Tuition Fees and the 2015 Election

Do you think university tuition fees in the UK cost what they should? Or do government policies leave a lot to be desired? Now that superstar YouTuber Hazel Hayes has had her say, we’re handing over to one of Vinspired’s star volunteers. Senior Team V mentor Naomi Barrow can’t wait to get out to vote on 7 May 2015, and this is why…

A First Taste of Politics

In the last election, tuition fees were a controversial issue. Some parties were very clear that they wanted to remove the £3000 tuition fee cap, others were very clear that they didn’t want to. Many students voted for the parties who they felt were ‘on their side’. I can clearly remember sitting on the bus, as a sixth former, with everyone chatting about which parties they were going to vote for and why. Although they must have discussed other things, the only one I can remember them discussing in depth was tuition fees. This was somewhat different to the conversations about the weather/homework/parents/life. It was also the first time I’d really taken more of an interest in politics (even though at the time I was too young to vote).

Why Don’t My Friends Want to Be Heard?

Five years on, I ask my friends if they’ve registered to vote and the vast majority of them say no. People are sort of discussing the next election but on the whole it’s in a fairly ambivalent way. Many of them speak about how politicians don’t care about them, how politics aren’t interesting, don’t affect them and basically just consist of some white, middle-aged, middle-class, privately-educated, men, arguing in Westminster. But then I ask them about what they think of the NHS, housing prices and tuition fees and I’m bombarded with different opinions.

Among my age group, tuition fees rank as the policy second most likely to encourage people to vote. With 6.8 million voters in the UK being 18-24 (14% of the electorate), this is fairly major! Our votes can have a huge impact on whether or not tuition fee policy changes.

What Do You Think?

There isn’t a universal opinion, either. Some of my friends, as you might expect, resent the tuition fee increase. After all, we’re now paying three times as much as those who happened to be born two years before us and most of us will leave university with a huge amount of debt. Furthermore, despite people telling us that it’s our choice to attend university, many believe that the education system and job market at the moment make it almost impossible not to go to university, taking the ‘choice’ element completely out of the equation.

However, others agree with the increase. They recognize that the government only has a finite amount of money and that cuts have to be made somewhere. They argue that if the government hadn’t increased tuition fees then other things, such as a ‘graduate tax’, would have been implemented which would have left them worse off. They will speak about how the current loans system is fair and means that anyone can access higher education.

One thing that is universal, however, is the mistrust of politicians who promised one thing and delivered another. The sense of injustice that the people who were affected by this policy (on the whole), didn’t turn 18 until after the last election and were, therefore, unable to vote.

Want to learn more about politics from your favourite YouTubers? Check out their #swingthevote videos.