railway branch lines. As with that policy there will probably be a few gestures but there is little compulsion to have either comprehensive help or long lasting support that will not be quietly phased out in a few years. In any case you have many middle class constituents who struggle to support families who will be hit by the full impact of your policy decision.

  30. Elizabeth, a lot of part-time students are now completely out of the system. Nick Clegg lied over the last few days. 100,000 P-T students will not get support and will have to find a lot more money up-front than they used to. If you don’t believe me: http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/tuition-fees-cleggs-claim-is-out-by-100000-students/5327.

    Moreover, if Lynne agreed with what you said, fine. She didn’t and I still don’t believe she does. And she signed a contract to that effect.

    She can now, politely, walk away from our constituency. She is not wanted.

  32. Those attacking Lynne need to ask themselves what outcome they were expecting from a non-Lib Dem influenced government.

    A Tory minority government would have seen an attempted system involving the total removal of the cap on tuition fees, a much more overt marketisation of higher education and none of the progressive elements that Vince Cable secured. It may well have gone through with Labour support.

    A Lib Dem – Labour coalition was totally unworkable arithmetically, but would undoubtedly have been based on the Browne review given that it was commissioned by Labour and it was Labour who introduced tuition fees and then top-up fees (breaking promises in both cases, despite having huge majorities and lots of money in the bank).

    A hypothetical Labour majority government would simply have implemented the Browne review in full.

    Only a Lib Dem majority government would have attempted to scrap tuition fees, even in a difficult economic climate, because one of the party’s long-held principles is that education is one of the best ways of creating the good society where none is enslaved by ignorance, poverty or conformity.

    I understand the anger around the pledge, and clearly so does Lynne, which is why she has apologised (something all the other Lib Dem MPs who voted for the proposals yesterday ought to have done a long time ago). But let’s be rational: without the Lib Dems, these proposals would be far worse than they are.

  33. “I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament”. Signed Lynne Featherstone. Nice and clear.

  34. It’s nice to see a blog such as this with open comments, however saying that the pledge was null and void due to the coalition agreement really does not cut the mustard, you can’t just sweep it under the carpet like this, it was a clear pledge aimed at the likely scenario of the Lib Dems not winning the election, how on earth the Lib Dems can’t see this is odd to say the least.

    The whole thing was rushed through, a larger and more sensible debate on education should have been held, education is crucial to our country and these reforms are not helpful long term for the education system in this country.

  35. The Condems say it’s unfair that the children of millionaires have their university education paid for by the taxes of people who slave away in poorly-paid jobs.

    So can Lynne Featherstone (and David Cameron and George Osborne) assure us that she will immediately be paying back £30,000 to the state in order to pay for the high-quality education she received FOR FREE thanks to the labours of my parents and grandparents?

    Otherwise it’s unfair, right?

  36. We all do care indeed, Lynne.

    We – the local people – care about social mobility and not to burden a new generation with debt, we care about culture, arts and humanities and we care about making equality for women a reality. We care about integrity.

    You care for your ministerial position, the coalition agreement and token gestures.

  37. In today’s Economist: “Two Lib Dem members of the government, Mike Crockart and Jenny Willott, did not vote in favour of the legislation. They resigned from their jobs as parliamentary private secretaries.”

  38. You say “I … could not justify students being the only group in society protected from the cuts.” Protected from the cuts! Lynne – you are going to cut government funding for Higher Education teaching by over 70%. You are shifting the ENTIRE cost for arts, humanities and social science higher education onto the student/graduate.
    However you try to dress this up, you have been mugged by the Tories into taking the flak for them taking advantage of a crisis in public finance to drive through a wholly ideological shift in the provision of higher education in England. You have absolutely no electoral mandate to do this (and neither do the Tories). Even worse, you and your Lib Dem colleagues made an explicit pledge that you would not do this. Not only have you broken this pledge, you then add insult to injury by claiming that this is better than the current system! The IFS report of 8 December, which you and the Tories hide behind because it called the new doubled/trebled fees/higher interest rates “progressive”, also says the following:
    “we see that the proposed system including the scholarship enables graduates from the poorest 30% of households to pay less than under Lord Browne’s system, but they would still pay back significantly more than under the current system”.
    You think that these rises won’t significantly deter student applications? Even BIS’s own Impact Study on the new fees says “It is impossible to predict how demand and supply will react under the new system.” This is a huge gamble.
    Then finally you say sorry but excuse yourself that the agreement made with the Tories (i.e. to get into power) “super-ceded” your prior commitments. So when do we believe any of your commitments? Nick Clegg’s election broadcast pledged new politics – “No More Broken Promises”.
    Lynne -I suspect that the vast majority of people who voted for you in Hornsey and Wood Green, including myself, did not vote for you to do this. I will make a pledge that won’t be broken – you will never get a vote from me again.

  39. Lies, Lies Lies,
    you say you couldnt justify protecting students from cuts, yet why is it your party, that is supposed to be the progressive voice of the repressive coalition is not charging banks and banker excess money for creating this whole economic mess! instead you are punishing the younger generations for something they have had no hand in creating and you are doing this under the guise of being liberal-democrat and progressive?? what a load of crap.
    I stupidly voted for the Liberal Democrats in the last election, i can assure you i will never vote for your party again !
    you do not deserve to be in power, you have blatantly lied to and betrayed those that put trust in you and those that put you in power, and for that you will not be in power again.

  40. It was reported that you were ‘distraught’ after the vote last night but I’m sure you’ll understand if I save my sympathy for the Sixth-formers and school children whose life chances will be diminished by your decision to vote for an increase in tuition fees. Also, I’m struggling to understand how your assertion in the ‘Ham&High’ that ‘there is no one more feminist than me’ squares with your decision to abandon your manifesto pledge to force businesses to disclose the pay gap between male and female employees.

  42. Lynne, you are an intelligent person. You know what you did. You broke a solemn promise you made to me and your other constituents and you did it to save your own career as a minister.
    As for all the rubbish defending the policy, save it for the bathroom mirror. Nobody else believes a word you say any more.
    If you had a shred of integrity left, you would resign your seat and stand on the policy you now say you believe in. The fact that you won’t, tells us all we need to know about you.

  43. Dear Lynn,
    You have lost my vote and I think that your party have played a shamefully shortsighted move acting as the Tories pawns,
    Virginia Hodge

  44. Does power really smell so alluring that you’ll do whatever it takes to remain a minister today, even if it means no longer being an MP come election time?

    Because judging by the number of former supporters like me you have lost with your unprincipled U-turn, I wonder what you will be promising come the next election to win us back.

    And what would it take for us to believe you.

  45. You should be ashamed of yourself. I have voted for you for many years. I will never do so again. Read the comments of the people who support your betrayal, they are Thatcherite Tories! Look at what you have become! You have sold you principles for power.

  46. I can’t add much to what’s already been written by others. Just another of your constituents who is very disillusioned with you decision to go back on your election promise. I actually believed you were one of the good guys. I should have known better.

  47. I’ve just renewed my membership of the Liberal Democrats. I’ll never forget the illegal war in Iraq, and I’ll never forgive Labour for screwing their core vote and increasing income disparity.

  48. I’m baffled as to how this could be called a careerist move since it’s perfectly obvious that Lynne will be joining Barbara Roche on the rubbish heap come the next eletion.

    And good riddance as well.

    The impunity with which you have treated your voters is disgraceful.

  49. I’m more disappointed by you than a lot of the others.

    Liberal Democrats will never forget how you betrayed us, if you had any honour left you’d resign. My child will have to pay for your mistake – I’ll make sure she knows who was responsible.

  50. Jenny Smith says it all.

    It is clear that politicians like yourself pay lip service to the electorate when in opposition and do what you like when in Government.

    What we saw yesterday was not democracy in action but a crime against democracy. We did not vote for the privatisation of Higher Education. Who will benefit most from this?; that is the question that should be posed. Not students and their families, but those institutions that provide the funding; once again, the bankers reap the rewards at our expense.

    How can anyone consider trebling anything in the current climate. The Tories opened up Higher Education when Thatcher was in Government, now Cameron and his Lib Dem stooges want to reduce the number of students going to University. In reality, it will be working class kids that baulk at the prospect of taking on such debts. Why can’t you tell the truth?

    This is a massive tax on our youth. A double whammy if you like. You pay through the nose to get a degree, then pay through the nose in taxes when you post-student career elevates you to the higher rate tax band. Wow, why did I not think of that one?

    The smell of electoral reform for the Lib Dems must indeed be so alluring for you, to abandon your principles on this issue, not that it matters. You have successfully alienated a whole generation of youth that I suspect your party is now beyond electable.

    I am one of your constituents. Your representatives will certainly get it in the ear when they next knock on my door, which I suspect will not now happen until the next election.

    You should hang your head in shame Lynne.

    And don’t keep blaming Labour for the mess we are in; after all the Americans started it!